CGTN: From ‘potato capital’ to ‘token city’: How a city in north China is transforming

CGTN published an article exploring how Ulanqab, a city in north China, is transforming its natural advantages into new growth drivers amid the global AI boom while balancing technological advancement and economic growth with ecological conservation to chart a path toward greener development.

BEIJING, Oct. 17, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ulanqab, a city in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is known as China’s “potato capital” and “oat capital.” Today, it is tapping its abundant wind and solar resources to power the growth of its computing industry, turning its natural advantages into new drivers of economic growth.

Since China launched its national “East Data, West Computing” project in 2022, Ulanqab has accelerated the development of its computing infrastructure. In late 2025, the city unveiled a three-year development strategy to build a “token city,” powered by green energy.

According to official data, the city had signed 109 computing center projects as of August 2026. From January to August, the industry generated 5.68 billion yuan (about $849 million) in revenue, up 40.3% year on year.

Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Ulanqab on Friday, calling for better use of the region’s abundant wind and solar resources to develop the green computing power industry. He also stressed the need to coordinate high-quality development with high-level environmental protection and stay committed to a path of green development that prioritizes ecological conservation.

From traditional industries to green computing

During his inspection, Xi visited the Chahar High-Tech Development Zone in Ulanqab, where he learned about Inner Mongolia’s progress in advancing the construction of a hub for the “East Data, West Computing” project. He stressed the need to ensure the efficient operation of completed projects and finish the construction of follow-up projects on schedule.

He also called for efforts to earnestly implement the requirements for efficient, green and safe development and actively promote the development of the green computing power industry.

The “East Data, West Computing” project aims to build a coordinated national computing network by directing computing demand from eastern China to western regions, optimizing the distribution of data centers and promoting regional development. Inner Mongolia is one of eight national computing hubs established under the initiative.

Computing centers require reliable power supplies, high-speed networks and efficient cooling systems. John Gong, a professor of economics at the University of International Business and Economics, told CGTN that Ulanqab has made effective use of its abundant renewable energy resources to power China’s AI development and that Xi’s visit underscored his support for Ulanqab’s development model, which leverages local resource advantages to drive economic growth as well as technological innovation.

With an average annual temperature of 4.3 degrees Celsius, the city can use natural cooling to reduce data-center energy consumption for nearly 10 months of the year. It also has abundant wind and solar resources and relatively low infrastructure costs. These advantages have enabled Ulanqab to attract leading big data companies, which have established computing centers in the city in just a few years.

By expanding computing infrastructure in cities like this, China is leveraging its abundant renewable energy to forge a greener path for the computing industry.

Prioritizing ecological conservation

While harnessing green resources to drive economic growth and technological innovation, China has also placed strong emphasis on ecological conservation.

Xi visited the Huangqihai Lake nature reserve on Friday, where he learned about local ecological conservation efforts, inspected the lake’s shoreline and mudflats, and observed birds inhabiting the area.

He stressed the need to fully implement China’s wetland protection law, uphold ecological red lines and safeguard biodiversity. For degraded wetland ecosystems, he called for giving priority to natural restoration, supplemented by human intervention, and carrying out restoration in a scientific and sound manner.

Huangqihai was once an inland, closed-basin lake that came close to drying up due to climate and other factors. In 1993, a county-level nature reserve was established to restore the wetland, and it was upgraded to an autonomous-region-level reserve in 2003.

After years of ecological conservation and restoration, the lake has seen its waters and surrounding vegetation recover, becoming a thriving habitat for wildlife.

From green computing to wetland restoration, Ulanqab illustrates how economic growth and ecological conservation can go hand in hand. By turning local resource advantages into new growth drivers while safeguarding its natural environment, the city demonstrates that green development has become deeply embedded in China’s pursuit of high-quality growth.

CGTN Digital cgtn@cgtn.com