Jilin is a small province of the People’s Republic of China and is located in the north eastern part of the country. Jilin has North Korea and Russia on its eastern border, Liaoning in south, Inner Mongolia on the west and Heilongjiang on the northern border. The name was translated to Kirin before standardizing it to pinyin. The name Jilin probably originated from the Manchu term, Girin ula, which means “along the river”. In Chinese, this word means “auspicious forest”. The capital of Jilin is Changchun.

Jilin was originally inhabited by the people of Mohe, Wùjí and Goguryeo Kingdom. During the Qing Dynasty, most parts of Jilin were under the control of the General of Jilin. By the beginning of the 20 th century, Han Chinese had become the most dominant ethnic group of Jilin. In 1949, the province of Jilin was a much smaller area, encompassing the environs of Jilin City and Changchun only, but in 1950, it expanded to its present borders.

Jilin has a northerly continental type of monsoon climate . The winters are long, cold and the summers are short and warm. January is the coolest season with temperatures dropping down to -20ºC. Jilin receives about 350-1000 mm of rainfall on an average in a year.

The major cities of Jilin are : Changchun, Sipin, Jilin City, Tonghua, Liayuan, Yanji and Songyuan. Jilin is mostly inhabited by the Han Chinese, Manchus, Mongols, Hui and Xibe people. Jilin’s major agricultural productions are rice, maize and sorghum. Sheep-herding is a popular activity in the western parts. Jilin has huge deposits of floatstone, Kieselguhr, wollastonite and molybdenum. The major industries of Jilin are automobiles, train carriages and iron alloy. Jilin has the Jilin University and Northeast Normal University as centers of education.

The major tourist attractions include the tombs in Ji’an, Jilin, Wandu, Guonei, pyramidal General’s Tomb, Baekdu Mountain, Tianchi Lake, ancient tombs at Longtou Mountain and the Mausoleum of Princess Zhenxiao are popular sightseeing places for tourists.