Overview of Jilin Geography Geographical Location Jilin Province is located in the geographic center of Northeast Asia, the hinterland of Northeast China. It lies on the east longitude 121° 38′ ～131°19′ and the north latitude 40° 50′～46°19′, 769.62 kilometers long from west to east and 606.57 kilometers wide from north to south. It is adjacent to Liaoning Province in south, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in west and Heilongjiang Province in north; it remains contiguous to Russia in east and borders the Democratic People's Republic of Korea along the Tumen River and the Yalu River in southeast. Jilin Province borders the coastal waters and the border line is 1,438.7 kilometers in total, including China-North Korea border line of 1,206 kilometers and China-Russia border line of 232.7 kilometers. Huichun City at the eastern tip of Jilin Province is only 15 kilometers away from the Sea of Japan and 4 kilometers away from the Posyeta Bay of Russia. Topography and Geomorphology The topographic features have significant differences in Jilin Province. The terrain tilts from southeast to northwest, with an obvious feature that the southeast is high and the northwest is low. Dahei Mountain in the middle divides the mid-west plain into two landforms, central terrace plain and mid-west plain. The eastern mountain area is divided into Changbai Mountain middle and low mountain area and low mountain and hill area and the mid-west plain is divided into central terrace plain and west meadow, lake, wetland and, sand area. Geomorphic types are mainly composed of volcanic landform, erosion landform, alluvial proluvial plain and alluvial plain. Main mountain ranges include Dahei Mountain, Zhangguangcai Ridge, Jilin Hada Mountain, Laoling Mountain and Mudanling Mountain. Main plains include the Songnen Plain and the Liaohe Plain. In the province's total area, mountains accounts for 36%, plains accounts for 30%, tableland accounts for 28.2% and others are hills. Climate Characteristics Jilin Province is located in the east of the Eurasian continent and pertains to the temperate continental monsoon climate, with clear change of four seasons and a hot rainy season. The spring is dry and windy, the summer is warm and rainy, the autumn is cool and pleasant and the winter is cool and long. From southeast to northwest, it shifts from humid climate to semi-humid climate and then to semi-dry climate. Across the province, air temperature, rainfall, temperature, wind and meteorological disasters are remarkably varying from seasons and regions. Average annual temperature is 2℃～6℃, which is low in mountainous regions and higher in plains. Average temperature in the summer is below -11℃ and average temperature of plains in summer is above 23℃. Annual temperature different in the province ranges 35～42℃ and daily different is generally between 10～14℃. Annual frost free period is 100 to 160 days. Average annual sunshine hits 2,259 to 3,016 hours. Annual rainfall is 400 to 600 mm, but it remains a big difference in season and regions. 80% of rainfall is in summer, with the most rainfall in the northeastern region. In normal years, sunlight, heat and water can be favorable for growth of crops. Environment Eco-regional Distribution The ecological environment of the province represents special diversity and relative integrity, relatively good recoverability and high degree of protection. From east to west, it has a natural formation of such four ecotopes as the eastern Changbai Mountain primeval forest ecotope, the central and eastern hilly secondary vegetation ecotope, the central Songliao Plain ecotope and the western prairie wetland. The eastern Changbai Mountain has an immense forest, high forest cover, intact forest ecosystem, abundant organism species and abundant precipitation, and it is an important ecological barrier for Jilin Province and Northeast Asia. The central and eastern hills have dense and natural secondary forests and planted forests and high forest cover. It is an important section of the Songhua River and also the upper reaches of "three lakes" (Baishan Lake, Hongshi Lake and Songhua Lake) and the Dongliao River, with abundant water and mineral resources. The central Songliao Plain boasts vast expanse of fertile land, flat terrain, a sound agricultural protection forest system and a stronger environmental carrying capacity. With favorable conditions to develop quality agricultural product production, it has a reputation of "golden corn belt" and "hometown of black soil", serving as an important production base of marketable grain in China. In the western prairie wetland, an extended strand of Horqin Grassland, there is a vast stretch of grassland, densely scattered ponds, a fairly large area of wetland and ample underground water and transit water. It is not only a transition zone of ecological system shifting from humid forest grassland to semi-dry grassland and desert and also an important channel of bird migration and a homeland of red-crowned cranes. With a low-lying topography and fairly good light and heat conditions, it has