Titanium (Ti), arranged at subgroup IVB of the fourth period in the periodical table of elements, has an atomic number of 25 and atomic weight of 47.88. It is one of the elements which have wide distribution and a high abundance (6,230¡Á10-6) in the earth, existing largely as titanium oxides. Among the titanium minerals found in the crust, 15 are of industrial value, of which ilmenite (FeTiO3), rutile (TiO2) and vanadic titanomagnetite((FeVTi)3O4) have been utilized most commonly in China.     

Titanium and its alloys possess such good properties as small weight, high strength, high erosion-resistance, and high resistance to high and ultra-low temperatures. Titanium oxides are generally stable in nature and thus can be used as important paints, new building materials, and anticorrosive materials. Titanium is regarded as "the third metal following iron and aluminum which have good developing prospects", "strategic metal" and "promising metallic material". It has been extensively applied to aviation, space, shipbuilding, military, metallurgic, chemical, machinery and power industries and desalination of sea water, transportation, light industry, environment protection, and medical instruments.     

The exploration of titanium resources in China was conducted mainly in the 1950s and 1960s and intensive processing of titanium mineral resources (production of titanium white, coatings of welding rods, titanium sponge, metallic titanium, titanium products etc.) was first carried out in 1954 when the Beijing Institute of Nonferrous Metals started to develop titanium sponge. In 1958, a workshop under the Shenyang Processing Factory of Nonferrous Metals went into operation for producing titanium sponge and processing other titanium products. A titanium industrial system took shape for the first time in China at the end of the 1960s and became more complete in 1997. The Chinese titanium industry comprises two basic interrelated systems: mining-smelting-processing and scientific research-design-production-application. China is one of the exporters of ilmenite concentrates, forged and rolled titanium, titanium products, titanium oxides and anatase titanium pigment.