Baotou or Paotow [key], city (1994 est. pop. 1,032,900), Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, China. A port and major trade center on the Huang He (Yellow River), it is connected by rail with Beijing, Lanzhou, the Republic of Mongolia, and Russia. Vigorous industrialization in the 1960s made it a major manufacturing center. Iron and coal are mined in the vicinity, and the city has a large integrated iron and steel complex as well as sugar refineries, textile mills, and plants making motor vehicles, chemicals, fertilizers, and aluminum.
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