CHAPTER 2　Administrative Divisions

The skies are dotted with clouds

Floating above green willow streets;

The ground is colored with creeks

Linking miles of pink peach blossom.

Roam the city streets at night time,

Indulge in its enchanting beauty.

Stop longing for remote places,

Experience the City of Deer.

The total land area of Baotou is about 27,800 square kilometers. Of this, approximately 228.63 square kilometers are urbanized. The districts under Baotou’s administration include Hondlon District, Qingshan District, Donghe District, Jiuyuan District, Shiguai District, Bayan Obo Mining District, Tumd Right Banner, Darhan Muminggan Joint Banner, Guyang County, as well as a national rare earth high-tech industrial zone.

Hondlon District

Hondlon District, one of the central districts of Baotou, is so named after the Hondlon River, a tributary of the Yellow River which runs through the city.

As a distribution center of people, goods and capital, Hondlon District exploits its advantages of geographic location, industries, technology and talent to form a diversified industrial structure. Within this structure Baogang Group has grown to a brand name. The foundations of the company were laid during China’s First Five-year Plan(1953-1957), gathering volunteers from across the nation in building up what today is the affluent Hondlon District.“Wherever you come from, you will find your folks here.” It is in this way that this immigrant city presents its inclusiveness.

Hondlon District was literally built upon the foundation of Baogang Group. Without Baogang Group, Hondlon would not have been the thriving place it is today. Today the district hosts the largest commercial center in Baotou City, as well as the largest number of schools in the whole of Inner Mongolia. When rambling through the byways or walking in A’erding Botanical Garden, one cannot help but be attracted to this city.

Including 72 square kilometers of urban area, Hondlon District covers an area of about 301 square kilometers. The total population is 776,600. There are two towns, 13 sub-district offices, 24 administrative village and 78 residential communities administered by the district government.

Qingshan District

Qingshan District was given its name in 1956 after the Daqing Mountain to its north. One of Inner Mongolia’s top 10 industrial districts, Qingshan is currently home to a number of key projects initiated back during China’s First Five-year Plan. These include Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group, Inner Mongolia North Heavy Industries Group and the North Nuclear Fuel Co., Ltd. After decades of development, Qingshan boasts its own fully self-contained industrial system centered on six fast-growing sectors in equipment manufacturing. These are manufacture of heavy trucks, new and renewable energy equipment, railway equipment, mining equipment, mechanical and electrical equipment, and engineering machinery.

Thanks to the more than 41,000 professionals working at 41 research institutes in Qingshan, the district has great strength in both scientific research and development. Owing to a high percentage of urban green space, it is widely known as a livable district that offers full-fledged modern service sectors, centralized finance and trade services, as well as futureoriented city planning.

Military-themed tourism is another thing which the district is famous for. At Northern Weaponry City, interested individuals have the opportunity for up-close and personal experiences with tanks, self-propelled artillery, and Red-Flag missile launchers that previously joined National Day parades. Exhibitions also include heavy trucks used when the famous Three Gorges Dam was under construction, and vehicles from UN peace-keeping convoys.

Qingshan District has an administrative area of 280 square kilometers, consisting of eight sub-district offices, two towns,53 residential communities and 21 administrative villages. As of the last census the population is 530,000.

Donghe District

With a history stretching back over 300 years, Donghe District is aptly named after the Donghe River which runs through the area. Renowned for its simple folk ways and diversified culture, it was once a distribution center of fur products, food and medicinal material. It was also the original home of the so-called Shanxi Merchants, prominent businessmen from the Song to the Qing Dynasty who were responsible for creating the first banking institutions in China.

Due to its geographic location, Donghe District has many strong advantages. With intersecting highways, railways, and a class 4D airport, it is currently the largest logistics hub in Baotou. Direct flights from Baotou Airport connect not only to more than 20 large- and middle-sized Chinese cities, but also to other countries such as Mongolia, South Korea and Thailand. Industry leads the economy in Donghe, with manufacturing and processing of non-ferrous metals, woolen textiles, and sugar manufactory playing a key role. The district has managed to maintain a steady and healthy development, both socially and economically, thanks to the “five bases” initiative which has included, among other things, the construction of a national eco-friendly industrial aluminum demonstration base.

Donghe District has an administrative area of 470 square kilometers. It consists of two towns, 49 villages, 12 sub-district offices, and 60 residential communities. A diverse population of 540,000 includes members of 33 ethnic groups with the greater portion of these being Mongol, Han, Hui or Manchu.

