Kangbashi District


Kangbashi District, also known by its Mongolian name Hia Bagx District or Hia'bagx District, is an urban district of the prefecture-level city of Ordos in Inner Mongolia, China.
The district is internationally known for its opulent civic square and monuments and for having few residents relative to the grandeur of the built-up space that was financed by the Chinese government. The number of the residents has risen slightly since the district was first constructed.

Geography

Within the Ordos prefecture, the district is located southwest of Dongsheng, the prior urban center of Ordos, and north of Ejin Horo Banner. Adjacent to the south is Altan Xire, the highly urbanized county seat of Ejin Horo Banner, separated from the district by the Wulan Mulun River.

History

With an expanding district due to economic exploitation of the local natural resources, but dwindling water supplies due to the continual expansion of the Ordos Desert, Ordos officials were faced with a local infrastructure planning problem. Hence in 2003, Ordos city officials launched the creation of a new 1 million person city district. Located on a site from the existing city of Dongsheng, the new city is located next to three existing reservoirs on the site of two former villages.
, the current city on a site of has capacity for at least 300,000 people, created with an estimated investment of around 1.1 trillion yuan.

Economy

There is a campus of Beijing Normal University and a municipal library. A five-story shopping mall offers a food court and other shopping. A large "fountain show" provides evening entertainment. Economic activity is gradually picking up with the help of the local government which has relocated its administrative center and high quality high schools here. A documentary has been produced by outside filmmakers which documents the facilities of the city and its gradual growth.

Apartment and office capacity

Characterized as a ghost town, Kangbashi was made world-famous by a news report in November 2009 from Al Jazeera, later picked up and expanded through an April 2010 article in Time magazine, for having few residents but massive amounts of empty residential housing and high-tech public works projects. Subsequent reports have supported the claims that Kangbashi housed around 20,000 to 30,000 people. A joint Peking University and Baidu study in 2015 found high vacancy rates in parts of Kangbashi.

Transportation