Province · Northeast China
Jilin
吉林
From the Changbai Mountains to the Songliao Plain
Jilin is a province in north-east China between the Changbai Mountains on the borders with North Korea and Russia and the fertile Songliao Plain. Its capital, Changchun, is the historic home of China's car industry and was the capital of the Japanese-controlled state of Manchukuo; the province also includes the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and the Koguryo capital at Ji'an.
Key facts
- Capital
- Changchun
- Abbreviation
- 吉 (Jí)
- Area
- about 187,400 km²[1]
- Resident population
- 22.97 million(as of end of 2025)[2]
- Gross regional product
- CNY 1.50 trillion(as of 2025)[2]
- Census population
- 24.07 million(as of 2020 census)[3]
- Divisions
- 8 prefecture-level cities, 1 autonomous prefecture[1]
- Borders
- North Korea and Russia
Profile
- Chinese name
- 吉林
- Abbreviation (简称)
- 吉
- Type
- Province
- Region
- Northeast China
- Capital
- Changchun
- Area
- about 187,400 km²
- Divisions
- 8 prefecture-level cities and 1 autonomous prefecture (Yanbian Korean)
- Ethnic groups
- Han, Korean, Manchu, Mongol, Hui, Xibe
- Languages
- Northeastern Mandarin, Korean, Manchu
- Neighbours
- Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang
- Borders
- North Korea, Russia
Languages
Northeastern Mandarin
东北官话
The everyday language across the province; Changchun's speech is close to the standard.
Korean
朝鲜语
Co-official in Yanbian prefecture, where signs are bilingual and schools teach in Korean.
Manchu
满语
Survives in place names and in revival programmes; the Manchu population speaks Mandarin.
Name and abbreviation
The province is named after Jilin city, the regional seat under the Qing. The name is a shortened transcription of the Manchu Girin Ula, “along the river”, referring to the Songhua River, which flows through the city. The characters 吉林, “auspicious forest”, were chosen for their sound. The abbreviation 吉 is the first character of the name.
Historic names
吉林乌拉
Full Chinese transcription of the Manchu name of Jilin city.
Bohai (Balhae)
渤海国
Kingdom of the seventh to tenth centuries whose early capitals lay in the east of today's province.
白山黑水
“white mountains, black waters”
Literary name for the Northeast, from the Changbai Mountains and the Heilong River.
关东
“east of the pass”
Traditional name for the whole region beyond Shanhai Pass.
Land and climate
Jilin slopes from south-east to north-west. The east is mountainous, dominated by the Changbai range with its volcanic crater lake on the North Korean border, and covered in mixed forest. The centre is rolling farmland on the black soils of the Songliao Plain, one of China's main maize belts. The west merges into the sandy grasslands and lakes of the Horqin and Songnen plains, bordering Inner Mongolia.
Landforms
Changbai Mountains
长白山
Volcanic massif on the North Korean border, called Paektu or Baekdu in Korean; its crater lake, Tianchi, is the source of the Songhua, Yalu and Tumen rivers.
Songliao Plain
松辽平原
The central farmland between the Songhua and Liao basins, with deep black soils.
Horqin grassland
科尔沁草原
Sandy grassland in the far west, shared with Inner Mongolia.
Chagan Lake
查干湖
Large lake in the west, known for its traditional winter fishing through the ice.
Rivers and lakes
Songhua River
松花江
Rises at Tianchi and flows past Jilin city north into Heilongjiang; dammed at Fengman to form Songhua Lake.
Tumen River
图们江
Forms the border with North Korea; China's access to the Sea of Japan ends just short of its mouth, where Russia and North Korea meet.
Yalu River
鸭绿江
Flows south-west from the Changbai Mountains along the border past Ji'an.
Nen River
嫩江
Forms part of the boundary with Heilongjiang and joins the Songhua in the north-west.
Climate
Jilin has a cold continental monsoon climate: long, severe winters with snow and frozen rivers, and short, warm, wet summers. The mountains in the east are wetter and cooler; the western plains are drier and windier. Winter brings rime ice along the Songhua at Jilin city and skiing in the mountains; summer and early autumn are the season for Changbai Mountain, whose upper slopes are snow-covered for much of the year.
