Ordos, a Mongolian word meaning "many palaces", is located in the southwest of Inner Mongolia autonomous region, bordering Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, as well as Ningxia Hui autonomous region.
Around 2 million people of all ethnic groups live in the 87,000-square-kilometer city, with Mongolian ethnic as its main body and the Han making up the majority of the population.
Ordos, together with Hohhot and Baotou, is part of the "golden triangle" in the economic development of the autonomous region. Its main economic indicators are leading the whole region and positioned at the forefront of China's western regions. A prominent American consulting firm estimates that Ordos is one of the few locations in the world best suited for developing energy-intensive industries.
