Changchun (cháng chūn 长春) is the capital of Jilin Province and was formerly the capital of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. With a population of more than 6 million, it is one of the major cities in Northeast China, and is the largest center for China's automotive industry. It is located the central part of Songliao Plain, covering a total area of 20,571 square kilometers (about 8,012 square miles). And Changchun is one of the few cities in China that boasts a sizeable minority population including Manchurians, Muslims, Mongolians and Zhuang (zhuàng 壮). Changchun, a Beautiful forest city, with an urban green-cover-rate of 40%, is standing in the front row among the big cities in China, and an ideal place for the citizens to live and work. The scenery is really beautiful in all the four seasons with light green in spring, Luxuriant green in summer, a riot of colors in autumn and snow white in winter. So, Changchun has become a scenic spot and a summer resort for tourists.

 

Changchun in its present form is a new city with only about 200 years of history. But there used to be a city thousands years ago known by different names. At last, in 1800 (Qing Dynasty (qīng 清)), Emperor Jiaqing (jiā qìng 嘉庆) decided to build a town, as one of the junctions on the way from the capital Beijing, to the Changbai Mountains (chǎng bái shān 长白山), the holy mountain of the Qing royalty. The Emperor gave the renew town a name with blessing: "Changchun".

After defeating China in the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), Japan had desires to expand so that on 18 September, 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria. The leader of the area, Zhang Xueliang (zhāng xué liáng 张学良), commanded his army to retreat without counterattack, and pinned all his hopes on the intercession of the League of Nations. The city's name was changed on 1 March, 1932, to Puppet Emperor’s Palace (wěi mǎn zhōu guó 伪满洲国), the capital of Manchukuo, and Pu Yi (pǔ yí 溥仪), the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, was its designated overseer. The city underwent rapid expansion in both economy and infrastructure and provided materials for Japan's wars.

During the Civil War in China, the area changed hands again when on 20 August, 1944, the Soviet army took over the city. After the Civil War, Changchun became the capital of Jilin Province in September of 1954. Nowadays, it is a quiet northern city having short, windy springs and cool summers, as it has enjoyed since before all the wars. It is also an important domestic optical research center, along with automobile and train manufacturing bases.

 

The climate of Changchun is in the transition belt between the eastern humid hilly region and the western semiarid flat region, a continental sub humid monsoon climate of medium latitudes. The east and the south are not far away from the sea, yet Long White Mountain obstructs and slacks down summer monsoon; the west and the north are the flat Songliao (sōng liáo 松辽) Plain, continental polar airs from Siberia proceed without hindrance and various monsoons have serious effect here.

So the climate characteristics here are: it is very long and extremely cold in winter; it is dry and windy in spring; it is very short and warm in summer; and it is sunny and cloudless but the difference in temperature is very large in autumn. Annual average temperature here is 4.8℃, with maximum  temperature 39.5℃ and minimum temperature -39.8℃. Annual temperature changes significantly, with distinctive four seasons.    

The best time for traveling is in summer and autumn.

 

Jingyuetan National Forest Park (Jìng yuè tán guó jiā sēn lín gōng yuán 净月潭国家森林公园)

Changchun Jingyuetan National Forest Park is located in the transitional area between the north mountain area and the west plain in Jilin Province. With an altitude of 220m to 406m, the park is situated on the upland on the extension of the Changbai Mountain. It is in the southeast part of Changchun Urban District and 9km away from the center of the city. The transportation is pretty convenient, with two expressways passing the spot: the Changji (zhǎng jí 长吉) Expressway and the Hada (hā dá 哈达) Expressway. The total area of the park is 83.23 square kilometers, in which 67.82 square kilometers s covered by forest, taking up 81.4% of the total area of the park. The lake is 4.3 square kilometers in area, 16 mter deep, and has storage of 25.9 million cubic meter. The construction of Jingyuetan reservoir started in 1934 in order to provide urban water supply and the reservoir was put into use two years later. It is the largest man-made forest park in Asia, and a great place for skiing in the winter.

Address: No.5840 Jingyue (jìng yuè lù 净月路) Road, Nanguan (nán guān南关) District

Transportation: take bus No.130 or take the light rail No.1

Tel: 0431-88652111

Admission Fee: CNY 30

 

Puppet Imperial Palace (wěi mǎn huáng gōng bó wù yuàn 伪满皇宫博物院)

Puppet Imperial Palace was the residence of the last emperor in the Qing Dynasty - Puyi when he ruled the state as a puppet of the occupying Japanese. It bears the witness of the history that Japanese Imperialism took the northeast of China by force and carried out fascist colonial rule. Now it has become an important tourist scenic spot and a base of patriotism education.