been a key area to develop agriculture and animal husbandry. Nature Reserve The province has 44 nature reserves at all levels and of all types, including 19 national nature reserves, 16 provincial nature reserves, and 9 city- and county-level nature reserves. Total area of these nature reserves reached 2.43 million hectares, accounting for 12.96% of the province's land area. In 1980, UNESCO designated Changbai Mountain as the protecting net of "Man and Biosphere". In 1992, Changbai Mountain is rated as an international Grade A natural reserve by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Eco-civilization Construction Superior natural and ecological environment of Jilin Province has provided preferable basic conditions for economic and social sustainable development. In 1999, the state approved Jilin Province to be a pilot province for ecological construction. In 2001, the province implemented the "Outline for the Overall Planning of Ecological Construction in Jilin Province". In 2006, Jilin Province established Changbai Mountain Protection and Development Management Committee to carry out centralized management and protection of Changbai Mountain development. Since the implementation of ecological construction, Jilin Province has conducted a series of ecological protection projects. Remarkable achievements have been made in the construction of ecological civilization. Jilin adopted mandatory measures to protect the resources of the eastern Changbai Mountain and gave priorities to protection for biodiversity and unique landscapes in geology and terrain, recovery of forest ecosystem, development of forest carbon sequestration and exertion of whole ecosystem function; furthermore, Jilin strengthened construction of natural reserves and management of bio-safety to protect wild animals and plants, rare and endangered living beings and wetland resources. It adopted initiative protection for water resources in the east central region and implemented the water resource protection projects of Baishan, Jingyu source of mineral water and Erlong Lake reservoir in Siping, and the protection projects regarding water pollution prevention & control of the Songhua River and the Dongliao River, small watershed management and "three lakes" for the Songhua River. Jilin adopted positive protection for black soil resources in the central region. Specifically, it conducted the comprehensive key control projects of water and soil loss in black soil areas, built the high-standard farmland, generalized the application of organic fertilizers in allusion to black soil resources of 19 counties in the central region. Jilin turned to urgent conservation for ecological fragile region in the southwest. To achieve this goal, Jilin placed emphasis on the projects relating to the reclamation of western saline-alkali soils and protective wetland construction of Xianghai, Boluo Lake and Chagan Lake in the western 13 counties (areas); besides, it also formulated and released Jilin's Plan for Wetlands Protection; consequently, the province effectively recovered and enhanced the area of wetlands, grassland with three ecological problems (land saline-alkalization, grassland degeneration and land desertification) and soil and water loss; the beautiful scene of rippling Oasis and wild profusion of vegetation reappeared at the western wetlands. Jilin thoroughly implemented the ten-year project of landscaping and beautifying Jilin and launched the construction projects for natural forest protection, farmland shelter-forest, returning land for farming to forestry, three-north shelter forest and desertification control. The province's forest area hikes to 8.281 million hectares at present, from 8.176 million hectares at the end of the "tenth five-year plan" period; percentage of forest cover rises to 43.8%, from 43.2% in the past; and remarkable improvement has been made in forest vegetation, forest structure and biodiversity. The province developed 11 national-level ecological townships, 30 provincial-level ecological towns and 94 provincial-level ecological villages, of which Tonghua County has been the province's first ecological county. Resource Land Resources Jilin Province is located in the world famous black soil belt. The surface soil organic matter content is 3% to 6% and even up to above 15%. The province's arable land is 7.03 million hectares, accounting for about 30% of the province's total land area and ranking the ninth place nationwide. Black soil area hit about 1.1 million hectares and arable black soil is about 832,000 hectares, accounting for 15.6% of the province's total arable land. The grain yield in black soil accounts for more than half of the province's total. Compared with the country, total land area, arable land and basic farmland of Jilin Province account for around 2%, 4.4% and 4.4% of the national total, respectively. The protection ratio of basic farmland hits 86.9%, which is basically in line with other key grain-growing provinces. Per capita arable land is 3.05 mu, more than twice the national average and roughly equal to the world's average.