Just three hours to the west of Hohhot by train or bus lies Inner Mongolia's biggest city, BAOTOU . Its primary significance is as the chief iron- and steel-producing centre in China: if you're arriving at night from the direction of Yinchuan, your first glimpse of the city is likely to be of satanic fires burning in the great blast furnaces. The sky over the western half of Baotou is a more or less permanent yellow, orange and purple colour. For visitors, there can be something magnificent about ugliness on such a scale, but otherwise, apart from a few minor sights, including Wudangzhao , an attractive Tibetan-style monastery outside the town, the city does not have much to offer. One further site of considerable romantic interest, if nothing else - Genghis Khan's Mausoleum - lies well to the south of Baotou near the town of Dongsheng.

Attractions in Baotou

Neighboring Areas: Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

Population: 1.96 million

Area: 27, 691 square kilometers

History: a history of more than 6000 years; a famous thoroughfare in history; a city with rich cultural heritage; a dock for land and water transport service and a place of business importance in the Qing dynasty, mainly on collecting and distributing furs; in 1933, set up as a city

Climati: temperate monsoon climate with cool and favorable summers; long and cold winters; average sunshine of 2700 to 3400 hours annually and frost-free period of 60-160 days

Average Temperature: annual average of 6.4C; the lowest in January of - 10C to - 30C; the highest in July of 16C to 45C; the daily temperature difference of 10C to 16C; great difference between south and north
Rainfall: less of rain, uneven; average annual of 50-450 mm

Mountains: the Daxing'anling Ranges, Mt. Helanshan, Mt. Wulashan, Mt. Daqingshan

Rivers: Yellow River, Ergunahe River, Nenjiang River, West Liaohe River, Hulunhu Lake and Beierhu Lake