Baotou

Baotou
包头市 • ᠪᠤᠭᠤᠲᠤᠬᠣᠲᠠ
Paotow
Baotou Skyline behind Saihantalah Grasslands Park and in front of the Yin mountain range
Yin Mountains of rural Baotou
Xilamuren Temple
Baotou metro area
Location of Baotou City jurisdiction in Inner Mongolia
Baotou
Location of the city centre in Inner Mongolia
Baotou
Baotou (China)
Coordinates (Baotou municipal government): 40°37′17″N 109°57′12″E / 40.6213°N 109.9532°E / 40.6213; 109.9532
Country China
Autonomous regionInner Mongolia
County-level divisions10 Banners
Municipal seatJiuyuan District
Area
27,768 km2 (10,721 sq mi)
 • Urban
247.14 km2 (95.42 sq mi)
 • Metro
953.5 km2 (368.1 sq mi)
Elevation
1,065 m (3,494 ft)
Population
 (2023 census)
2,761,700
 • Density99.456/km2 (257.59/sq mi)
 • Urban
2,283,700
 • Urban density9,240.5/km2 (23,933/sq mi)
 • Metro
2,418,200
 • Metro density2,536/km2 (6,569/sq mi)
 • Major ethnic groups
Han - 94%
GDP
 • Prefecture-level cityCN¥ 426.3 billion
US$ 60.5 billion
PPP$ 106.8 billion
 • Per capitaCN¥ 155,050
US$ 22,003
PPP$ 38,859
Time zoneUTC+08:00 (China Standard)
Postal code
014000
Area code472
ISO 3166 codeCN-NM-02
License plate prefixes蒙B
Local DialectJin (Baotou dialect); Northeastern Mandarin; Southern Mongolian
Websitewww.baotou.gov.cn
Baotou
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese包头
Traditional Chinese包頭
PostalPaotow
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinBāotóu
Bopomofoㄅㄠ ㄊㄡˊ
Gwoyeu RomatzyhBautour
Wade–GilesPao1-tʻou2
Yale RomanizationBāutóu
IPA[páʊ.tʰǒʊ]
Mongolian name
Mongolian CyrillicБугaт хот
Mongolian scriptᠪᠤᠭᠤᠲᠤ ᠬᠣᠲᠠ

Baotou is the second-largest city by urban population in Inner Mongolia, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, its built-up (or metro) area within its five urban districts is home to 2,261,089 people while the total population is 2,709,378 as of the 2020 census.

Baotou's southern border is delineated by the Yellow river. The city's namesake, literally translating to "place with deer", is Mongolian, bringing about the nickname of "Lucheng" (Chinese: 鹿城; pinyin: Lùchéng), meaning "City of Deer". Alternatively, Baotou is known as the "City of Steel in the Grasslands" (草原钢城; Cǎoyuán Gāngchéng), since steel was a major industry in the city which is built on the Mongolian grassland and contains a large grassland park. Today, Baotou mines and refines over half of the rare-earth minerals produced in the world. This has led to environmental contamination near the industrial sites.