Geographic Location
Situated at 125''40'~127''56' east longitude and 42''31~44''40' north latitude, Jilin is the second largest city in Jilin Province. It is located in the transitional area between Changchai Mountain and Songnen Plain with the main stream of Songhua River running through the whole region.
The Jilin Culture Temple Museum |
Administrative Divisions
Bordering on Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture in the east, Changchun City and Siping City in the west, Baishan City, Tonghua City and Liaoyuan City in the south and Leilongjiang Province in the north, Jilin City covers a total area of 27,894 square kilometers, of which urban area accounts for 3750 square kilometers. It governs four districts including Changyi, Chuanying,Longtan and Fengman, one couty Yongji and four county-level cities Shulan, Panshi, Jiaohe and Huadian.
Population
By the end of 2003, the total population of the city had reached 4.514 million. In Northeast China, Jilin is one of the well-known cities with over 300 years of history. It was the political, economic and military centers in14th-19th century period, and the capital city of Jilin Province during the periods of the late Qing Dynasty, Minguo and Civil Revolutionary War.
The Jilin Meteorolite Museum |
Climate
With a temperate continental monsoonal climate, Jilin enjoys four distinct seasons, including dry and windy springs, warm and rainy summers, cool and sunny autumns and cold and snowy winters. It has a mean annual temperature of 3℃~5℃, an annual frost-free period of 120~130 days, and a total sunlight amount of 2400~2600 hours for the whole year. The mean annual precipitation of the city is 650~670 millimeters, which decreases from southeast to northwest, and mean hailstone period is 2~4 days, which often appears in May, June or September and October.
Following is the average climate information of January and February from 2001 to 2005.
Sunrise: 7:15; Sunset: 17:05
Wind speed (m/s): 1.8 (light breeze); wind direction: Southwesterly wind
Average temperature (°C): -13.15
Snowfall (mm): 6.5
Number of Days with Grade-A Air: 80.75%
Overcast and Sunny Days: Percentage of sunny days: 35.5%; Percentage of overcast days: 17%; Percentage of sunny to overcast days: 47.5%
The Songjiangzhong Road |
Natural Resources
Jilin is rich in natural resources, of which land, water conservancy, mining, forests, and wild animals are higher than average level of the nation, especially the water resources has made Jilin City the one with a high level of 3,679 cubic meters per capita.
Tourism
Jilin has advantaged tourism resources with natural and cultural sceneries dotted here and there in the city. Jilin is also well known as a winter sports city with top-ranking facilities and skiing fields.
Development
Jilin has attached great importance to opening up to the outside world in recent years, thus having seen steady development in foreign trade and economic and trade cooperation, and accelerated the tempo of utilizing foreign direct investment. Investment environment has been improved. It has set up one development zone at national level - Jilin New and Hi-tech Industry Development Zone, and three development zones at provincial level.
GDP
In 2003, Jilin generated a total GDP of RMB 60.01 billion with per capita GDP reaching RMB 13,808(USD 1,668). The total revenue of the city in 2003 totaled RMB 4.85 billion.
