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Abstract: It is important to analyze why phosphorus metabolism is unsustainable in China''s modern industrial society. In this paper, the Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) approach is used to build different models of phosphorus metabolism for the following three periods: the prehuman period, traditional agricultural period and modern industrial period. Based on these models, the evolution process of phosphorus metabolism in China is analyzed from the viewpoint of its metabolic structure and intensity. The indices of intensity analysis involve phosphorus input, phosphorus circulation and recycling efficiency, phosphorus production and production efficiency, water phosphorus emission and water emission proportion, solid waste phosphorus output and solid waste discharge proportion. Through the analysis of the evolution process, the key factors that cause the lack of sustainability of phosphorus metabolism in China are identified, which can be summarized by four aspects: the increase of soil phosphorus accumulation, the increase of water phosphorus emission, the decrease of recycling efficiency and the decrease of production efficiency in croplands. Furthermore, the specific unsustainable processes of phosphor resources utilization in China are discussed. For these unsustainable processes, the relevant solutions for the phosphor resources crisis are given. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]