Mountain · Jilin
Changbai Mountain and Heaven Lake
长白山
A volcano and its crater lake on the border with Korea
Changbai Mountain is an active volcano on the border between Jilin and North Korea, whose summit crater holds Heaven Lake (Tianchi), the largest and highest crater lake in north-east Asia. Its highest point on the Chinese side, Baiyun Peak, reaches 2,691 metres. The mountain has been a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1979 and a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2024.
- UNESCO biosphere reserve · 1979
- UNESCO Global Geopark · 2024
- National nature reserve · 1960
Key facts
Overview
Changbai — Paektu in Korean — is a broad shield volcano topped by a cone of pale pumice that gives it its name, “ever-white mountain”. Sixteen peaks ring the summit caldera, and within them lies Heaven Lake, a deep blue lake whose surface stands at about 2,190 metres. The border between China and North Korea runs across the caldera and the lake. The overall summit, Janggun Peak (2,744 m), lies on the Korean side.
For both Manchus and Koreans the mountain is sacred: the Qing dynasty regarded it as the birthplace of its ancestors, and Koreans honour Paektu as the ancestral mountain of the nation. It is also one of the best-studied mountain ecosystems in Asia, with a sequence of forest belts from Korean pine to alpine tundra.
How the landscape formed
Changbai has grown over millions of years from successive basalt eruptions forming a lava plateau and shield, capped by a younger trachyte cone. Its most famous event is the “Millennium Eruption” of around 946 CE, one of the largest volcanic eruptions of the past two thousand years, which buried the surrounding land in pumice and ash and carried ash as far as Japan. The collapse of the summit created the caldera now filled by Heaven Lake, up to about 370 metres deep. The lake drains north through a gap in the rim as the Changbai Waterfall, the source of the Songhua River; the Yalu and Tumen rivers also rise on the mountain.
Highlights
Heaven Lake
天池
The crater lake in the summit caldera, frozen for more than half the year and often hidden by cloud.
Changbai Waterfall
长白瀑布
The outflow of Heaven Lake, dropping about 68 metres into the head of the Erdao Baihe valley.
Changbai Grand Canyon
长白山大峡谷
A narrow canyon cut in volcanic deposits on the western slope, lined with spires of eroded tuff.
Julong hot springs
聚龙温泉群
Hot springs near the waterfall, some over 80 °C, a sign of the volcano's heat.
Green Abyss Pool
绿渊潭
A clear green pool below a waterfall on the northern slope.
Little Heaven Lake
小天池
A small lake in the birch forest below the summit.
Plants and wildlife
Changbai shows a textbook vertical zonation over 2,000 metres: mixed forest of Korean pine and broadleaf trees at the foot, spruce and fir forest above, then a belt of dwarf Erman's birch, and finally alpine tundra on the volcano's cone — the only true tundra in eastern China. The reserve is one of the last refuges of the Amur tiger's habitat in China and home to wild ginseng.
Plants
Korean pine
红松
Pinus koraiensis, the giant of the mixed forest, whose seeds are the pine nuts of the north-east.
Erman's birch
岳桦
Betula ermanii, forming twisted woods at the tree line.
Ginseng
人参
Panax ginseng, the most prized medicinal root of Chinese tradition; wild plants are now extremely rare.
Golden rhododendron
牛皮杜鹃
Rhododendron aureum, flowering pale yellow on the tundra in June.
Wildlife
Amur tiger
东北虎
Once common, now extremely rare; the forests are part of its recovering range.
Scaly-sided merganser
中华秋沙鸭
An endangered duck that breeds along the clear forest rivers.
Sable
紫貂
Lives in the coniferous belt.
Culture and legend
Manchu tradition held that the ancestor of the Qing imperial clan, Bukūri Yongšon, was born of a heavenly maiden at a lake below Changbai. The Kangxi Emperor sent an expedition to survey the mountain in 1677 and ordered sacrifices to it; the Qing closed the area to settlement for two centuries. For Koreans, Paektu is the mountain of Dangun, the legendary founder, and a national symbol. Korean-Chinese communities of the Yanbian prefecture live around the northern and eastern slopes.
Changbai Mountain temple ruins
长白山神庙遗址
Remains of a Jin-dynasty temple to the mountain spirit, excavated at Baomacheng (宝马城) at the northern foot of the mountain.
Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture
延边
The Korean-Chinese region at the mountain's northern and eastern foot.
History
c. 946
Millennium Eruption
A huge eruption spreads ash across north-east Asia and reshapes the summit.
Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
Mountain honoured by the Jurchen court
The Jin enfeoff the mountain spirit and build a temple.
1677
Kangxi's survey
The Qing court establishes rites to Changbai as its ancestral mountain.
1960
Nature reserve founded
One of the first nature reserves in China.
1979
UNESCO biosphere reserve
Among the first three Chinese sites in the Man and the Biosphere network.
2024
UNESCO Global Geopark
Recognised for its record of volcanic eruptions and its crater lake.
Through the seasons
Spring
Snow remains on the summit into June; the lower forests leaf out in May.
Summer
July and August are the main season: flowers on the tundra, the lake usually free of ice, but frequent cloud and sudden storms at the summit.
Autumn
Brilliant colours in the mixed forest in mid-September; snow can fall on the cone by late September.
Winter
Long and severe, with deep snow; the lake freezes and the summit is reached only in suitable weather. Skiing resorts operate on the western slope.
Routes and ways in
North slope (北坡)
The most visited approach: vehicles climb to near the rim for views of Heaven Lake, with a separate trail along the valley to the Changbai Waterfall.
West slope (西坡)
A long stairway of roughly 1,400 steps climbs to a viewpoint on the rim beside the border marker; the Grand Canyon lies on this side.
South slope (南坡)
A quieter approach through the upper Yalu valley and tundra to the southern rim.
Practical notes
- Weather at the rim is often cloudy, windy and cold even in midsummer; views of Heaven Lake depend on luck.
- The international border runs across the crater; stay within marked areas on the Chinese side.
- Access to the summit roads is controlled, and they can close at short notice for wind or snow.
- Base towns lie in the Changbai Mountain Protection and Development Zone, reached by air or by rail via Yanji.
Cities to start from
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- UNESCO names 18 new Geoparks — UNESCO (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Changbai Mountains — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Jilin Provincial People's Government — Jilin Provincial People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Man and the Biosphere Programme — UNESCO (retrieved 27 September 2026)
More mountains and nature in Jilin
Related
Province
Jilin →
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…
City · Jilin
Yanji →
Yanji is a county-level city and the seat of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in eastern Jilin, close to the borders with North Korea and…
Dynasty
Qing Dynasty (1644-1912 CE) →
The Qing dynasty (1644-1912 CE) was the last imperial dynasty of China, established by the Manchus of north-east Asia, who took Beijing in 1644 and…