Ordos

About Ordos

Ordos lies on the high plateau inside the great northern bend of the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia, a land of grassland, sand and coal. Its name means many palaces in Mongolian, and for centuries the region has guarded the shrine of Genghis Khan, the Lord's Enclosure at Ejin Horo, which remains the centre of his veneration.

The city boomed in the early 2000s on coal, and the government built Kangbashi, an entirely new district with a vast central square, giant sculptures and bold buildings such as the curving Ordos Museum. It was famous for years as a near-empty ghost city, but its population has grown steadily, and today its architecture is one of the most unusual sights in northern China.

Nature is never far away. The Kubuqi Desert, where large areas have been replanted to hold back the sand, stretches across the north, and at Xiangshawan the dunes hum when you slide down them. Summer is the best time to visit, when Mongolian culture is on show at festivals and resorts across the region.