The main body is a set of two-storied buildings covered with yellow glazed tiles, including Qinmin (qín mín 勤民) Building, Huaiyuan (huái yuǎn 怀远) Building and Tongde (tóng dé 同德) Palace. These three buildings are with a unique style combined with Chinese and Western architectural features.

The palace can be separated into two parts: the outer palace is a place for political activities and the inner palace is a place for daily life. Now they are museums of antiquities.

Address: No. 5 Guangfu (guāng fù 光复路) Road, in the north of Changchun

Transportation: take bus No.18, 80, 264, 225, 114, 256, 276, 287

Opening Time: 8:30-18:00

Tel: 0431-82866611
Admission Fee: CNY 80

 

Changchun World Sculpture Park (cháng chūn shì jiè diāo sù gōng yuán 长春世界雕塑公园)

The Changchun World Sculpture Park is situated at the south end of Renmin (rén mín 人民) St. which is a main road in Changchun City. The west of the park is the city main road, Renmin St.. The park covers a total area of 91.8 hectares, with an 11.8-hectare lake in its center. With a complex physical feature, this is a theme park that collects modern sculptures and exhibits varied schools in the art of sculpture. This park combines the quality of the modern sculptures together with the traditional landscape gardens, thus became an embodiment of "landscape sculpture garden in future culture". The designers made the best use of the natural environment and presented to us a theme park that exhibit sculptures and a park featured by traditional aesthetic beauty and modern designing ideas.

Address: No.9518 Renmin (rén mín 人民) Avenue, Nanguan (nán guān 南关) Distirct

Transportation: take bus No.130, 240, 161, 66

Opening Time: 7:30-20:30

Tel: 0431-85379001

Admission Fee: CNY 20

 

Changchun Film City is the first film theme park that is the combination of film industry and tourist industry, reputed as "the oriental Hollywood". It was built borrowing the ideas of Universal Film Center and Disneyland. 

Changchun Film City is a park with distinct screen culture and rich ethnic culture. It uses film and video programs as its carriers to uncover the mysterious veiling of filmmaking and to let visitors enjoy high-grade cinema art. It is not only a tourist resort of film and video, but also the new address of Changchun film studio. It has become a diamond business card of Changchun.

Address: No.92 Zhengyang (zhèng yang 正阳) Road, Luyuan (lǜ yuán 绿园) District,

Transportation: take bus No.119, 120, 128, 19, 221, 319, 60, 80

Opening Time: 9:00-17:00

Admission Fee: CNY 30

 

Changchun Lianhuashan Ski Spot (cháng chūn lián huā shān huá xuě chǎng 长春莲花山滑雪场)

Changchun Lianhuashan Ski Spot is the biggest integrative ski field in Changchun, which is the nearest ski field from the city center in China. It covers six square kilometers and has six primary, secondary and advanced ski runs in the ground. Apart from skiing, people also can play skating and flying, as well as take snowmobiling in the summer. In the summer, the tourists also can play grass skating and golf as well as parachute glider. The capability of the field is 1,000 people. 

Nanhu Park (South Lake Park), constructed firstly in 1933, is located in the southwest part of Changchun Urban District. With a total area of more than 2.22 million square meters, including lake area of 920 000 m2, the South Lake Park is the largest park in Jilin Province and the second largest in China, second only to the famous Summer Palace in Beijing.

 In the park, clear water reflects the green willow trees on the bank, birds whisper in the fragrance of flowers. Bridges and pavilions scatter around in the picturesque park, adding to it the flavor of traditional Chinese landscape garden. Stand on the Southlake Bridge and look around, you will be struck by the beauty of the colorful and poetic picture: the architecture and the natural landscape add splendor to each other, making visitors lingering in the park, reluctant to depart.  

Banruo Temple (bān ruò sì 般若寺)

Banruo Temple is the largest Buddhist temple in Changchun, and is the location of Chuanchun (chuán chūn 传春) Buddhist Association and the Buddhist Association of Jilin Province.

