Panzhihua

Panzhihua (Chinese: 攀枝花; pinyin: Pānzhīhuā), formerly Dukou (渡口), is a prefecture-level city located in the far south of Sichuan province, China, at the confluence of the Jinsha and Yalong Rivers. It has an administrative area of 7,423.42 square kilometres (2,866.20 sq mi),[3] and a population at the 2020 census of 1,212,203. 806,395 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of 3 urban districts. Its economy relies almost entirely on its giant mine, one of the country's largest. The economy in Panzhihua is mainly centered on natural resource development and heavy-industry. The city grew into a major city for steel production during the Third Front construction.[4]: 184  The urban center was built on top of mountainous terrains. In 2005, Panzhihua won the "China Excellent Tourist City" title, in 2008 it won the "National Health City" and the "China Vanadium, Titanium" titles. The construction of Panzhihua occurred during China's Third Front construction, a Mao Zedong-era campaign to develop basic and national defense industry in China's rugged interior in the event of foreign invasion.[5]: 4, 145  Mao viewed the building of the city as so important that he repeatedly told other party leadership that until it was built he would "not sleep well a single day."[5]: 165  Speaking figuratively, he routinely emphasized the importance of developing Panzhihua by stating that if party leaders would not develop the city, he would "ride a donkey and hold a meeting" to build it himself.[5]: 165