Jilin Introduction

Jilin is the smallest of the three provinces in Dongbei, covering an area of just 180,000 square kilometers. The province, bordering North Korea to the southeast, Liaoning to the south, Inner Mongolia to the west and Heilongjiang to the north, has a population of 25 million people. Unlike Heilongjiang, Jilin remained in relative peace until the late 1800s, when the Qing Dynasty was approaching its collapse and Japan began to set foot on this coveted land. It was only after W.W.II broke out that the province was completely occupied by the Japanese army, with Changchun being turned into the capital of Manchuria, a puppet state nominally reigned by Puyi, the already dethroned Qing child-emperor.

The province is most useful to the Chinese motherland due to its agricultural output, the figures for which are often proudly quoted in the illutrious China Daily. In the mid and northern part of the province lies a wide expanse of plain, containing some of Dongbei's (northeastern China's) most fertile soil. The most frequently grown staple plant is maize, which accounts for half of the nation's export. Despite the bitter winter cold, when little grows, soy and broomcorn also boast a high annual yield here, and all of these factors make Jilin one of China's few provinces with a net surplus in grain.

Today, although the cities here are all industrialized to some extent (Changchun is even called the "city of cars" because of a joint venture co-established by China and Germany), you will still get a feel of the primitiveness of the province in its untapped natural resources, home to a wealth of exotic flora and fauna. The most noteworthy attraction, not easily reached, is definitely The Heavenly Lake (Tianchi) in Changbaishan. In addition, some of China's best winter sports and the Ice Lantern Festival draw throngs of people to Jilin in the winter months.

Best Time To Visit: Climate
Jilin Province, lying on the eastern part of the Eurasian continent, belongs to a temperate zone, although in winter people will fail to tell the difference between here and Russia. Although an inland province, Jilin is not far from both the Japanese and the Yellow Seas, and these are the causes of the frequent rain in summer.

In winter, the province is affected by prolonged cold fronts from Siberia. The average annual temperature is about 5 degrees C.. In January, the coldest month, the average temperature hits -18 degrees C. while the temperature rises to 20 degrees C. in the hottest month, July. Snow appears in October and lasts until April, and this is the optimum time for winter sports at some of the best Skiing Resorts in China.

Suggested Itineraries
Due to sharp climatic differences between summer and winter, any itinerary here is highly dependant upon when you are in the province. In this set itinerary, there is more flexibility than in provinces for doing what you want dependant upon the season of your visit. The following itinerary starts in Changchun, the capital of the province.

Day 1: Take bus No.10 from the railway station to the Puppet Emperor's Palace & Exhibition Hall and go back in time to China of the 1930s and 1940s. In the afternoon, take a bus to the People's Square and visit the Banruo Temple. If you start your Jilin tour on Monday or Tuesday, you will have to spend the afternoon in the Changchun Film Studio, for the temple stays closed on these two days. Stay in a Changchun Hotel.

Day 2: You can spend the next day enjoying yourself at the Jingyuetan Ski Resort (take a mini bus from the People's Square or a taxi). If you prefer, you may even stay here overnight, otherwise head back to Changchun. If you come in winter you may wish to spend longer here, since one days skiing may leave you unfulfilled (and since the Heavenly Lake in Changbaishan may not be worth a visit in the deep midwinter).

Day 3: Take a long-distance bus (see Changchun Transport for details) at 9am and arrive in Jilin City about half an hour later. Have a good lunch at one of the local restaurants near the bus station. In the afternoon, take bus No.3 to the Confucius Temple. Stay in a Jilin City Hotel.

Day 4: In the morning, take bus No.3 from the railway station to go to the Meteorite Museum and take a look at the allegedly largest extant meteorite on earth. In the afternoon, take bus No.7 from the railway station and get down at the terminus--Beishan Park.

Day 5: In the morning take a bus from the People's square that goes to Songhua Lake Area. Since this place is too large to cover within half a day and there are virtually no restaurants around, you are advised to bring along some solid food. In winter, it is also an ideal place to practice skiing. If you prefer, you may stay at the resort for the night and have a good time the next day.

(The rest of the tour is really for those visiting in summer or autumn, since Changbaishan in the winter is a cold and inhospitable place. You should always check out the weather report before you go and bring along a supply of food from Jilin City).

Day 6: Take a bus from the long-distance bus station (see Jilin City Transport for details) at 9am and you can expect to arrive at Changbaishan in 7 hours. Check in at a hotel on the mountain slope or, if you are on a budget, try one at the foot.