Banruo Temple was originally built in 1922, covering an area of 15,000 square meters. The gateway of the temple is consisted of 3 paratactic arches. There are dense trees and erected halls in the temple. Stepping into the temple, you will see Mile Hall (Tianwang (tiān wáng 天王) Hall), Main Hall and Western Three Saints Hall one after another.

Location: in the north of Renmin Square (rén mín guǎng chǎng 人民广场)

Transportation: take bus No. 274

Admission Fee: CNY 8

 

There are in total six dishes that make up Changbai (zhǎng bái 长白) Zhen Yan. All the ingredients are both natural and rare products of Changbai Mountain including ginseng, deer antler, bear's paw and snow toad and the adjective 'sumptuous' well describes the banquet. It will not only meet your eating desires but is also very good for your health.

 

Ginseng Chicken Cooked with Maotai Wine (rén cān jī hé máo tái jiǔ 人参鸡和茅台酒)
One distinctive characteristic of this dish is that it uses Maotai, famed Chinese liquor as one of its main ingredients. Just as its name implies, this dish mixes chicken, ginseng and Maotai together to present you a delicacy. The whole dish will appeal to you with eye catching color, beautiful shape and alluring aroma.

 

Deer's tail is always a rare and precious cook meat. Braised Deer's Tail is honored as 'uniqueness of dishes' due to its flamboyant color and intoxicating aftertaste.

 

The Songhua River is abundant in White Fish. The meat of the White Fish is quite tender. So, many restaurants in Changchun provide the steamed White Fish. There are two ways of steaming: One is 'dry steaming' without soup; and the other is 'steaming with some soup'. The soup is full of the flavor of fish, which tastes very mild and delicious.

 

Changchun has three passenger railway stations: Changchun Railway Station, Changchun East Railway Station and Changchun South Railway Station. The latter two stations are very small and only local trains stop there.

There are long distance coaches that regularly go from/to Beijing available from the coach station on Huanghe Road (huáng hé lù 黄河路), just off Renmin Avenue (rén mín dà jiē 人民大街). There is also a long distance bus station at the south end of Renmin Avenue (take bus Z306 from the train station).

  

Chongqing Road(zhòng qìng lù 重庆路): It is in the north of the city and only a 5 minute bus ride from the train station. Here is the biggest selection of clothing shops and department stores in the whole city. The road intersects with Renmin Avenue and the shops continue for quite some distance to the west. There is a Wal-Mart and various other supermarkets at the far east end of the road as well as a Pizza Hut and Chartered (zhuō zhǎn 卓展), one of the most expensive shopping malls in Changchun.

 

Guilin Road (guì lín lù 桂林路) area: It is about 1.5 km (2.5 mi) to the south of Chongqing Lu along Tongzhi Jie (tóng zhì jiē 同志街) and is the most cosmopolitan part of town. The area along Guilin Lu and the surrounding side streets offer much to see, buy, and eat. There are many restaurants in this area especially if you are interested in Korean food.

 

Hongqi Street (hóng qí jiē 红旗街): It is to the west of Guilin Lu and is the smallest of the three shopping areas. It is dominated by one of the better department stores in Changchun: Ouya (ōu yà 欧亚). The 6th-8th floors of Ouya contain the largest electronics market in the city. You can find anything electronic here, from mp3 players to laptops. Prices can be very high.

 

The Underground Markets (dì xià shì chǎng 地下商场): These are now extensive underground shopping areas, originally dug out by POWs during the occupation, intended to be used as bomb shelters. There are three of these places in Changchun: Chongqing Lu, the Train Station, and Hongqi Jie. If you want anything cheap (and probably fake) then these are the places to come. There are hundreds of small shops selling relatively undifferentiated products, and the term buyer beware definitely applies. There are some good deals to be had, but some products are poor quality and have high ticket prices. Therefore, be prepared to haggle as the shopkeepers will try to get you to pay the sticker price, which the local shoppers will never pay. If you don't speak Chinese, bring a pen and paper to help negotiate your price. Start at 50% to 75% off the ticketed price. If the shopkeeper balks at your offer, go to another seller. More often than not, if the shopkeeper wants the sale, they will call after you. This can be a fun shopping experience, but you may get your best deal at a discount retailer at home. These underground markets are including Hongqi (hóng qí 红旗) Underground Market which is near the Hongqi Road, Renfang (rén fáng 人防) Underground Market which is near the Changchun Railway Station, and Jinjie (jīn jiē 金街) Underground Market which is in the Kuancheng (kuān chéng 宽城) District.