History
The east of Jilin was the homeland of peoples who built states between China and Korea: Buyeo, Koguryo, whose capital stood at Ji'an from the early first century CE to 427, and Bohai, which ruled much of the Northeast from 698 to 926. The Jurchen Jin and the Manchu Qing rose from the same forests. The Qing treated the Changbai Mountains as the sacred homeland of their ancestors and restricted Han settlement, which ended only in the late nineteenth century. Japan made Changchun the capital of Manchukuo in 1932. After 1949 Jilin became the base of China's automobile industry and a major grain producer.
3 CE–427
Koguryo capital at Ji'an
The kingdom's capital at Guonei City and the mountain fortress of Wandu flourished on the Yalu until the move to Pyongyang.
414
Stele of King Gwanggaeto
The six-metre inscribed stele at Ji'an records the conquests of the Koguryo king and is a key source for early Korean history.
698–926
Bohai kingdom
Founded near Dunhua, Bohai adopted Tang administration and culture; the royal tombs of Princess Zhenxiao and Princess Zhenhui survive in eastern Jilin.
1661
Qing shipyard at Jilin
A naval yard for river fleets against Russian incursions on the Amur gave Jilin city its old nickname Chuanchang, “the shipyard”.
17th–19th century
The Willow Palisade
The Qing sealed the Manchu homeland against Han settlement with a ditch-and-willow barrier; restrictions were lifted in the late nineteenth century and migrants poured in.
1907
Jilin province established
The Qing replaced the military governorship of Jilin with a civil province.
1932–1945
Changchun as Hsinking, capital of Manchukuo
Japan installed the former Qing emperor Puyi as head of state and built a planned capital with ministry buildings that still stand.
1948
Siege of Changchun
Communist forces blockaded the Nationalist-held city for about five months; tens of thousands of civilians died, most of them of starvation.
1952
Yanbian Korean autonomy
Yanbian became a Korean autonomous region, reorganised as an autonomous prefecture in 1955.
1953–1956
First Automobile Works
Construction of FAW began in Changchun in 1953; the first Jiefang lorries left the line in 1956.
1954
Capital moved to Changchun
The provincial seat moved from Jilin city to Changchun.
World heritage
World Heritage sites
Cultural · inscribed 2004 · shared
Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom
高句丽王城、王陵及贵族墓葬
Guonei City, Wandu Mountain City, the Gwanggaeto stele and dozens of royal and noble tombs at Ji'an, with the Wunü Mountain City in Liaoning.
Intangible cultural heritage (UNESCO lists)
Inscribed 2009
Farmers' dance of China's Korean ethnic group
朝鲜族农乐舞
Harvest and festival dance of the Korean communities of Yanbian, with drums, gongs and long ribbons whirled from the dancers' hats.
Culture
Jilin's culture has three strands: the Northeastern Han culture of the migrants who settled the plains, the Manchu heritage of the Qing homeland, and the Korean culture of Yanbian. Changchun has been a centre of Chinese film since the Changchun Film Studio was founded in the 1940s, and Jilin city is known for its winter rime ice. The Changbai Mountains, sacred to the Manchus and to Koreans, anchor the province's identity.
Opera, music and dance
Errenzhuan
二人转
The Northeast's comic song-and-dance duet; Jilin is one of its heartlands.
Korean long-drum dance
朝鲜族长鼓舞
Dance with the hourglass-shaped janggu drum, performed at Yanbian festivals.
Manchu shamanic ritual
满族萨满祭祀
Clan rituals with drums and songs, kept alive in some Manchu villages around Jilin city.
Crafts
Songhua stone inkstones
松花石砚
Green-banded stone from the Changbai Mountains, carved into inkstones for the Qing court.
Changchun film
长春电影
The Changchun Film Studio produced many of the People's Republic's early feature films.
Festivals and customs
Chagan Lake winter fishing
查干湖冬捕
Nets hauled under the ice by teams with horses and winches, opened with a Mongol ceremony.
Rime ice
雾凇
Frost that coats the willows along the Songhua in Jilin city on cold winter mornings.
Korean sixtieth-birthday celebration
朝鲜族花甲礼
Family feast marking the completion of the sixty-year cycle, an important rite among Yanbian Koreans.
