Located in the central part of Northeast China, Jilin is a world-renowned producer of the 'three treasures of northeastern China' - ginseng, mink and pilous antler. It is also one of the three regions in the world known for the black earth. It produces a great quantity of grain, minerals, and special products and grows a vast expanse of forests.
Called 'Ji' for short, Jilin Province covers an area of about 187,400 square kilometers (72,356 square miles). It borders with Liaoning Province to the south, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to the west, Heilongjiang Province to the north, the Russian Federation to the east and is opposite to the North Korea in the southeast across the Tumen and Yalu rivers.
Jilin has a varied polymorphous landform and physiognomy, generally sloping downwards towards the northwest, the character is high in the southeast and low in the northwest. The Dahei Mountain divides the province into hilly and mountainous areas in the east part and plains in the central and western parts. There are a variety of landforms - volcanic and eroded landforms, flood plains and alluvial plains. Mountains make up 36 percent of the land, plains 30 percent, tablelands and others 28.2 percent and hilly areas 5.8 percent. Jilin Province is also one of the major forest regions in China. The Changbai Mountains in eastern Jilin, known as the 'Changbai Sea of Forests,' rise and fall for 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).
With the development of the economy and society, tourism of Jilin becomes magnificent for the glamorous mountains and beautiful rivers. Most of the natural scenes of Jilin Province remains their primitive features, and were seldom under the helping of man-made carving. The east area features the scenic Changbai Mountains' primitive forests, unique volcanic landforms, specific and solid upright scenery. The west area entails grasslands, wetlands, clay forests of Qian'an, crane-watching tours of Xiang hai. From the west to the east, these natural sceneries reveal the magical, straightforward, simple and sophisticated characteristics of Jilin tourism resources.
The Goguryeo sites and tombs found in Ji'an, Jilin, including Wandu, Gungnae Fortress, and the pyramidal General's Tomb, have been listed as part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site; the Baekdu Mountain, especially Heaven Lake on the border with North Korea, are popular tourist destinations due to their natural scenery; ancient Tombs at Longtou Mountain, including the Mausoleum of Princess Zhenxiao, are royal tombs of the Balhae kingdom found in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture.
Home > Destination > Jilin