Jiuyuan District

During the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), King Wuling of Zhao ordered the establishment of the administrative town of Jiuyuan, hence the name of this district. Jiuyuan was also the hometown of Lü Bu, a renowned general and warrior during the period of Three Kingdoms (220-280).

Jiuyuan District has a unique geographic advantage – it is in the center of an economic zone consisting of Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia; Baotou; Yinchuan, capital of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region; and Yulin, a prefecture-level city in Shaanxi Province. Jiuyuan is also embraced by a group of key cities in northern China, including Hohhot, Baotou, Erdos and Yulin. Today it is the home of Inner Mongolia’s“10-billion-yuan” industrial park and also a demonstration park for industrial circular economy.

With a total installed capacity of 8.13 million kilowatt-hour, Jiuyuan District has rich energy resources that translate into the lowest comprehensive electricity prices in the country. Jiuyuan Ecological Agriculture Science and Technology Demonstration Park is taking shape as an important vegetable production area and standardized breeding demonstration area for the whole of Baotou.

Jiuyuan District covers an area of nearly 734 square kilometers. It consists of one sumu (a local word for a township-level political or administrative division), three towns and four sub-district offices. A diverse population of 216,000 is made up of more than 20 different ethnic groups including Mongolian, Han Chinese and Hui.

Shiguai District

Shiguai is the Mandarin language transliteration of a Mongolian phrase meaning “a place of dense jungle”. Shiguai District is a long settled and thriving area centered upon the coal-mining industry. It is rich in natural resources such as coal, silica, coal-bed methane and kaolin clay. The district also has a number of excellent tourist sites such as the national 4A-class Wudangzhao Lamasery – this is one of the three major Tibetan Buddhist holy sites nationwide; there are also remnants of the Great Wall from the State of Zhao during the Warring States Period, and unspoiled natural forests in the Aobaoshan and Ma’anshan mountains. Shiguai is among the first batch of cities to be named pilot areas for the National Wisdom Cities project.

Shiguai District is located in the western range of the Daqing Mountain. It has jurisdiction over one sumu, one town and five sub-district offices, and comprises a total registered population of 66,600. The district covers an area of 761 square kilometers and is equipped with a highly-facilitated transportation network which not only consists of major roads such as G6 Beijing-Lhasa Expressway, G65 Baotou-Maoming Expressway, and National Highway G210 from Baotou to Nanning, but also numerous smaller roads.

Bayan Obo Mining District

The name of Bayan Obo District originates from its Mongolian name meaning “fertile holy mountain”. In 1927, Dr. Ding Daoheng discovered iron ore in Bayan Obo when working with the Scientific Expedition to Northwest China. It was after this discovery that the construction of the city of Baotou as a military industry base and a city of steel on the grassland was able to commence.

Due to the iron ore there, Bayan Obo was independently set apart as a district in 1958 and also a national“independent industrial and mining area”. The Bayan Obo iron ore field covers an area of around 48 square kilometers. This is a massive mineral deposit containing not only iron ore but also rare earth and niobium. Dubbed the “home of rare earth”, it is the main raw material base of the Baogang Group.

Bayan Obo is very suitable for the development of clean energy industries such as wind and solar power. It is one of China’s major areas with great wind power potential. Furthermore, with average annual sunshine hours of more than 3,200 hours and an annual sunshine rate of 74%, it is highly suitable for solar industries.

Bayan Obo District has a total land area of 328.64 square kilometers, with a small population of only 27,600 people including members of eleven ethnic groups. There are two sub-district offices and four residential communities.

Tumd Right Banner

Tumd Right Banner is located at the center of the “Golden Triangle” of Hohhot, Baotou and Ordos cities. Daqing Mountain, the main peak of the Yinshan Mountain Range, borders it in the north while the Yellow River is its southern boundary.

Tumd Right Banner has a long history. During the Qin and the Han dynasties, it was called Yunzhong Prefecture. The prefecture had administration over the two counties of Xianyang and Duhe. The banner has long been credited as a “pearl beyond the frontier”, due to the blending culture and thriving commerce and trade found here. Historical and cultural relics and tourism sites are the banner’s major points of interest. These include the forests of Jiufeng Mountain and the Meidaizhao Lamasery. The banner is now renowned as “China’s Eco-Tourism County”, as one of “China’s Top Ten Promising Tourism Counties”, and as a “famous cultural tourism county of China”. Errentai, a local form of opera, has a long tradition in Tumd Right Banner, hence the nickname the“artistic home of Errentai culture”.

