Changchun

Founded in 1800 and situated in the middle of the Songliao Plain of the Northeast, Changchun is the capital of Jilin Province and the provincial center of politics, economy, science and technology, and culture. Famous as the Spring City of the North, the Changchun has a total area of 18,881 square km. with the city proper' s area of 140 square km. The municipal administration governs Chaoyang, Kuancheng, Nanguan, Shuangyang, Erdao and Luyuan districts, Jiutai, Yushu and Dehui cities, and Nongan County, with 38 nationalities such as the Han, Manchurian, Hui, Korean, Mongolian, Xibe and Zhuang. And of the population of 6.7 million, 2.7 million live in the city proper.

The city was ranked among 15 central economic cities of the country in 1979, named as the central opening city along the border in 1992, and appointed the city of the sub-provincial class by the State Council in 1994. The new and high-tech industries development zone and the economic and technological development zone directly under the jurisdiction of the municipal government are those of national classification and enjoy preferential policies given by the State Council to the domestic special developing zones. Automobile, agricultural products and by-products refining and new high technology have become three pillar industries of the city.

Rising industry and developing agriculture
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. The industries such as machinery, electronics, optics, chemistry, medicine, textile, metallurgy, building materials and foodstuffs all assume their own features and advantages.
Strong scientific research capacities and developed education
The level of per capita being educated and the proportion of scientific and technological personnel rank among foremost in the cities of the same type of the country. There are 104 independent institutions of scientific research and 0.32 million technical personnel in specific fields. The rate of the contribution by scientific and technological development to economic increase accounts for 45% in the city which has 27 full time colleges and universities, 586 secondary schools of various sorts, 2,000 primary schools and over 30 institutions of higher education for adult. 300 subjects are offered by the institutions of scientific research and design, colleges and universities and they cover all the fields of science and technology. The subjects such as new material technology, applied optics technology, integrating technology of information and optics-mechanics-electricity, polymer chemistry, super conduction research and automobile research occupy a leading position at home and some of them have reached the advanced international level.