Ordos City

Ordos, also known as Ih Ju, is one of twelve major subdivisions of Inner Mongolia, China. It lies within the Ordos Plateau of the Yellow River. Ordos has been administered as a prefecture-level city since 2001, although built-up areas make up a small proportion of its surface area. Its population was 2,153,638 as of the 2020 census. Ordos City consists of two separate urban areas, the historical city center Dongsheng (574,242 inhabitants in 2020), a newly developed area at Kangbashi (population 118,796), and Altan Xire (population 141,983).

Ordos emerged as a center of coal mining during the early 2000s, as the prefecture is home to one-sixth of China's total coal reserve. In recent years, Ordos is increasingly transitioning to renewable energy and manufacturing, although coal enterprises remain central to its economy.

Ordos is known for its recent large scale government projects, including most prominently the new Kangbashi District, an urban district planned to be a massive civic mall with many monuments, cultural institutions and other showpiece architecture. It was also the venue for the 2012 Miss World Final. When it was newly built, the streets of the new Kangbashi district were frequently described as a "ghost city" by several Western media outlets. However, in 2017, Wade Shepard stated in a Forbes article that it became increasingly difficult to apply this label as the city's population had surged to 153,000, an increase from 30,000 in 2009.