Ordos

Ordos, officially Ordos City, is a prefecture-level city in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of northern China. It lies on the Ordos Plateau near the Mu Us Desert and along the middle stretch of the Yellow River’s Hetao irrigation region. The area has a continental climate with cold winters, hot summers, and relatively low annual precipitation.

Administratively, Ordos covers a large area and includes several districts and banners, with the urban core in Dongsheng District. The prefecture-level city also comprises rural counties and autonomous banners, reflecting a mix of urban and pastoral communities.

Economy in Ordos centers on energy and resource extraction, particularly coal, with related chemical and metallurgical industries. In recent years, wind power and other renewables have grown, alongside agriculture, manufacturing, and services. The city has pursued large-scale development projects to expand urban and industrial capacity, often framed by ambitious planning initiatives.

Development and planning have drawn international attention, including the Ordos 100 architectural project of the late 2000s. The resulting scale of new construction led to discussions about the so-called ghost city phenomenon, though subsequent years saw increased occupancy and activity in many districts.

Transport and demographics: Ordos is connected by road and rail to inner Mongolia and neighboring regions and is served by an airport in the region. The population is in the millions, with a distribution between a growing urban core in Dongsheng and numerous rural communities across banners and counties.