Atlas
Ordos
The semi-arid plateau enclosed by the Yellow River's great horseshoe bend — a suspended sword over Guanzhong and the Central Plains, the drill ground where farmers and herders clashed across history.
Prefecture: Ordos City
Province: Inner MongoliaA crumbling earthen tower rises from a windblown sand mound amid shallow dunes and sparse tawny grasses beneath a broad clouded sky.
Memorial1
- Genghis Khan Mausoleum in Ejin Horo
Genghis Khan rests in this steppe shrine at Ejin Horo, guarded for some eight centuries by generations of the Darkhad people.
Vista2
- Kubuqi Desert Xiangshawan Oasis
Singing dunes rise at Xiangshawan in the Kubuqi, China's seventh-largest desert, whose greening work is hailed by the United Nations as a global model.
- Jungar Yellow River Grand Canyon Taiji Bend
The majestic S-shaped Taiji bend cut deep into the red cliffs where Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia meet.
In its history3
- Wei QingBirth unknown–106 BCE
Part of Ordos's history: Xiongnu Campaigns. Brother of Empress Wei Zifu who rose from horseman in Princess Pingyang's household to grand general and led seven campaigns against the Xiongnu
- Huo Qubing140–117 BCE
Part of Ordos's history: Xiongnu Campaigns. Western Han cavalry general, nephew of Wei Qing, who took the Hexi corridor from the Xiongnu in 121 BC and drove deep into Mongolia in 119 BC before dying in his twenties
- Emperor Wu of Han (Liu Che)156–87 BCE
Part of Ordos's history: Xiongnu Campaigns. Western Han emperor for fifty-four years who began the use of reign titles, sent armies against the Xiongnu and envoys to Central Asia, and weakened the princes
Zhou1
- King Wuling Adopts Mounted Archery307 BCE
In 307 BCE, King Wuling of Zhao adopted Hu dress and mounted archery as a military reform.
Han2
- Xiongnu Campaigns
The thunder northern campaigns that turned Han from strategic defense to strategic offense.
- Wei Qing Recovers the Ordos127 BCE
Wei Qing drove out the White Sheep and Loufan kings, recovered the Ordos Loop, and enabled the founding of Shuofang Commandery.
