On October 15, a significant conference marking the 70th anniversary of Baotou Iron and Steel Group, also known as Baogang, took place in Baotou City, Inner Mongolia. This event focused on the company’s strategic development for the future.
During the conference, it was revealed that over the past 70 years, Baogang has achieved numerous groundbreaking milestones in the history of the steel industry in New China. As one of the three major steel industrial bases identified in the first Five-Year Plan, Baogang tackled global technical challenges, such as the specialized extraction from the Baiyun Obo Ore and resolved the “Three Holes and a Tumor” issue. The company is credited with producing China’s first 60-kilogram heavy rail, the first large-diameter seamless steel pipe, and the first lightweight thin-walled large I-beams.
Since its inception, Baogang has seen its asset scale grow from the initial state investment of 2.4 billion yuan to over 210 billion yuan today. Revenues have skyrocketed from a mere 8 million yuan at the beginning to now exceeding 100 billion yuan. Additionally, steel production has expanded from several tens of thousands of tons at startup to a stable output of around 15 million tons currently. The company’s industry structure has transformed from solely steel production to a dual focus on steel and rare earths, coupled with emerging industries in resource utilization, logistics, coal coking, energy conservation, environmental protection, equipment manufacturing, and modern services.
Founded in 1954, Baogang was one of the 156 key projects established during the early years of New China. On October 15, 1959, Premier Zhou Enlai inaugurated the first blast furnace at Baogang, marking a pivotal moment that ended the historical narrative of the “unarmed prairie.”
A pivotal editorial published on January 19, 1959, in the People’s Daily, emphasized the slogan “Support Baogang, and Baogang supports the nation.” It called upon citizens from across the country to rally behind the construction of Baogang. This initiative witnessed swift mobilization, with 727 entities from 55 cities across 22 provinces providing personnel and resources to support the company’s development.
The inspiring stories of unity in building Baogang and the “Three Thousand Orphans in Inner Mongolia” have been integral to the company’s identity. Baogang has also played a crucial role in assisting ethnic minority regions in achieving targeted poverty alleviation. The company has fostered a diverse workplace, where employees from 27 different ethnicities live and interact, and has been recognized five times as an “Advanced Collective for National Unity and Progress” in China.
