JINAN, June 4 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese government has created the world's leading force in artificially inducing rain to relieve droughts and fight fires, according to the National Meteorological Bureau.

    The country's army of rainmakers uses rockets, artillery and aircraft to sow rain-inducing chemicals at times of need, said an official with the bureau's Department of Forecasting Services and Disaster Mitigation.

    The aircraft sowed rainmaking chemicals that brought down 210 billion cubic meters of water over three million square kilometers, nearly a third of China's territory, in 2,840 flights from 2001 to 2005, said the official.

    Rainmaking rockets and shells have been used in 1,952 counties by the end of 2005. More than 3,000 people are employed in rainmaking with an arsenal of 7,000 cannon and 4,687 rocket launchers, the official told a meeting in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong Province.

    Engineers "seed" clouds by burning chemicals such as silver iodide and other measures to induce rain.

    The government has employed these methods to ease droughts, prevent hail and to help extinguish fires.

    Artificially-induced rain was used to help put out three major forest fires that raged in north and northeast China for 10 days before they were subdued on Friday.

    Weather specialists also induced rain in early May in Beijing, helping relieve drought and wash dust from the capital after it was plagued by sandstorms.