Ordos

Ordos

Ordos Shi (Mongolian:, Ordus; Chinese: 鄂尔多斯; Pinyin: È'ěrduōsī) is one of the twelve major subdivisions of Inner Mongolia, China. It is located within the Ordos Loop of the Yellow River. It is officially a daji shi or prefecture-level city, but shi ('city') here means a city and its surrounding district. The seat of government at Dongsheng. Ordos City proper is a new town being built in the west-center of the region south of Baotou. The Ordos Shi was founded on February 26th 2001 on the basis of the former Yeke Juu league (Chinese: 伊克昭盟 Yikezhao Meng), a name used for the area since the 17th Century. "Ordos" means "palaces" in the Mongolian language; the name is sometimes claimed to be related to the eight white yurts of Genghis Khan. The city's prefectural administrative region occupies 86,752 km² and covers the bigger part of the Ordos Desert, although the urban area itself is relatively small. The region borders the prefecture-level cities of Hohhot which is to its east, Baotou to its northeast, Bayan Nur to its north, Alxa League to its northwest, Wuhai to its west, the province of Ningxia to its southwest, and the provinces of Shaanxi and Shanxi to its south. Ordos is known for its lavish government projects, which including the new Ordos City, a whole city of fancy buildings and abundant infrastructure that is seldom used by residents.

Geography

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 (2,149 m) is located in the west, the lowest point (850 m) in the east. The annual rainfall is 300-400 mm in the eastern part and 190-350 mm in the western part. Most of the rain falls between July and September.

There are two large deserts within the territory of Ordos Shi, namely the Kubuqi Desert (Chinese: 库布其沙漠; pinyin: Kùbùqí Shāmò) in the north, and the Maowusu Desert (Chinese: 毛乌素沙漠; pinyin: Máowūsù Shāmò) in the south. The Kubuqi Desert occupies 19.2% of Ordos (16,600 sq km), while the Maowusu Desert takes up 28.8% of the area (25,000 sq km).

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 the capital city of China, Beijing. It is extremely rich in natural resources, having one sixth of the coal reserve in China. The pillars of its economy are textile (wool), coal mining, petrochemicals, electricity generation and production of building materials.

Rich and Colorful Tourist Resources

In order to commemorate Genghis Khan after his death, Borzign Ugedei Khan built the felt tents to keep the things Genghis Khan left behind in Kharkhorin and thus named it Ordos. Ordos has a long history and abundant tourist resources, mainly including historical relics, Mongolian social customs, desert ecology, the Yellow River Valley, hot spring and rare wildlife. Some historical sites, such as the Genghis Khan Mausoleum, the Nalinta Great Wall of the Qin State, the site of Salausu and the Arzhai Grotto have been listed as national important historical relics under state protection. The tourist spots introduced above are well-known both at home and abroad. In 2007, the city was honored with the title “China’s Excellent Tourism City”.