General Background

Jilin is situated in the central part of northeastern China, bordering Russia and North Korea in the east and southeast.  The province is largely covered by grassland in the west and shaped by the Changbai Mountains（長白山）in the east.  Plain area（Western Plain 西部平原 and Liaohe Plain 遼河平原）accounts for 30% of the province's total land.  Songliao Plain（松遼平原）, one of the famous black soil area in the world, is also situated in the province.
 

The province has four ethnic minorities autonomous areas, namely, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Area（延邊朝鮮自治州）, Former Russian Autonomous County（前郭爾羅斯自治縣）, Changbai Korean Autonomous County（長白朝鮮族自治縣）and Yitong Man Autonomous County（伊通滿族自治縣）. 
 

Changchun （長春）, the capital of the province, and Jilin（吉林）are open cities enjoying similar preferential policies as in the coastal open cities.  Besides, Hunchun（琿春）, situates at the lower reaches of the Tumen River（圖們江）, was selected by the State Council in March 1992 as an open border city with enlarged autonomy in foreign trade management, foreign investment approval, taxation and transfer of land-use rights.
 

The Changbai Mountain Forest Zone is one of the most important timber production bases in China and its annual output ranked top in the whole country.  Besides, the Jilin Oilfield（吉林油田）, one of the biggest oilfields in China, produced 3.6 million tons of crude oil in 1999.
 

Jilin is also an important grain production base in China.  Its corn output ranked the first in the country.  The province is also famous for ginseng and pilose antler（鹿茸）and their outputs are high in the country.   Jilin is rich in traditional medicine resources and it aims to develop as an important production base of herbal medicine. 
 

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Infrastructure

Water Transport － Inland water transport is available between April and November along the Songhuajiang River（松花江）.  Da'an Port（大安港）with annual handling capacity of 1 million tons is a first-class inland open port in China.  Direct sail to some ports in Russia is also available. 

A new land-water route, the Hunchun-Zarubino-Sogcho route, links China with Russia and the Republic of Korea (ROK) was opened in May 2000.  The new route starts from Hunchun of Jilin and ends at Sogcho of ROK, passing through Zarubino of Russia.  It takes approximately 17 hours for one-way trip and is currently the only direct passenger/cargo transportation line between China, Russia and ROK around the Sea of Japan. 

Railways － The Jingha Line（京哈線）is the most important trunk line in the province.  Other major lines include Shenji Line（沈吉線）, Simei line（四梅線）, Meiji Line（梅集線）, Changtu Line（長圖線）, Changbai Line（長白線）and Pingqi Line（平齊線）, linking with major cities in northern China such as Shenyang, Tianjin, Dalian and Qinhuangdao.  The railway networks handle more than two thirds of the province's cargo transport.  Access to the CIS and Europe is also available by railways via Harbin and Manzhouli（滿州里）. Besides, the electrification of the Harbin-Dalian Railway is on its way.

Besides, a new railway line has been opened which links Hunchun in Jilin and Makhalino in Russia.  The new line will speed up cargo transportation from China to Japan, Republic of Korea and North America by passing through Makhalino station in Russia. 

Highways － Jilin's highway networks center around Changchun, Jilin, Yanji（延吉）and Tonghua（通化）. The construction of the YanBian-Tumen Expressway (延边-图们高速公路) is completed recently. The Shenha Expressway（沈哈高速公路）from Shenyang to Harbin that runs through Jilin is under construction.

To further develop foreign trade with Korea and Russia, the Jilin government invested heavily on improving transportation in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Area. This project was called the “Ten Billion Dollar Project”. So far, as part of the project, the Changchun-Hunchun Expressway（長春－琿春高速公路）, Yanji- Tumen Expressway（延吉－圖們高速公路）, and Hunchun-Shucao Integrated Passage（琿春-束草海陸聯合通道）are all under construction.

Air Transport － Jilin has four airports which locate in Changchun, Jilin, Yanji and Liuhe（柳河）, offering domestic and international air routes.  International flights to Hong Kong, Vladivostock and chartered flights to Seoul, Sendai, Niigata, Irkutsk and Minsk are available.

Telecommunications － Mobile phone service is available in major cities.  By end-2000, mobile phone users reached 2.03 million in Jilin.  Pager users reached 1.56 million. Internet users reached 256,000. 

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Industries 

In 2000, Jilin's industrial output totalled Rmb 168.0 billion (+12.3%).  The province has advantages in developing machinery, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, food, metallurgy and forest industries.  At present, automobiles and petrochemicals are named the pillar industries in the province. 

Pharmaceutical industry in Jilin includes chemical drugs, TCM drugs, medical instruments and medicinal packaging.  Output of chemical and patent drugs accounts for 90% of the industry's total. 

The Changchun First Automobile Manufacturing Factory（長春第一汽車制造廠）is the first advanced car manufacturer in China, making Changchun one of the largest automobile production bases in the country.  The city also owns a state-level automobile wholesale center and its automobile output ranked the first in China in 1999.

Jilin is also an important petrochemical production base in China.  The Jilin Oil Field and the Jilin Chemical Industry Corporation（吉林化學工業總公司）based in Jilin city provide a variety of chemical materials for foodstuff, medicine, textiles and other light industries.

Tourism