Day 7: Get up early in the morning and head directly to The Heavenly Lake (Tianchi). After having a brief lunch, you may head to the different scenic spots scattering around the lake, including the Changbai Waterfall, the Hotsprings and the "Below Gound" Forests. For sport fans, there is the Changbaishan Plateau Winter Sport Training Area, but for this you will have to stay at your hotel for one more night.

Day 8: Take the first bus (see Changbaishan Transport for details) that leaves the mountain at about 7am to Antu, from where you may catch train No.556 for Beijing at about 11:50am.

Dining Overview
Trying to pin down the tastes of real Dongbei (northeastern China) cuisine is not the easiest of tasks. The influence here is strongly reminiscent of the contradictory Beijing and Shandong styles, mixing simple, traditional cooking techniques with the huge complexities of Imperial gastronomic arts. There are, however, a huge variety of other influences that are combined with this. Manchurian, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Han, and a variety of other minorities have all had their say in the styles that make up the present culinary system.

The Dongbei style is further mixed in Jilin by the fact that this fairly primitive province is home to some highly exotic animals and plants, and the chefs of the province have long been refining their cooking using these. If you can stomach it, the province still produces dishes of endangered or contentious variety, including bear's paw, deer's tail, snow toad, and even dog's soup, a popular Korean dish. The area is also fairly popular for those suffering from a variety of illnesses, since many of its more exotic dishes are linked to herbal medicine. The most famous of these, ginseng chicken, can be had, for a price, in most areas of Jilin.

If the idea of leopard tongue does not leave you excited, Jilin also has a few historical foodtypes for you to sample. The province has long been recognised as the home of the Manchus, and the Manchurian influence can still be tasted here, whether in the form of a spicy, Qing dynasty hotpot, or in the flowing courses of the Three-set Bowl Banquet. With its proximity to the border of Korea, and with a strong Korean minority population, Jilin also serves up some impressive Korean delicacies. A Korean meal is best started with a spicy pickles appetizer, cooled down with some cold noodles, finished off with a traditional Korean barbecue, with all of this washed down with a few glasses of eye watering Soju (Korean wine).

Shopping Overview
The best thing about shopping in Jilin is the wealth of exotic goods that can be purchased here, although many of these are of a rare variety that are not conservationally friendly. The people of this region have long been trading in these products, although recent tourism to the region has done much to speed up this situation.

Changchun is good for natural exotica. For quality wine, Changbai ginseng, sable, pilose antler or frog oil this is the place to come. For pure tradition, Jilin City, also has a good selection. The city is best if you are looking to purchase any of the "Three Treasures of Dongbei", Ginseng, Marten and Pilose Antler, that the people of this whole region, former Manchuria, are so proud. Heading to a more inhospitable, and harder to reach area, Changbaishan is the best place for those after more specialist goods, since the region contains many of the ingredients that are a core part of the mystical Chinese medicine. Here you can find frog oil, Glossy Ganoderma, and the Three New Treasures of Dongbei.

For those after something less controversial to take home, the handicraft industry in Jilin has also been picking up. Many exquisite articles can be bought in most of the areas here, but some of the more special artifacts include wood carving, bark painting, straw-woven wares, painted calabash and kirigami (the ancient art of paper folding practiced by the Manchurian people). The popular Tonghua wine should also be tasted, since this somewhat unusual flavoured liquid is made from grapes growing in one of the most northernmost places in the world.

For those after something a little more mundane, and perhaps life-saving, there are large department stores in both Changchun and Jilin City, where you can buy such essentials as winter clothing and chocolate.

Transportation
By plane: Although Jilin is an outlying province in the northeastern part of China (Dongbei), it is still fairly easy to access by plane. The easiest point to enter and leave the province is by Changchun, the capital, which is linked with major cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai by daily flights and others including Qingdao, Xiamen and Chengdu. Also, if you can arrange visas in advance, a trip to Vladivostok is also possible. In winter, throngs of people opt to skip Changchun and fly straight to Jilin City to enjoy the Ice Lantern Festival.

By train: Jilin boasts a cobweb of rail links, with an aggregate length of over 4,000km. An excess of 80 trains shuttle to and from Changchun. Even today, a considerable proportion of the travelers go to Jilin on a sleeper train from such faraway places as Beijing, Shanghai and even Xi'an! If you are based in Jilin City, it is also convenient to travel within Jilin (and without to cities such as Harbin and Shengyang).

By bus: To do justice to road transport, it is the least advanced of the three. However, backwardness does not mean impossibility--you will still find that inter-province transport is reliable and the quality of Beijing-Changchun Expressway is among the best of its kind in China. The area of Changbaishan, which houses the province's most popular sight, The Heavenly Lake (Tianchi), is one area that can only be reached by road. See the Changbaishan Transportation Overview for details.