For years, China was the undisputed epicenter of global Bitcoin mining, accounting for over 65% of the network's total hash rate at its peak. While the landscape has dramatically shifted following a nationwide crackdown in 2021, understanding how China mined Bitcoin remains crucial to grasping the cryptocurrency's history, economics, and evolving geography. The process was a complex interplay of abundant resources, technological innovation, and regulatory maneuvering.

The foundation of China's mining dominance was its access to cheap, often surplus, electricity. Miners congregated in specific regions where power was inexpensive and plentiful. Sichuan and Yunnan provinces became global hubs during the rainy season, leveraging their massive hydropower resources. Miners would sign flexible contracts with local power stations, consuming excess electricity that would otherwise be wasted. In northern regions like Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, miners tapped into cheap coal-based thermal power, especially during the dry season when hydropower dwindled. This geographic and seasonal migration of mining operations was a unique feature of the Chinese industry, allowing it to minimize its most significant cost: energy.

Beyond energy, China benefited from a concentrated hardware ecosystem. The world's dominant ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) miner manufacturers, notably Bitmain (with its Antminer series), MicroBT, and Canaan, were headquartered in China. This gave local miners direct access to the latest and most efficient mining equipment, often at lower prices and without logistical delays. A complete industrial cluster emerged, encompassing chip design, hardware manufacturing, mining pool software, and large-scale mining farm operations. This vertical integration created immense efficiency and a powerful competitive advantage.

Operations ranged from small-scale setups in personal apartments to industrial-scale "mining farms" housing hundreds of thousands of machines. These farms were often located near power sources. The mining process itself was identical to the global standard: thousands of specialized computers (ASICs) competed to solve complex cryptographic puzzles, validating transactions and securing the Bitcoin network. Successful miners were rewarded with newly minted Bitcoin. Chinese miners often pooled their computational resources via local mining pools like F2Pool, AntPool, and BTC.com, which collectively commanded a majority of the network's hash rate, smoothing out reward distribution.

However, this era effectively ended in May 2021 when Chinese authorities, citing financial risks, excessive energy consumption, and carbon emission goals, declared a sweeping ban on all cryptocurrency mining activities. The policy shift forced a historic and rapid exodus. Mining operations were shut down overnight, and miners undertook a massive migration, relocating their hardware to friendlier jurisdictions such as the United States, Kazakhstan, and Russia.

Despite the official ban, reports suggest that small-scale and clandestine mining operations have persisted within China, utilizing disguised operations or off-grid power. Furthermore, Chinese mining hardware manufacturers continue to produce and export globally, and some Chinese capital and expertise now operate mines overseas. Therefore, while domestic industrial-scale mining is officially prohibited, China's legacy and ongoing indirect influence on the Bitcoin mining industry remain profound. The story of Bitcoin mining in China is a testament to how resource availability, industrial policy, and geopolitical decisions can shape the infrastructure of a decentralized digital asset.