Jilin (Chinese: 吉林省, pinyin: Jílín Shěng – "Jilin Province"), English transcription of the Chinese postal service Kirin, is a province in Manchuria, the northeast of the People's Republic of China. There is also a city of the same name in this province, which lies east of Changchun.
Baicheng (白城市) - Renowned for its fertile
black soil and grain production, it also supports significant wind and
solar energy projects. Baicheng’s Momoge National Nature Reserve, a
vital wetland, hosts migratory birds like red-crowned cranes. With a
multiethnic population, including Mongols and Han Chinese, the city
blends cultural diversity with its historical role in land reclamation.
Its strategic location near Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang enhances
trade and connectivity, though it faces challenges like population
decline.
Baishan (白山市) - Known for its
stunning natural landscapes, including Heavenly Lake and Changbai
Waterfall, Baishan is a hub for eco-tourism, ginseng production, and
mineral water. Its proximity to North Korea along the Yalu River
supports Sino-North Korean trade. Baishan balances economic growth with
ecological conservation, facing challenges like population decline while
leveraging its UNESCO-recognized sites for tourism.
Changchun (长春市),
Jilin (吉林市),
Liaoyuan (辽源市),
Siping (四平市),
Songyuan (松原市),
Tonghua (通化市),
Yanji (延吉市; Yánjí Shì; Korean. 연길 Yŏngil)
Paektusan – highest mountain in the Changbai Mountains
Jilin is the middle of the three Manchurian northeastern provinces.
The geographical features of Jilin are described in a Chinese saying yi
shan san shui (Chinese 一山三水, Pinyin yīshānsānshuǐ, meaning one mountain
range - three rivers). The mountain range refers to the Changbai
Mountains in the southeast. The border rivers Yalu (Amnok) and Tumen, as
well as the Songhua Jiang flowing west, originate here. In the west of
the province, semi-arid grasslands with predominantly barren soils
dominate the landscape. In the east, however, there is a plateau with
more productive soils, which turns into hilly land further east. The
highest elevation is the 2691 m high Baitou Shan (Korean Paektusan) on
the border with North Korea, which is also the highest mountain in
northeast China. Of the total area of the province, mountains make up
36%, plains 30%, tablelands 28% and hills the remaining 6%.
The
neighboring provinces are Heilongjiang in the north and Liaoning in the
south, as well as the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the west. To
the east, Jilin borders North Korea for 1206 km and Russia for 232.7 km.
Jilin has no access to the sea, but the eastern tip of the province is
only about 15 kilometers from the Sea of Japan by the Posjet Bay,
which belongs to Russia.
Jilin has a northern continental
climate, with long cold winters and short warm summers. Four seasons can
be distinguished. Spring is dry and windy, summer is warm and rainy,
autumn is cool and pleasant and winter is long and cold. From southeast
to northwest, the climate changes from humid to semi-arid. The climatic
conditions vary considerably according to the different physical
geography of the province. The average temperatures are −10 °C in
January and about 23 °C in July. There are about 100 to 160 frost-free
days a year. The average annual precipitation is 400 to 1000 mm. Rain
falls mainly in the summer months.
The name Jilin is probably derived from the Manchurian Girinula
(ᡤᡳᡵᡳᠨᡠᠯᠠ) meaning "on the banks of the Sungari". This became the
Chinese 吉林烏拉, jílín wūlā and finally, by omitting two characters,
"Jilin".
The oldest archaeological evidence of human culture in
present-day Jilin is dated to be at least 10,000 years old. Remains of
Neolithic pottery were found at the Houtaomuga site in the area of the
city of Da'an.
During the Shang and Zhou dynasties (ca. 1600 to
256 BC), the region was inhabited at different times by various peoples
and tribes - Sushen, Huimo (濊貊; Korean: Yemaek, 예맥), Donghu (東胡),
Xianbei (先卑), Mohe (靺鞨) and Wuji (勿吉). From about the second century BC
to the fifth century AD, it was under the rule or control of the Korean
Goguryeo Empire. In 668, the Goguryeo Empire was defeated by the
combined forces of the Korean Silla Empire and the Chinese Tang Dynasty.
Dae Joyeong then founded the Manchurian-Korean Balhae Empire. From about
915 to 1125, Manchuria was ruled by the (proto-)Mongolian Liao Dynasty.
This was followed by the Manchurian Jurchen or Jin Dynasty (1125–1234),
which in turn had to give way to pressure from the Mongols in the north
and the Song Dynasty in the south. From 1290, the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty
controlled Manchuria and all of northern China. During the Ming Dynasty
(1368–1644), eastern Manchuria was largely under the control of the
Chinese Empire, more nominally than actually. During the Manchu or Qing
rule (1644–1911), a "General Government of Jilin" (吉林將軍) was established
in 1757. In the unequal treaties of Aigun in 1858 and Peking in 1860,
China lost large parts of northern Manchuria to the Russian Empire and
access to the Sea of Japan. From around 1900, Han Chinese migrated in
large numbers to the areas that had previously been predominantly
populated by Manchus. After the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Russia had
to evacuate Manchuria, which it had occupied since 1900. In 1907,
shortly before the end of the Qing Dynasty, Jilin was officially given
the status of a province.
