Changchun
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| Administration Type | Sub-provincial city |
| GDP - Total - Per Capita |
¥115 billion ¥21,336 (2003) |
| Area - City |
20,571km² - 592.12km² |
| Population - City - Density |
7,120,000 - 2,368,399 (2000) - 3999.86/km² |
| Elevation | 222 m / 730 ft |
| Mayor | Zhu Yejing (祝業精) |
| Time Zone | CST UTC+8 |
Changchun (Traditional Chinese: 長春; simplified chinese: 长春; Pinyin: Chángchūn) is the capital and largest city of Jilin province, located at the northeast of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city. The name originated from the Jurchen language. The Changchun metropolitan area has a population of 6.83 million and a population of 2.78 million in its city proper.
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Changchun is a new city with only about 200 years of history. Changchun started as a minor trading town. In the year of 1800, Emperor Jiaqing of Qing Dynasty selected a small village on the east bank of the Yitong River and named it as "Changchun Ting", and in the year of 1889, it was promoted as "Changchun Fu".
It expanded rapidly as the junction between of the Japanese-owned South Manchurian Railway and the Russian-owned Chinese Eastern Railway which had different rail gauges, as well as permit licences, from 1905-1935. Changchun had railway repair shops and branch lines originating in Changchun extended into Korea and Inner Mongolia.
In 1932 moving from Jilin City (Kirin city) 200 km to the east, Changchun became the capital of Manchukuo, a state in Manchuria. Then known as Hsinking 新京 (Pinyin: Xīnjīng, Wade-Giles: Hsin-ching, Japanese: Shinkyō, English trans.: New Capital), the capital was a well-planned city with broad avenues and modern public works. The city underwent rapid expansion in both its economy and infrastructures. From 1931 to 1945 China's last emperor Pu Yi would be installed as the Manchukuo government head by the Japanese authority. He resided in the Imperial Palace (帝宮) which is now the Museum of Imperial Palace of Manchu State (偽滿皇宫博物院).
Severely damaged during World War II, the city was liberated by the Soviet Red Army in 1945. The Russians maintained a presence in the city after the Chinese civil war until 1956. Kuomintang forces occupied the city in 1946, but were unable to hold the countryside against Chinese Communist forces. The city fell to the communists in 1948 after a 12-month-long siege by the People's Liberation Army that resulted in a massive famine with a civilan death toll of 100,000 to 300,000. Renamed Changchun by the People's Republic of China government, it became the capital of Jilin in 1954. The Changchun Film Studio is also one of the remaining film factories of the era. From the 1950s, it was designated to become a center for China's automotive industry. The famous Red Flag limousines were made in Changchun as were the Liberation (Jiefang) trucks based on a Ford model used in Russia who supplied much of the early manufacturing machinery.
Changchun hosted the 2007 Winter Asian Games.
The prefecture-level city of Changchun administers 10 county-level divisions, including 6 districts, 3 county-level cities and 1 county.
- Nanguan District (南关区)
- Kuancheng District (宽城区)
- Chaoyang District (朝阳区)
- Erdao District (二道区)
- Lvyuan District (绿原区)
- Shuangyang District (双阳区)
- Jiutai City (九台市)
- Yushu City (榆树市)
- Denghui City (德惠市)
- Nong'an County (农安县)
Changchun has a complete industrial system with 128 categories and over 3,000 types of products. As Changchun's main industry, the manufacturing of transportation facilities and machinery such as those of automobile, passenger train, and tractor has developed very well and its total output constitutes, respectively, 1/5, 1/2, and 1/10 of that of the nation's. Industries such as machinery, electronics, optics, chemistry, medicine, textile, metallurgy, building materials and foodstuffs all assume their own features and advantages.
The GDP per capita was ¥21336 (ca. US$2580) in 2003, ranked no. 52 among 659 Chinese cities.
- Jilin University (吉林大學)
- Northeast Normal University (東北師范大學)
- Changchun University of Technology (長春工業大學)
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