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ORDOS Billy Price Jersey , Inner Mongolia, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Two days to go before the quadrennial Chinese Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities kicks off in Kangbashi, the staellite town of Ordos has become a much more lively town and the locals want to keep this kind of atmosphere as long as possible.

A futuristic town built with coal money in 2011, Kangbashi has long been the epitome of heedless city construction and the resulting housing bubble.

Four years have passed since it first earned the blighted label and the town remains busy fighting for its image.

Kangbashi residents hope that the National Ethnic Games can do for the town what the 2008 Beijing Olympics did for the country.

Changes are taking place. Various plants formed into letters and patterns to decorate the town and in the first six months of this year, more than 235,800 tourists visited Kangbashi, up 58.7 percent from last year.

With more than 6,000 athletes from across the country gathering here for various events like dragon boat races, wrestling and crossbow shooting, the Ethnic Games will bring a great deal of media coverage.

"I think it is a chance for people outside Kangbashi to see for themselve what my home really is. Most residents here lead a comfortable life," said volunteer Yan Anni who just graduated from high school here.

Wang Mingxi, 70, has lived in Kangbashi all his life and witnessed a desert area just a decade ago turned into a futuristic town built with coal money.

"Kangbashi is not a 'ghost town'. It has become greener and has broad roads and new buildings. I am fine here," said Wang.

Kangbashi currently has a population of 100,000, with a growing number of young people attracted by the low price of housing. An apartment in Kangbashi costs around 4,000 yuan (654 USD) per square meter, compared with 7,000 yuan in Ordos.

A new shopping center will be built in downtown Kangbashi, with a 3D photo exhibition and state-of-the-art theaters to attract the young.

A ship is loaded with containers at the bonded port in Qinzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in May. Photo: CFP

Some inland provinces have reported robust growth in trade volume in the first three quarters, despite the ongoing decline in the country's overall trade, according to a list compiled by the Global Times on Thursday, based on figures recently released by the provincial governments.

The total trade volume of Northwest China's Qinghai Province surged 42.6 percent year-on-year, ranking No.1 among all provinces.

Trade volume in Central China's Henan Province surged 21.2 percent year-on-year in the January-September period, while for Hubei and Hunan provinces it rose 5.7 percent and 1.3 percent year-on-year, respectively, according to data from the provincial governments.

Out of the 29 provincial governments that have so far released trade data for the first three quarters, 21 have reported negative growth, according to data compiled by the Global Times.

"The manufacturing industry has been transferring from East China to inland provinces, especially electronics and machinery manufacturing, which is partly why the central provinces are reporting higher trade growth," Tian Yun, editor-in-chief at the Macro China Information Network, told the Global Times Thursday.

Henan is home to several factories owned by Foxconn Technology Group, a major contract manufacturer for Apple Inc. The province has seen exports of mobile phones become the main driving force for its foreign trade. The export volume of mobile phones from the province totaled 97.73 billion yuan ($15.34 billion) in the first three quarters, up 35.5 percent year-on-year and accounting for 55.4 percent of the province's total exports, local newspaper Henan Daily reported on October 15.

Hubei also said that electronics are a major growth engine for its foreign trade. The value of mobile phones exported in the first three quarters tripled compared with the same period in 2014, and exports of tablets surged by 98.9 percent year-on-year during the period, according to a post on the province's website on October 15.

However, experts noted that a low base of comparison is a key reason for the impressive growth in trade volume in these provinces at present.

The traditionally strong provinces in foreign trade all reported negative growth in the first three quarters. For instance, the total trade volume for South China's Guangdong Province dropped 4.3 percent year-on-year in January-September and that of East China's Zhejiang dropped 2.6 percent.

China's coastal provinces, which rely heavily on trade for growth, are now trying to restructure their economy. In a post on October 21, the Guangdong provincial government said that the province's services sector now accounts for a higher percentage of its GDP growth compared to 2014 and its manufacturing sector is also moving up the value chain.

"But economic restructuring and upgrading is a slow process," said Tian, adding that it will take time before the restructuring starts to boost growth.

China's exporters are facing tough times because of rising labor costs, lackluster external demand and the stronger yuan, experts said. In the first 10 months, China's total trade volume dropped 8.1 percent year-on-year to 19.93 trillion yuan ($3.13 trillion), with exports falling 2 percent and imports diving by 15.2 percent, according to customs data released Sunday.

The State Council has released a series of measures to boost trade this year, including simplifying customs procedures and improving financing support. Recent media reports have said that the government is considering more measures to support innovative business models.

But even with such measures, trade growth is unlikely to turn positive this year, Liu Xuezhi, an analyst with Bank of Communications, told the Global Times Thursday.