After the Mukden Incident staged by
Japan, the Japanese occupied Manchuria. In 1932, Jilin Province was
assigned to the Japanese puppet government of Manchukuo. During World
War II, the Imperial Japanese Army had troops in Jilin. Unit 731, a
secret facility of the Kwantung Army, was based here. It conducted
experiments on living people here, killing several thousand people in
this way. At the end of the war in 1945, when the Japanese army
destroyed the production facilities, rats infected with plague were
released, which triggered an epidemic in the province and also in
Heilongjiang, which killed over 20,000 people. Towards the end of the
Second World War, the province was conquered by the Red Army as part of
the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. The Soviets looted and dismantled
industrial facilities to take them to the Soviet Union. From March 1946
to May 3, 1946, the Red Army withdrew from Manchuria and handed over
large quantities of abandoned Japanese ammunition to the Chinese
communist fighters. The CCP defeated the Nationalist Chinese troops in
Manchuria, but at enormous cost in terms of human lives. During the
communist siege of the city of Changchun, an estimated 160,000 civilians
starved to death before the Nationalist Chinese troops surrendered in
Changchun on October 16, 1948.
After the founding of the People's
Republic of China, Jilin Province was enlarged in 1954 by annexing
neighboring areas. Seven counties that had previously belonged to
Heilongjiang Province (later Baicheng County and Qian'an County) were
annexed. In addition, one city and nine counties that had previously
belonged to Liaodong Province were annexed to Jilin (later Tonghua
County), as well as the city of Liaoyuan and the counties of Xi'an and
Dongfeng. Jilin received the city of Siping, as well as the counties of
Shuangliao and Lishu, from Liaoxi Province. In 1956, the provincial
capital was moved from Jilin City to Changchun. In 1969, one county and
one banner each of the former Jirem League and the Hulun Buir League
were annexed to Jilin from Inner Mongolia. This was reversed in 1979.
Since then, the provincial borders have remained unchanged.
Administratively, Jilin is divided into one provincial city, seven prefecture-level cities and one autonomous district at the district level (as of the 2020 census). At the county level, there were a total of 60 administrative units in 2020: 21 urban districts, 20 county-level cities, 16 counties and three autonomous counties. At the municipal level, there were 951 administrative units in the same year: 344 street districts, 426 large towns, 153 townships, 28 ethnic communities.
According to the 2020 census, 24,073,453 people had their permanent
residence in the province. Compared to the previous census in 2010, this
corresponded to a decrease in the population of 3,379,362 people
(−12.31%). The reasons for this significant decline are most likely to
be found in the deteriorating economic situation of the province, so
that many people of working age migrated to economically more prosperous
provinces. This assumption is supported by the fact that the Hukou
population (the officially registered population in the province) was
about two million people higher than the actual permanent resident
population (the latter is recorded in the census). About two million
people from the province therefore lived and worked mostly or
permanently outside the province.
In 2020, 91.33% of the
population (21,985,839 people) were Han Chinese and 8.67% (2,087,614
people) belonged to ethnic minorities.
Jilin Province was the
first Chinese province to allow women to undergo artificial
insemination.
Jilin is an important agricultural area. About 7.03 million hectares
(70,300 km², about 37% of the land area) are considered arable, which
ranks the province ninth in the country. About 832,000 hectares are
fertile black earth soils. More than half of the province's grain
harvest is harvested from these soils. About 43.8% of the area is
covered by forests and forestry plays an important role. The province is
a center of ginseng cultivation.
Jilin is rich in mineral
resources. Deposits of oil shale, molybdenum, nickel, magnesium,
wollastonite, diatomaceous earth, bentonite, volcanic slag and expanded
clay have been found here. Jilin is a center of heavy industry. In 2015,
the mineable coal reserves were estimated at 800 million tons, which,
given the annual production capacity of the 209 coal mines at the time
of 54.16 million tons, would be enough for a maximum of 20 years. There
are also large natural gas reserves, estimated at at least 151.8 billion
m³. For years, efforts have been made to expand renewable energies,
particularly wind power.
The three northeastern provinces were
among the most economically developed provinces in the early decades of
the People's Republic. Steel and heavy industry was built up here,
partly with Soviet support. Other large state-owned companies, such as
the textile industry, chemical industry, etc., were added. As the market
economy reforms progressed from the 1980s onwards, many state-owned
companies fell into crisis due to unprofitability. The economic growth
of the entire northeastern region fell significantly behind the economic
growth of the prosperous coastal regions. Heavy industry fell into a
permanent crisis. In contrast to the national average, which showed
significant economic growth, Jilin's GDP shrank from US$221 billion in
2015 to US$191 billion in 2020. The province's per capita income is in
the lower third of China's provinces.
In the provincial capital
Changchun, the first automobile factory was built in the 1950s with the
help of the Soviet Union, which produced the Jiefang (= liberation)
truck type with 95 hp for over thirty years without any changes being
made. The first model change took place in 1987, when the four-ton truck
was upgraded to a five-ton truck with a more powerful engine. Western
companies also take the importance of this factory into account:
Volkswagen had the Golf IV and the Jetta assembled here, and various
Mercedes models were assembled for Daimler-Chrysler.
Since 1958,
the classic official car "Red Flag" (Hongqi) has also been built here.
The 220,000 hectare Changbai Mountain Nature Reserve, the largest protected area in China, stretches 250 kilometers along the border with Korea. It has been included in UNESCO's international nature conservation program. The rocks of Changbai shimmer white, which is where the name comes from (always white). One of the peaks is the 2,155 meter high Baitoushan White Head Mountain, an extinct volcano. At its peak lies the famous 9.2 km² Lake of Heaven, a crater over 300 meters deep that was formed during a volcanic eruption in 1702 and filled with water.