Jilin City[a] is the second-largest city and former capital ofJilin province innortheast China. As of the 2020 census, 3,623,713 people resided within its administrative area of 27,166.37 square kilometres (10,488.99 sq mi) and 1,895,865 in its built-up (or metro) area consisting of four urban districts. Aprefecture-level city, it is the only major city nationally that shares its name with its province.
Jilin City is also known as theRiver City because of theSonghua River surrounding much of the city. In 2007, it co-hosted theAsian Winter Games.
Jilin City is one of the oldest cities in Northeast China.[citation needed]
During the reign of theYongle Emperor in theMing dynasty, efforts were made to expand Ming control throughout all ofManchuria. Mighty river fleets were built and sailed several times from Jilin City, getting the chieftains of the local tribes to swear allegiance to the Ming rulers.[3] Soon after the establishment of the Manchu-ledQing dynasty, the territory of today'sPrimorsky Kray was put under the administration of Jilin. As theRussian Empire advanced eastward to the Pacific coast, the Qing government ordered a naval shipbuilding factory to be set up here in 1661. Jilin was officially established as a fort city in 1673 when Anzhuhu (安珠瑚), the Deputy Lieutenant-General (副都统), was ordered to build a castle in Jilin. In 1676, the Military Governor ofNinguta was transferred to Jilin City because of its more convenient location and increasing military importance, while the former Deputy Lieutenant-General was transferred in the opposite direction to Ninguta.[4] Since then Jilin City has developed at a rapid pace. The nickname of Jilin City isRiver City (江城), which originates from one sentence "连樯接舰屯江城" of a poem written byKangxi Emperor when he was visiting Jilin City in 1682.[citation needed] Jilin retained its importance into the 18th and 19th century as one of the few cities existing beyond the Willow Palisade, along withQiqihar,Ninguta andMukden.[citation needed]
AfterManchukuo established their capital in Xinjing (present-dayChangchun), Jilin City's importance decreased. By 1940, Jilin's population was 173,624, while Xinjing's population reached 544,202 at the same time.[5][full citation needed] Soviet forces captured Jilin during theAugust Storm operation.[6]
Jilin became the provincial capital of Jilin Province after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, until Changchun took this position in 1956.
AMS Map of Jilin City (labeled as CHI-LIN (KIRIN) and the surrounding area in 1957
Jilin City, which is located in central Jilin Province spanning from 125° 40' to 127° 56' E longitude and 42° 31' to 44° 40' N latitude. Neighbouring prefectures are:
Jilin City is situated in a hilly area near theSonghua River. There are four famous mountains surrounding Jilin City, which is North Mountain in the west, Long Tan Mountain in the east, Zhuque Mountain in the North, and Turtle Mountain in the south, plus Songhua River, it forms abagua in Taiji pattern.North Mountain, called Beishan, is the most famous mountain in Jilin City and is home to several Buddhist Temples. TheQianlong Emperor reportedly visited the mountain.
Jilin City has a four-season, monsoon-influenced,humid continental climate (KöppenDwa). Winters are long (lasting from November to March), cold, and windy, but dry, due to the influence of theSiberian anticyclone, with a January mean temperature of −15.4 °C (4.3 °F). Spring and autumn are somewhat short transitional periods, with some precipitation, but are usually dry and windy. Summers are hot and humid, with a prevailing southeasterly wind due to the East Asian monsoon; July averages 23.3 °C (73.9 °F). Snow is usually light during the winter, and annual rainfall is heavily concentrated from June to August.
Climate data for Jilin City, elevation 290 m (950 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–present)
The Jilin chemical plant explosions were a series of explosions which occurred on November 13, 2005, in the No.101 Petrochemical Plant in Jilin City, killing six. The explosion severelypolluted theSonghua River, with an estimated 100 tons of pollutants containingbenzene andnitrobenzene entering into the river.[11] The benzene level recorded was at one point 108 times above national safety levels. This caused downstream major cities including Harbin, Songyuan and Khabarovsk suspending their water supply for almost one week.[12] Chinese leaders later had to apologize to the Russian government over its handling of the incident as the pollutants finally flowed into theAmur (Heilong) River, the major boundary river between China and Russia.[13]
Jilin was one of the worst-hit regions in China by rain and landslides in the2010 summer China floods.[14] On July 28, 2010, several thousand barrels, which contained toxic chemicals includingtrimethylsilyl chloride andhexamethyldisiloxane, about170 kg of a poisonous substance in each, were washed into theSonghua River by the floods from two chemical plants based in Jilin. There were reports that some barrels exploded on contact with water.[15] By late afternoon on August 1, 6,387 barrels had been retrieved from the river. Officials stated that tests show the water in the river remains safe to drink. Three soldiers of thePeople's Liberation Army in Jilin drowned after working to remove the barrels and control the flooding.[16] The Dahe Dam in Changshan Township was breached on July 28, spilling 4 million m3 of water, destroying five villages downstream and leaving 40 people dead or missing. Over 100 were dead or missing after floods devastated Jilin prefecture. Workers started repairing fifty-one damaged small reservoirs and fortifying riverbanks in the province after the Songhua River surged to levels twice as high as normal.
Jilin City is a popular destination for tourists to come each winter to view the magnificentrime ice (雾凇;霧凇) on trees along the banks of the Songhua River, (the river is the only river in the region that does not freeze in winter). The rime ice is a natural phenomenon that occurs every year during January and February.[citation needed] It is a result of water vapor rising up from the warm Songhua River to meet the cold −20 °C (−4 °F) night air, causing the crystallisation of water vapour on willows branches.[citation needed]
Wulajie (乌拉街; formerly also transcribed as Wulakai[17]) Old City (44°05′N126°28′E / 44.083°N 126.467°E /44.083; 126.467), aQing dynasty walled town inLongtan District, on the east bank of the Sungari River downstream from Jilin's main urban area. The place was the center for collection of local products to the imperial court during the Qing dynasty.[17] In 1682—when, according toFerdinand Verbiest, Wulajie (Ula) was "the most illustrious city of the whole province"—theKangxi Emperor himself visited the place to enjoysturgeon fishing.[18] These days, a public school nearby is one of the few schools in the country where someManchu is taught.[19][20]
The airport is located about 76 km (47 mi) away from the Jilin City and has flights to many cities from the airport.China Southern Airlines also provide some international connections directly from Changchun.
Jilin is served by theJilin railway station. Jilin railway station is on the East-West Changchun-Tumen Railway mainline and provides convenient access to many cities around China, includingBeijing,Tianjin, Dalian, Jinan,Hangzhou. Services toHarbin,Changchun andShenyang are also frequent and convenient through the Harbin-Dalian high-speed rail and its branch from Changchun to Jilin.
^Shih-shan Henry Tsai,The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty. SUNY Press, 1996.ISBN0-7914-2687-4.Partial text on Google Books. P. 129–130
^Edmonds, Richard Louis (1985).Northern Frontiers of Qing China and Tokugawa Japan: A Comparative Study of Frontier Policy. University of Chicago, Department of Geography; Research Paper No. 213. pp. 113,115–117.ISBN0-89065-118-3.
^Orléans, Pierre Joseph d'; Verbiest, Ferdinand; Pereira, Thomas (1854), Major, Richard Henry (ed.),Tartar conquerors of China. Translated by Francis Egerton Ellesmere (Earl of), Issue 17 of Works issued by the Hakluyt Society, Hakluyt Society, Printed for the Hakluyt Society, pp. 112–113 (This is an English translation of Verbiest's report originally published in French in the early 19th century)
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