I didn't have time this morning to post my whole comment.
This Chinese city reminds me of when the Brazil government decided to move their capital 700 miles west of Rio de Janeiro and create a new capital- Braslia.
I remember my teacher thinking it was a bit of a white elephant to move the capital so far away from where the vast majority of the people lived.
But by moving the federal government there were jobs in the new city.
It is now a city with over 2,500,000 residents with another 1,000,000 in the surrounding suburbs so it seems to have worked out for them.
If the Chinese were to build a couple of manufacturing plants in Ordos the people will go there.