Ordos is one of the twelve major subdivisions of Inner Mongolia, People's
Republic of China. It is within the Ordos Loop of the Yellow River. Although
mainly rural, Ordos is administered as a prefecture-level city. The
administrative seat is at Dongsheng which had a population of 582,544
inhabitants at the 2010 census. Another Banner is being urbanized quickly around
the city of Ejin Horo with about 251,894 inhabitants at the 2010 census which is
the seat of Ordos Airport. The area had been administered as Ih Ju
League since the 17th century, and was redesignated a prefecture-level city and
renamed to Ordos on 26 February 2001. "Ordos" means "palaces" in the Mongolian
language. Ordos originally referred to a tribe belonging to the Yeke Juu league
and later included the tribe’s area, hence the Ordos, or Ordus, the area
within the big bend of the Yellow River. Mongolian ordu(n), ord ‘court, residence
of a ruler; palace; camp’, also for 'camp bodyguards'. According to Ramstedt
-s is a plural suffix; further: ordu, orda; Turkic orta ‘a center’; Mongolian
> Turkish orda ‘camp’ > Hindi urdū > English “horde.” The name is sometimes
claimed to be related to the eight white yurts of Genghis Khan. Linguistically,
the Ordos dialect of Mongolian is quite different from neighboring Chakhar
Mongolian. Ordos is known for its lavish government projects, including the new
Ordos City, a large city with abundant infrastructure, seldom used by residents
and frequently described as a "ghost city". It hosted the 2012 Miss World
Final. Geography and climate
Ordos's prefectural administrative region occupies 86,752 square kilometres
and covers the bigger part of the Ordos Desert, although the urban area itself
is relatively small. It borders the prefecture-level divisions of Hohhot to
the east, Baotou to the northeast, Bayan Nur to the north, Alxa League to the
northwest, Wuhai to the west, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to its
southwest, and the provinces of Shaanxi and Shanxi to the south. The maximal
north-south extent is 340 km, while from east to west it stretches for 400 km.
The area of Ordos Shi can roughly be divided into a hilly area in the east,
high plateaus in the west and center, sandy deserts in the north and south,
and plains at the southern bank of the Yellow river. The highest elevation, at
2,149 metres, is located in the west, the lowest point, at 850 m, is in the
east. There are two large deserts in the
territory of Ordos Shi: Kubuqi Desert in the north and the Maowusu Desert in the
south. The Kubuqi Desert occupies 19.2% of Ordos, or 16,600 km2, while the
Maowusu Desert takes up 28.8% of the area, or 25,000 km2.
Ordos features a cold semi-arid climate, marked by long, cold and very dry
winters; very warm, somewhat humid summers; and strong winds, especially in
spring. The annual precipitation is 300 to 400 millimetres in the eastern part
of the city and 190 to 350 mm in the western part. Most of the rain falls
between July and September, with very little snow in winter; average annual
evaporation reaches 2,000 to 3,000 mm. In the city proper, the monthly 24-hour
average temperature ranges from −10.5 °C in January to 21.0 °C in July, while the
annual mean is 6.16 °C. Sunshine duration averages 2,700 to 3,200 hours
annually. Economy
Ordos is one of the richest regions of China. With a nominal per-capita GDP of
US$14,500 in 2008, it is ranked ahead of Beijing. It is extremely rich in natural
resources, having one sixth of the national coal reserves. The pillars of
its economy are textiles, coal mining, petrochemicals, electricity generation,
and production of building materials. Administrative subdivisions
Ordos Shi is divided into one district and seven banners:
Kangbashi New Area A large, sparsely inhabited urban real
estate development has been constructed 25 km from Dongsheng District. Intended
to house a million people, it remains mostly uninhabited. Intended to have
300,000 residents by 2010, government figures stated it had 28,000. It has
been the subject of several well publicized articles, including a feature
illustrated series conducted by Al Jazeera in 2010. The Daily Mail has
documented Ordos/Kangbashi and other similar urban developments in China.
Ordos Museum In 2011, a 41,000 square-foot museum,
entitled Ordos Museum, was opened in Kangbashi. The museum, designed by
China-based architectural practice MAD Studio, is focused on the history of the
Ordos area, as well as on the culture and traditions of Inner Mongolia.
Transportation Travel within Ordos City is primarily
made by car or bus, using the city's network roads. Two tolled expressways,
the G18 Rongcheng–Wuhai Expressway and the G65 Baotou–Maoming Expressway,
provide connections with other towns and cities including Dongsheng.
There are no direct rail lines to the city. The closest is the Baoshen Line in
Dongsheng. Ordos Airport is to the south of the
city. Demographics
In the 2000 census, there were 1,369,766 inhabitants:
Most people come from the Shanxi province, 30 km South of this city.
See also Ordos culture
Ordos International Circuit New South China Mall and Chenggong,
examples of other underused developments List of cities in the People's Republic
of China by population List of cities in the People's Republic
of China by GDP per capita References
External links Official website
Ordos Museum website