Jilin

Jilin (Chinese: 吉林; pinyin: Jílín; postal: Kirin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Jilin borders North Korea and Russia to the east, Heilongjiang to the north, Liaoning to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the west.

Name

The name "Jilin" – literally, "Auspicious Forest" – probably originates from girin ula ᡤᡳᡵᡳᠨ ᡠᠯᠠ, a Manchu phrase meaning "along the river"; this would have been transcribed into jilin wula (t 吉林烏拉, s 吉林乌拉) in Chinese, then shortened to "Jilin".

History

In ancient times, Jilin was inhabited by various peoples, notably the Xianbei, Koreans, the Mohe and the Wùjí (勿吉). Korean kingdoms, including the Buyeo, Goguryeo and Balhae, were established in this area.

The region then fell successively under the domination of the Xiongnu, Xianbei state, Khitan Liao Dynasty, the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, and the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, much of the area was under the control of the General of Jilin, whose area of control extended to the Sea of Japan to encompass much of what is Russia's Primorsky Krai today.

Jilin City

Jilin City (postal: Kirin; Chinese: 吉林市; pinyin: Jílín Shì; Wade–Giles: Chi²-lin² Shih⁴) Is the second-largest city and former capital of Jilin province in Northeast China. As of the 2010 census, 4,413,517 people resided within its administrative area of 27,166.37 square kilometres (10,488.99 sq mi) and 1,975,121 in its built-up (or metro) area consisting of four urban districts. A prefecture-level city, it is the only major city nationally that shares its name with its province.

Jilin City is also known as the River City because of the Songhua River surrounding much of the city. In 2007, it co-hosted the Asian Winter Games.

History

Jilin City is among one of the oldest cities in Northeast China. The ancestors of the Manchu people lived there before the Qin dynasty.

China

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a sovereign state in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion. The PRC is a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, with its seat of government in the capital city of Beijing. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces; five autonomous regions; four direct-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing); two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau); and claims sovereignty over Taiwan.

Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometers, China is the world's second-largest country by land area, and either the third or fourth-largest by total area, depending on the method of measurement. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes and the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts in the arid north to subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometres (9,000 mi) long, and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East and South China Seas.