Tumd Right Banner covers a land area of 2,600 square kilometers. It consists of five towns, three villages and three administrative committees. The total population is 360,000. The G110 National Highway, G6 Expressway, and Beijing-Baotou Railway all cross through the Banner.

Darhan Muminggan Joint Banner

Darhan Muminggan Joint Banner is located at China’s northern frontier with an 88.6-kilometer border shared with Mongolia. Serving as a key channel for cooperation with neighboring countries, a provincial highway from Baotou City runs through the Banner linking China with Mongolia at the Mandula-Khangi Border Crossing.

In 1936, Ulanhu (also known by his Chinese name: Yun Ze) and others of his generation led the armed anti-Japanese uprising which started at the Bailingmiao Temple. This was the first of its kind among the ethnic Mongolians resisting the Japanese imperialist forces. During the 1960s, heroic deeds of the little sisters Longmei and Yurong during a blizzard on the grassland spread from here to every corner of the country.

Darhan Muminggan Joint Banner is rich in natural resources, including some 32 different kinds of proven reserve of metallic and non-metallic mineral resources. There is also a huge development potential for wind and solar energy. The 16,600 square kilometers of natural grass ranch and 1.2 million square kilometers of arable farmland yield potatoes, beef, mutton, and other agricultural and livestock products that sell well throughout the country. The banner is also famous for its many scenic spots and unique cultural landscape. The Xilamuren Grassland is a state-level tourist attraction. Each year China Nomadic Culture and Tourism Festival in the banner attracts countless visitors from all over the world.

Darhan Muminggan Joint Banner has jurisdiction over seven towns, two villages and three sumus, spreading out over a total area of 18,177 square kilometers. Despite the large size, the total population numbers only 120,000 individuals across 15 ethnic groups.

Guyang County

The county’s long history and culture have been shown to date back as far as the Neolithic Age. Guyang was first recorded as being a town sized settlement during the 19th year (351 BC) of the reign of King Hui of Wei during the Warring States Period. By the Qin Dynasty it was part of Jiuyuan Prefecture; in the Western Han Dynasty it became Guyang County under the jurisdiction of Wuyuan Prefecture before its status as a county was revoked during the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Guyang is rich not only in agricultural products but also in mineral resources. Locally famous dishes are made from various herbs, beans, oats, buckwheat, and potatoes and the area has extensive proven reserves of iron ore, gold, coal, perlite, oil shale, and vermiculite. There is also a huge potential for wind energy. If that were not enough, Guyang also has an abundance of tourist attractions both large and small. Cultural and historical heritage sites include such places as the Qin Great Wall. Owing to the area’s climate, the Guyang section of the Wall is currently the most completely preserved of the ancient structure. The forests of the Ma’anshan Mountain Range feature all kinds of flora and fauna, while the towering rocks at Daxian Mountain have become a must-see for a lot of travelers.

Guyang County covers a land area of about 5,025 square kilometers with six towns, one sub-district office, 72 village committees, ten residential communities, and 932 natural villages. The total population is 213,000 according to the latest census.

Rare Earth High and New Technology Industrial Development Zone

The high-tech zone was founded in 1990, and approved by the State Council in 1992 as a state-level hightech zone. It is the only one that has been named after rare earth resources. Today it is the first industrial park in Inner Mongolia to have over 100 billion yuan in investment.

This high-tech zone serves as a base for industrialization of rare earth related technologies. It has since grown into a key economic pillar in Baotou as well as a demonstration zone for reform and opening up and institutional innovation. It now hosts some 6,400 registered enterprises, including 42 new- and high-tech companies, 14 publicly-traded companies, and 63 corporate R&D centers. The zone has been credited with 20 “national base” titles, such as the national new industry demonstration rare earth new material base, the national rare earth new material high-tech industrial base, the national demonstration area for rare earth new material industry well-known brand creation base, the national overseas high-level talent innovation and entrepreneurship base, and the national industrial park of innovation. In 2016, it was identified as the national intellectual property demonstration park, the national demonstration zone for city-industry integration, and an Inner Mongolian demonstration area for the public to start business and explore innovation.

The high-tech zone now has jurisdiction over one town and two sub-district offices, covering an area of 120 square kilometers with a population of 150,000.