Cuisine
Jilin eats the stews, pickled cabbage and dumplings of the Northeast, with two distinctive additions: the Korean cooking of Yanbian, with cold noodles, rice cakes, kimchi and barbecue, and the use of forest products from the Changbai Mountains — ginseng, mushrooms, wild vegetables and pine nuts.
Signature dishes
Iron-pot stew
铁锅炖
Goose, chicken or fish stewed at the table in a large iron wok, with cornbread stuck to the rim.
Pork and blood sausage
白肉血肠
Manchu dish of sliced boiled pork and blood sausage, often with pickled cabbage.
Yanji cold noodles
延吉冷面
Buckwheat noodles in chilled beef broth with kimchi, egg and pear.
Dagao
打糕
Korean rice cake pounded with mallets and rolled in bean powder.
Li Liangui smoked pork flatbread
李连贵熏肉大饼
Smoked pork in layered flatbread, from a shop founded in Siping in the early twentieth century.
Specialities
Changbai ginseng
长白山人参
Ginseng from the Changbai Mountains, one of the “three treasures of the Northeast”; most is cultivated in Fusong and neighbouring counties.
Sika deer products
梅花鹿
Deer are farmed for antler velvet used in traditional medicine, notably around Shuangyang.
Yanbian cattle
延边黄牛
Native breed prized for its beef, the basis of Yanbian barbecue.
Northeastern rice
东北大米
Short-grain rice from single-crop paddies, grown around Meihekou, Liuhe and the Songhua valley.
Notable people
Gwanggaeto the Great (374–412)
好太王
Koguryo king who ruled from Ji'an and expanded the kingdom; his stele and tomb are part of the World Heritage site.
Puyi (1906–1967)
溥仪
The last Qing emperor, installed by Japan as head of state and later emperor of Manchukuo in Changchun from 1932 to 1945.
Yang Jingyu (1905–1940)
杨靖宇
Commander of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, killed in Mengjiang county, since renamed Jingyu after him; he was born in Henan.
Economy
Jilin's economy rests on cars, chemicals and grain. Changchun's FAW group has been at the centre of the Chinese car industry since the 1950s and anchors a large supply chain; Jilin city grew up around petrochemicals. Changchun is also a centre for rail vehicles, optics and satellite manufacturing. The province is among the leading producers of maize and soybeans, and tourism around the Changbai Mountains and winter sports has grown in importance.
Main industries
- Automobiles and components (FAW in Changchun)
- Petrochemicals (Jilin city)
- Rail vehicles, including high-speed trains (Changchun)
- Optics, photonics and commercial satellites
- Pharmaceuticals and traditional medicine, including ginseng
- Grain: maize, rice and soybeans
- Forestry products and tourism
Zones, ports and hubs
Changchun New Area
长春新区
National-level new area approved in 2016 for high-technology industry and logistics.
Changchun–Jilin–Tumen development corridor
长吉图开发开放先导区
National pilot zone approved in 2009 to link the province's core with the border and the Tumen River region.
Hunchun International Cooperation Demonstration Zone
珲春国际合作示范区
Border zone near the meeting point of China, Russia and North Korea, set up for cross-border trade and logistics.
Cities
- Changchun长春Capital · Industrial centre · Historic cityCar city, film city and former capital of Manchukuo
- Jilin City吉林市Historic city · Industrial centre · Scenic areaThe old capital on the Songhua, city of rime ice
- Yanji延吉Cultural centre · Border cityCapital of Yanbian, centre of Korean culture in China
- Ji'an集安Historic city · Border cityKoguryo capital on the Yalu
Getting there
- Changchun Longjia International Airport is the main airport; Yanji and Changbaishan have regional airports.
- The Harbin–Dalian high-speed line passes through Changchun; a high-speed line links Changchun, Jilin city, Yanji and Hunchun, and another line runs from Shenyang to the Changbai Mountains.
- Road and rail crossings connect Yanbian with North Korea and Hunchun with Russia's Primorye region.
Entry rules for foreign visitors are on the visa and entry pages.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Jilin Provincial People's Government — Jilin Provincial People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- 吉林省2025年国民经济和社会发展统计公报 (Statistical Communiqué of Jilin on the 2025 National Economic and Social Development) — Jilin Provincial Bureau of Statistics (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Intangible Cultural Heritage: China — UNESCO (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Jilin — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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