Altan Xire (sometimes rendered as Altanshiree, Atengxilian or Aletengxire; , ) is a town in and the county seat of

Ejin Horo Banner The Ejin Horo Banner, also known as Ejin Horo Qi or Yijinhuoluo County, is a banner in Ordos City in southwestern Inner Mongolia, China. It borders Shaanxi Province to the southeast. As of 2009, the Ejin Horo Banner covers an area of almost , w ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

. Although administratively the chief town of a rural county, Altan Xire is highly urbanized with a skyscraper-filled

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

worthy of a large metropolis.

History

Starting in the early 2000s, a coal boom in the region provided the local government with ample tax revenue, propelling forward lavish development projects. The government of Ejin Horo Banner utilized its windfall to rebuild its main township of Altan Xire. The build up area of the township was expanded from on the back of 48 billion

RMB The renminbi ( ; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB), also known as the Chinese yuan, is the official currency of the People's Republic of China. The renminbi is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of Chin ...

in spending by 2011. The most lavish of these developments was the construction of 100 high rises for housing for civil servants. In commercial development, an entire skyline was added with the construction of the Cathay Pacific Plaza complex of office towers in 2014.

Geography

The town sits on the south bank of the

Wulan Mulun River Ulan or Wulan (; ; zh, s=乌兰县) is a county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some natio ...

, a tributary of the

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

. On the north bank of the same river is Kangbashi District, known worldwide as a "ghost city" due to the large ceremonial mall area replete with huge monuments and civic buildings but not much human activity. As an adjacent urban area with much of area's housing stock, Altan Xire can be considered an extension of Kangbashi that has organically grown into a bustling city while Kangbashi still lacks liveliness.

Economy

The town skyline includes Cathay Pacific Plaza, an office complex with six office towers taller than . The tallest two towers are Cathay Pacific Plaza 1 and Cathay Pacific Plaza 2, both tall. According to the

Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings, including skyscrapers, and Sustainable design, sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in ...

, the town ranks 172nd among all cities in number of buildings taller than .

References

{{reflist, 30em Populated places in Inner Mongolia