Maybe you have not heard of this city, but life as we know it could be paralyzed without Bayan Obo.
The city receives its name from the district in which it is located, which houses half of the world supply of a group of metals known as rare earths. They are key components in almost everything we turn on: smartphones, bluetooth speakers, computers, televisions and even electric vehicles.
And a country, above all others, has made a great leap in its extraction and refining: China.
This domain gives Beijing an enormous influence, both economic and political, and when he negotiates with US president Donald Trump on tariffs. But China has paid a high price for it.
To know more, we travel to the two main rare earth centers in the country: Bayan Obo, in the north, and Ganzhou, in the province of Jiangxi, in the south.
