新中国成立以前,由于受当时的社会经济条件的影响,对于我国广大国土的自然资源状况缺乏全面的了解,以至于有些西方国家称中国是“地大而物不博”,认为我国“缺铜”、“少铁”、“贫油”。针对这种情况,为了给新中国的国土开发和经济建设提供基础,我国自20世纪五六十年代起,对自然资源的数量、质量、分布等基本特征 Before the founding of New China, due to the current social and economic conditions, the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the natural resources of our vast territory so that some western countries called China a “big land but not rich” “,” Less iron “,” lean oil. " In response to this situation, in order to provide the foundation for the land development and economic construction of New China, starting from the 1950s and 1960s, the basic characteristics of quantity, quality and distribution of natural resources in our country