Industrial centre · Historic city · Inner Mongolia
Baotou
包头
Steel and rare-earth city on the Yellow River
Baotou is the largest industrial city of Inner Mongolia, on the north bank of the Yellow River between the Yin Mountains and the Hetao plain. Built up after 1949 around the Baotou Iron and Steel works, it processes rare earths from the Bayan Obo deposit in its northern district — the world's largest known — and has the Tibetan Buddhist monastery of Wudang Zhao in the hills to the north.
Key facts
Overview
Baotou began in the Qing as a river port and trading post where goods from the Hetao, Shanxi and Mongolia changed hands; in the early twentieth century it became the terminus of the railway from Beijing. After 1949 it was chosen as one of the key industrial cities of the first Five-Year Plan, with a steelworks supplied with iron ore from Bayan Obo, 150 km to the north.
The iron ore of Bayan Obo proved to contain the largest known reserves of rare-earth elements, and Baotou became the centre of China's rare-earth industry. The city has since added aluminium, power and new-energy manufacturing, and has worked to reclaim wetlands and parks along the Yellow River.
Names and nicknames
鹿城
“Deer City”
From the usual explanation of the Mongolian name Buγutu, “place with deer”.
稀土之都
“rare-earth capital”
For the Bayan Obo mine and the rare-earth industry based on it.
History
The area lay on the frontier of the Han and the Xiongnu, and the Yin Mountains north of the city carry prehistoric rock art and remains of Qin and Han walls. Altan Khan's Tümed Mongols built the fortified monastery of Meidai Zhao in the late sixteenth century. The Qing-era town grew with the Shanxi merchants' trade, and in 1923 the Beijing–Suiyuan railway reached it. The Baotou Iron and Steel Company was founded in 1954; its first blast furnace was lit in 1959.
late 16th century
Meidai Zhao built
A walled monastery and residence of Altan Khan's family, combining a Mongol fortress with Chinese and Tibetan temple halls.
1749
Wudang Zhao founded
The largest surviving Tibetan-style monastery in Inner Mongolia, built into a hillside north-east of the city.
1923
Railway reaches Baotou
The Beijing–Suiyuan railway made the town the main transhipment point for wool, hides and grain from the north-west.
1927
Bayan Obo iron ore discovered
The geologist Ding Daoheng identified the iron deposit; rare-earth minerals in the ore were recognised in the following years.
1954
Baotou Iron and Steel founded
One of the key projects of the first Five-Year Plan, built with Soviet help; its first blast furnace went into operation in 1959.
Landmarks
Temple or shrine
Wudang Zhao
五当召
Monastery of whitewashed Tibetan-style halls on a slope of the Yin Mountains, with murals and a school of Buddhist philosophy.
Temple or shrine
Meidai Zhao
美岱召
Fortified monastery of Altan Khan's time in Tumed Right Banner, with Ming-era murals showing Mongol nobles.
Nature
Nanhai Wetland
南海湿地
Lake and reed beds on the Yellow River floodplain on the edge of the city, a stop for migrating birds.
Park or garden
Saihan Tala
赛罕塔拉
An area of grassland preserved as a park in the middle of the city.
Neighbourhoods
Donghe District
东河区
The old trading town by the Yellow River.
Kundulun District
昆都仑区
The planned steel-town district built from the 1950s around the Baotou Steel works.
Food
Shaomai
烧麦
Mutton dumplings with an open pleated top, as in Hohhot.
Hand-held mutton
手把肉
Boiled mutton on the bone, eaten with a knife and the fingers.
Culture
Baotou is a city of migrants: Han settlers from Shanxi and Shaanxi in the old town, and workers from across China who built the steelworks in the 1950s. The Mongol heritage survives in its monasteries and in the grassland banners north of the Yin Mountains. The errentai folk theatre of the Han communities is popular in the region.
秦时明月汉时关，万里长征人未还。但使龙城飞将在，不教胡马度阴山。Qín shí míng yuè Hàn shí guān, wàn lǐ cháng zhēng rén wèi huán. Dàn shǐ Lóngchéng fēi jiàng zài, bú jiào hú mǎ dù Yīn shān.
“The bright moon of Qin, the passes of Han; the men on the long march of ten thousand li have not come home. If only the Flying General of Dragon City were here, no horseman of the nomads would cross the Yin Mountains.”
— Wang Changling, “Beyond the Frontier” (出塞), Tang dynasty
Getting around
- Baotou and Baotou East stations are on the railways to Hohhot, Ordos and Yinchuan.
- Baotou Donghe Airport lies south-east of the city.
- Wudang Zhao and Meidai Zhao are reached by road through the Yin Mountains and along the Yellow River valley.
Day trips
Xiangshawan
响沙湾
“Singing sands” dunes of the Kubuqi Desert across the Yellow River in Ordos.
Xilamuren grassland
希拉穆仁草原
Grassland in Darhan Muminggan United Banner, the part of Baotou north of the Yin Mountains.
Yin Mountains rock art
阴山岩画
Petroglyphs of animals, hunters and symbols along the valleys of the range.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Baotou Municipal People's Government — Baotou Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Baotou — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
More cities in Inner Mongolia
- Hohhot呼和浩特Capital · Historic city · Cultural centreThe Blue City of Altan Khan beneath the Yin Mountains
- Ordos鄂尔多斯Industrial centre · Historic city · Scenic areaPlateau of the Yellow River bend, the Genghis Khan shrine and coal
- Hulunbuir呼伦贝尔Scenic area · Border cityGrassland, lakes and forest on the borders with Russia and Mongolia
- Chifeng赤峰Historic city · Scenic areaHongshan jades and the capitals of the Khitan Liao