Geography

Jilin City, which is located in central Jilin Province spanning from 125° 40' to 127° 56' E longitude and 42° 31' to 44° 40' N latitude. Neighbouring prefectures are:Harbin, Heilongjiang (N)Changchun (W)Siping (W)Yanbian (E)Liaoyuan (S)Tonghua (S)Baishan (S)Jilin City is situated in a hilly area near the Songhua River. There are four famous mountains surrounding Jilin City, which is North Mountain in the west, Long Tan Mountain in the east, Zhuque Mountain in the North, and Turtle Mountain in the south, plus Songhua River, it forms a bagua in Taiji pattern. North Mountain, called Beishan, is the most famous mountain in Jilin City and is home to several Buddhist Temples. The Qianlong Emperor reportedly visited the mountain.Climate[edit]Jilin City has a four-season, monsoon-influenced, humid continental climate (Köppen Dwa). Winters are long (lasting from November to March), cold, and windy, but dry, due to the influence of the Siberian anticyclone, with a January mean temperature of −17.3 °C (0.9 °F). Spring and autumn are somewhat short transitional periods, with some precipitation, but are usually dry and windy. Summers are hot and humid, with a prevailing southeasterly wind due to the East Asian monsoon; July averages 22.8 °C (73.0 °F). Snow is usually light during the winter, and annual rainfall is heavily concentrated from June to August.Environmental issues[edit]2005 Jilin benzene pollution[edit]Main article: 2005 Jilin chemical plant explosionsThe Jilin chemical plant explosions were a series of explosions which occurred on November 13, 2005, in the No.101 Petrochemical Plant in Jilin City, killed six. The explosion severely polluted the Songhua River, with an estimated 100 tons of pollutants containing benzene and nitrobenzene entering into the river.[7] The benzene level recorded was at one point 108 times above national safety levels. This caused downstream major cities including Harbin, Songyuan and Khabarovsk suspended their water supply for almost one week.[8] Chinese leaders later had to apologize to the Russian government over its handling of the incident as the pollutants finally flowed into Heilongjiang River, the major boundary river between China and Russia.[9]2010 Jilin floods and pollution[edit]Jilin is one of the worst-hit regions in China due to rain and landslides in 2010 summer China floods.[10] On July 28, several thousand barrels, which contained toxic chemicals including trimethylsilyl chloride and hexamethyldisiloxane, about 170 kg of a poisonous substance in each, were washed into the Songhua River by the floods from two chemical plants based in Jilin. There were reports that some barrels exploded on contact with water.[11] By late afternoon on August 1, 6,387 barrels had been retrieved from the river. Officials stated that tests show the water in the river remains safe to drink. Three soldiers of the People's Liberation Army in Jilin drowned after working to remove the barrels and control the flooding.[12] The Dahe Dam in Changshan Township was breached on July 28, spilling 4 million m3 of water, destroying five villages downstream and leaving 40 people dead or missing. Over 100 were dead or missing after floods devastated Jilin prefecture. Workers started repairing fifty-one damaged small reservoirs and fortifying riverbanks in the province after the Songhua River surged to levels twice as high as normal.

History

Jilin City is among one of the oldest cities in Northeast China. The ancestors of the Manchu people lived there before the Qin dynasty.During the reign of the Yongle Emperor in the Ming dynasty, efforts were made to expand Ming control throughout all of Manchuria. Mighty river fleets were built and sailed several times from Jilin City, getting the chieftains of the local tribes to swear allegiance to the Ming rulers. Soon after the establishment of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, the territory of today's Primorsky Kray was put under the administration of Jilin. As the Russian Empire advanced eastward to the Pacific coast, the Qing government ordered a naval shipbuilding factory to be set up here in 1661. Jilin was officially established as a fort city in 1673 when Anzhuhu (安珠瑚), the Deputy Lieutenant-General (副都统), was ordered to build a castle in Jilin. In 1676, the Military Governor of Ninguta was transferred to Jilin City because of its more convenient location and increasing military importance, while the former Deputy Lieutenant-General was transferred in the opposite direction to Ninguta. Since then Jilin City has developed at a rapid pace. The nickname of Jilin City is River City (江城), which originates from one sentence "连樯接舰屯江城; (Lián qiáng jiē jiàn tún jiāngchéng)" of a poem written by Kangxi Emperor when he was visiting Jilin City in 1682. Jilin retained its importance into the 18th and 19th century as one of the few cities existing beyond the Willow Palisade, along with Tsitsihar, Ninguta and Mukden.After Manchukuo established their capital in Hsinking (present-day Changchun), Jilin City's importance decreased. By 1940, Jilin's population was 173,624, while Hsinking's population reached 544,202 at the same time. Soviet forces captured Jilin during the August Storm operation.Jilin became the provincial capital of Jilin Province after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, until Changchun took this position in 1956.