Since then, more work has been accomplished, such as hot springs investigated, heat flow measurements, geothermal field explorations, etc. In the light of its geological structure, the high temperature geothermal resources are centered mainly in southern Tibet, western Yunnan and eastern Taiwan. There are over 100 high temperature geothermal reservoirs in those areas. The low-moderate temperature geothermal resources occur mainly beneath the deep fault basins and subsidence basins throughout China. Figure 1 identifies geothermal application sites in China.
China is the earliest user of geothermal energy in the world, specially for medical treatments.
In recent years, geothermal energy has been recognized gradually as an alternative energy by local people and played a role in the economic development. Figure 1 shows the distribution of geothermal uses according to the application. The largest uses are for public baths and spas.