| Official Name: | Altan Xire |
| Settlement Type: | Town |
| Pushpin Map: | China Inner Mongolia |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location in Inner Mongolia |
| Coordinates: | 39.5648°N 109.7534°W |
| Coor Pinpoint: | Town government |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | People's Republic of China |
| Subdivision Type1: | Region |
| Subdivision Name1: | Inner Mongolia |
| Subdivision Type2: | Prefecture-level city |
| Subdivision Name2: | Ordos |
| Subdivision Type3: | Banner |
| Subdivision Name3: | Ejin Horo Banner |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Timezone1: | China Standard |
| Utc Offset1: | +8 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
Altan Xire (sometimes rendered as Altanshiree, Atengxilian or Aletengxire;, mn|Алтанширээ) is a town in and the county seat of Ejin Horo Banner, Inner Mongolia. Although administratively the chief town of a rural county, Altan Xire is highly urbanized with a skyscraper-filled central business district worthy of a large metropolis.[1]
Starting in the early 2000s, a coal boom in the region provided the local government with ample tax revenue, propelling forward lavish development projects.[2] The government of Ejin Horo Banner utilized its windfall to rebuild its main township of Altan Xire.[2] The build up area of the township was expanded from 4.5to on the back of 48 billion RMB in spending by 2011.[2] The most lavish of these developments was the construction of 100 high rises for housing for civil servants.[2] In commercial development, an entire skyline was added with the construction of the Cathay Pacific Plaza complex of office towers in 2014.[3]
The town sits on the south bank of the Wulan Mulun River, a tributary of the Yellow River. 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.[4] 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.[1]
The town skyline includes Cathay Pacific Plaza, an office complex with six office towers taller than .[3] The tallest two towers are Cathay Pacific Plaza 1 and Cathay Pacific Plaza 2, both tall.[3] According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the town ranks 172nd among all cities in number of buildings taller than .[3]