Paotow

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 包頭／包头 (Bāotóu).

Pronunciation

• enPR: bouʹtōʹ

Proper noun

Paotow

1. Dated form of Baotou.
   • 1941, Nym Wales, China Builds for Democracy: A Story of Cooperative Industry‎^[1], New York: Modern Age Books, Inc., page 255:

     Much of the wool and camel’s hair produced in the Northwest is sent to Paotow, Suiyuan, to be shipped to Tientsin for export. Before hostilities about 15,000,000 catties were shipped annually from Paotow, of a total export of some 50,000,000 catties.

   • 1955, George B. Cressy, Land of the 500 Million; A Geography of China‎^[2], McGraw-Hill Company, Inc., page 93:

     Between Paotow and Kweisui in the northeastern corner of the Ordos Desert, hundreds of miles of irrigation canals were dug during the 1920’s with the hope of irrigating several hundred thousand acres. Large amounts of government and famine relief money were invested, and modern engineering works were constructed. The project proved largely a failure and is now almost abandoned.

   • 1965, “The Land”, in China (The World and Its Peoples)‎^[3], New York: Greystone Press, →LCCN, page 127, column 1:

     Figures issued for production show that pig iron amounted to 20,500,000 tons in 1959 and steel to 15,000 tons, in 1961. The industry is concentrated in about 20 factories of varying capacity. The largest is at Ansham^{[sic – meaning Anshan]} in Liaoning and other important centers are Wuhan in Hopeh^{[sic – meaning Hupeh]} and Paotow in Mongolia.

   • 1966, James E. Sheridan, Chinese Warlord: The Career of Feng Yü-hsiang‎^[4], Stanford University Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 153:

     Economic development of the Northwest required the creation of transportation facilities whereby settlers could reach virgin lands and their products could be brought out. Feng immediately attacked this problem by building a 400-mile motor road from Paotow, the western terminus of the Peking-Suiyuan Railway, to Ninghsia, where the Great Wall meets the western side of the Yellow River’s great loop.

   • 1966, Proceedings - Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, South Australian Branch‎^[5], volumes 67-72, →OCLC, page 66:

     Paotow owes its chief prosperity to the coalfields of Shensi and Shansi, to iron ore at Paiyun-opo, ninety miles north towards the Gobi, together with the rail links eastwards to Peking and Manchuria.

   • 1978, “Paotow”, in D. A. Girling, editor, Everyman's Encyclopaedia‎^[6], 6th edition, volume 9, J M Dent & Sons Ltd, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 328, column 2:

     This section of the line opened up areas rich in minerals which have since contributed to Paotow’s industrial development. Coal comes to the city from Shihtsuishan in Ningsia Hui autonomous region, for example.

Translations

Baotou — see Baotou

Further reading

• “Paotow”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “Paotow” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.