Ordos City

Ordos City (Mongolian: Ordos qota; Chinese: 鄂尔多斯市) is a city and prefecture level administrative division in Inner Mongolia Province in China. Its most populous municipality is Dongsheng (东胜; Dōngshèng). The prefecture's government center is located in the new city of Ordos (Kangbashi), which is 30 km from Dongsheng. The town of Altan Xire in Ejin Horo Banner and Ordos (Kangbashi) form an urban conglomeration.

Understand


Ordos is described by western media as the poster child of excess modern Chinese city planning. Monumental architectures line the center axis flanked by identical apartment blocks built by the dozens. Ordos is referred to internationally as a "Ghost City" as the new city was almost without any human activity when first built in 2010. Several years later there is a population of 100,000 and life on the streets during the day but still quiet at night, in contrast to Dongsheng, a still bustling 4th tier Chinese city.

Ordos (Kangbashi) is bounded by the Wulan Mulun River to its south. On the opposite bank of this river is the town of Altan Xire (阿勒腾席热镇), the county seat of Ejin Horo Banner and the central business district extension of Kangbashi. While the architecture in Altan Xire is not as sleek as the futuristic civic buildings in Kangbashi, the highly urbanized town hosts an impressive complex of skyscrapers along the river and several other tall commercial and residential high rises throughout the town. These tall buildings all emanate a flashing electric light show at night, as do the buildings in Kangbashi.

Since the name "Ordos" can refer to both the new city and the prefecture whose centre is actually the old city, Dongsheng, things can get really confusing. The new city of Ordos is also referred to as Kangbashi New Area 康巴什新区. Mentioning Kangbashi can remove a lot of the ambiguity when communicating with locals.

By plane
Two other airports that are relatively close by are Baotou Airport (142 km to the north) and Yulin Yuyang Airport (169 km to the south).

There is a shuttle from the airport that runs at least once every hour, dropping passengers off at Altan Xire town (¥10), Ordos (Kangbashi) (¥15), and Dongsheng.

For getting to the airport, from the south bus station of Dongsheng, the first shuttle starts at 05:00 and takes 1 hour. The next shuttle departs at 06:00 and thereafter departures leave in 45-minute intervals until the last one at 20:15.

By train
A new railway station opened in 2016, massively increasing accessibility by train. There are several trains from nearby Baotou (2 hours) and the regional capital Hohot (2-5 h depending on which train) as well as an overnight service from Beijing (15 h). Notice that the train from Beijing, as well as several other services, only stops in nearby Dongsheng, requiring a short transfer by bus or train.



By bus

 * Baotou - takes about 3 hours.
 * Hohhot - takes about 5 hours.
 * Yulin - takes about 6 hours.

Get around
Bus line K22 runs between the center of Ordos (Kangbashi) to the center of Dongsheng. In Ordos first K22 bus from 06:30 to last departure at 18:50. Bus service between cities ends early so civil servants aren't too comfortable commuting from Dongsheng, dealing a gentle reminder by city planners for them to move to Ordos (Kangbashi).

Taxis are numerous in Dongsheng, Ordos (Kangbashi), and Altan Xire town. Flag drop is ¥7 but fares accumulate fast for long distance rides. It costs over ¥80 to go from Ordos (Kangbashi) to Dongsheng.

Sleep
Most hotels are located in the Dongsheng District. Despite the drastic buildup, Ordos (Kangbashi) has only about 4 business class hotels. Altan Xire town has several large business class hotels, which can be 30% cheaper than the options in Ordos (Kangbashi) or Dongsheng.