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"Under the endless sky, herds of cows and sheep are idling around the wild grassland."

As the old song illustrates, nomads live a freewheeling lifestyle on the prairie. And this is a common sight in Ordos, a southwestern city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Embraced by the Yellow River and neighboring Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, the city covers an area of 87,000 square kilometers, including one district and seven banners - administrative divisions at a county level in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

It has a population of 1.4 million, with Mongolians as the majority ethnic group.

Ordos means "many palaces" in Mongolian. It is seen as one of the sources of civilization, where various cultures, including those of the Xiongnu (or Hun), the Xixia, the Mongolian and the Han met in history, leaving a myriad of rich cultural legacies admired by visitors in contemporary days.

At present, the city has five key historical relic sites.

In Ordos lies the tomb of Genghis Khan, a famous ancient emperor, who led his Mongolian cavalries in a march across the European and Asian continents and established the biggest empire at that time. For centuries, his tomb has been guarded and worshipped by the Mongolians as a shrine.

Legends say that Wang Zhaojun, a beautiful woman in the Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD), whose marriage to a chief of a nomadic tribe brought the end to a war, was also buried in the city.

Relics of Tongwan City, which was built by hundreds of thousands of Xiongnu people nearly 1,600 years ago, is another attraction.

According to historical records, workers used a mixture of white limestone powder and clay as construction materials to enhance the building, in a similar way to what we do today through using concrete.

The work lasted six years and was later destroyed in a war. However, its remains turned out to be the only city relics left by the Xiongnu ethnic group.

Other cultural heritage includes Tibetan Buddhist-style temples, ancient grottoes with paintings and sculptures, ruins of a straight alley of the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC), historical sites of Ordos Bronze Culture, and stretches of the Great Wall. They all appeal to tourists.

Wandering around these historical sites in Ordos, which witnessed the ups and downs of the grassland tribes, visitors will be taken back in time.

Strong Mongolian-flavored dances and songs provide a glimpse of the characters of the valiant grassland people.

Appreciating the local arts and preserved ethnic customs, visitors will gain more understanding of the nomadic life.

The colorful cultural fruits are grown out of the grassland region.

Natural scenes such as rolling grass, sand lakes, hot springs, a grand ravine and an echoing sand resort offer visitors a unique experience.

Ordos is particularly recognized as an important habitat to relict gulls, which are an endangered bird species around the world.

Because of its magnificent grassland landscape, preserved cultural heritage and distinct ethnic customs, Ordos has emerged as a tempting tourist destination in recent years.

According to local statistics, the city received 3.1 million tourists from home and abroad in 2005.

And the city's tourism sector achieved a total revenue of 1.86 billion yuan (US$232.5 million).

The upcoming tourism event, the third China Inner Mongolia International Grassland Cultural Festival, which will take place in Ordos in August, will again put the city in the limelight.

Energy base

Ordos is endowed with a variety of natural resources, including coal, natural gas, trona, salt, gypsum, limestone and kaolin. It is one of the bases of energy and textiles in the country.

Figures show that the city has more than 50 kinds of mineral deposits.

The proved coal reserves reached 124.4 billion tons, accounting for about one sixth of the country's total.

The coal output of the city stood at 150 million tons in 2005, ranking top among Chinese cities.

The proved natural gas reserves in the city roughly account for one third of the country's total.

Suli Natural Gas Field, situated in Ordos, is one of the biggest gas fields in the country. Its proved reserve was posted at 750.4 billion cubic meters.

Capitalizing on the resources, Ordos focuses on the development of energy, textiles, biological pharmaceuticals, new materials, autos, commerce and trade.

Erdos Corp, a leading Chinese cashmere product maker, has its headquarters there, so Ordos is becoming a wool industry centre in the country.

The city has now grown into one of the most dynamic economies in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Its gross domestic product (GDP) exceeded 55 billion yuan (US$6.9 billion) in 2005 and per capita GDP reached US$4,600.

During the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-10), the municipal government plans to build three energy industrial bases, respectively, with a designed production capacity of 200 million tons of coal, 15 million kilowatts of power and 10 million tons of chemicals.

The resource-rich and vigorous region has started to receive attention from investors.

Ordos signed eight agreements with a combined investment value of 116 billion yuan (US$14.5 billion) at an investment fair held in Hong Kong last year.

(China Daily July 26, 2006)