Talk:Ordos Desert

This article dates back to 1911,
and I think some of the geographical names have changed. I tried to find this desert in the Chinese Wikipedia, but there is no article on it. There is an article 庫布其沙漠, which describes a desert in the northern Ordos region, and in this article is a red link to 鄂爾多斯高原, which would translate to Ordos Plateau. Actually, the German version of this article is at Ordos-Plateau (not: Wüste = desert). It could be we have to move this article to Ordos Plateau and create a different article on the desert. But what would the name of the desert be? 庫布其沙漠 = Kubuqi desert? But then, geographical names of the region have a mongolian root, which is transcribed to Chinese, so kubuqi ist wrong.

I am not an expert on Chinese geography so maybe somebody can check this? -- Mkill 23:20, 14 December 2005 (UTC)


 * According to my copy of Goode's World Atlas, it's labelled as "Ordos Desert" in English. Since this is the English wikipedia, the common name in English is what determines the name of the article, though the difference with other languages is interesting. siafu 04:48, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

Ordos, Mu Us, and Hobq deserts
I've edited several research papers lately where the Chinese authors address environmental conditions in the Mu Us Desert, the name they use for the desert. There seems to be confusion of the name of the Ordos. I continue to do research on the topic. The current Wikipedia page for the Ordos Desert uses the name Mu Us Desert as a synonym for the Ordos, as it starts by saying "The Ordos Desert, also known as the Mu Us Desert, . . ." I discovered this after creating a new Wikipedia page for the Mu Us Desert. But based on my previous research, I had a gut feeling the two deserts were not the same. Both have several English names used on the internet. I'm basing my research (and the Mu Us page) mainly on recently published research.

I'm coming to the conclusion that the Ordos consists of two deserts, the Mu Us to the south and the Hobq to the north; the latter also seems to have several names. To add to the confusion, some maps show the Ordos and the Mu Us as being the same location. Rather than make a firm decision at this point, I'm waiting until I have more reliable information. I can read a little Chinese and have thousands of Chinese-internet friends. Unfortunately, most of them have never heard of either desert! So, as I continue my research, I will add to the Mu Us page and may eventually make minor changes to this page, but only after I am certain which area has which name, based on reliable information. For example, the Reader's Digest World Atlas is both vague and unhelpful in making this decision. I need local and reliable published sources. Sedgehead (talk) 04:50, 13 July 2013 (UTC)Sedgehead


 * oh, oops, I didn't see this before proposing the merge. Sorry. It still isn't very clear whether or not the two are separate, though, so there probably should be a discussion at this point, so I think I may leave it up, but I still feel bad. If people feel strongly that it should go down, feel free to take it off, then. --anamedperson (talk) 00:00, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

I'm still looking into this. I made teh following comments on a different chat page (Adirlanz's page?) and then when I tried to find them I found this page. The following repeats some of what I mentioned above, so please forgive the repeat; I'm still trying to find Chinese authors who can tell me how they treat it in China (as also repeated below). I'm too busy to dig too deep today but plan to ferret this out. I've deleted some info from the earlier discussion since it is repetitive here (indicated by . . .).

. . . I'm continuing efforts to improve the page and welcome any ideas you have related to style, merging, and any other topics. That said, I'm continuing to research exactly what Chinese people call the Mu Us and the Ordos and how they differentiate them. I plan to contact some authors of recent scientific articles to get their opinions. Like [others], I initially thought that perhaps the Mu Us and the Ordos were the same thing. Initially I depended on English maps and websites to try to help me make that decision. As a writer and editor, I continue to see and edit several research papers which discuss the Mu Us [as the Mu Us Sandyland without mention of the Ordos; see citations on the Mu Us page; I'm editing one such paper today] but have found only a few references that delineate it well. In short, I'm still in the process of reviewing the issue. Certainly, from a western perspective, many authors seem to consider the two areas to be one and the same. But to me, what is more important is how the Chinese see them. I have a slight advantage in that I started teaching myself Chinese in 2004 and communicate in Chinese daily with people in China. I've just not taken the time to settle the issue at this point.

I also realize that Wikipedia is a group effort, so no one will hurt my feelings by making decisions on how to deal with this issue. So, don't worry about that. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of things and see how the Chinese delineate the area. Perhaps I will get some answers this week, if I start contacting authors of recent papers and talk to them in Chinese. Please give me any species on style and other issues you have related to my writing. I'm very open to ideas and readily admit I don't know exactly what Wikipedia needs. Sedgehead (talk) 20:08, 18 August 2013 (UTC)Sedgehead

Proposed merge with Mu Us Sandyland
It appears that the Ordos Desert and the Mu Us Sandyland are more-or-less the same thing. Merging the two articles may or may not be something at least worth considering. anamedperson (talk) 23:51, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

Somewhere on Wikipedia (I have a hard time keeping up with "talk" pages and such) there's a more extended discussion on this topic where a few days ago I made additional comments on this topic. My main point? Based on what I've seen in the past year or two Chinese scientists consider the Mu Us as the southern part of the Ordos. I'm in the process of documenting that through citations of scientific research papers added to the Mu Us page, such as the first one I added just now. I agree the topic is worth considering. But I'm leaning toward keeping the two (or three) pages separate based not on US atlases but on research being published by Chinese authors. Sedgehead (talk) 04:41, 22 August 2013 (UTC)Sedgehead

What the hell is a "sandyland"? Sounds like Chinglish to me.--210.68.70.124 (talk) 05:48, 26 December 2013 (UTC)