Yanji

Yanji 延吉市 · 연길시
County-level city
Yanji cityscape in 2023 Children's Palace China Korean Folk Park
Yanji in Yanbian
Yanji Location of Yanji in Jilin Province
Coordinates: 42°54′N 129°30′E
Country	China
Province	Jilin
Autonomous prefecture	Yanbian
Township-level divisions	6 subdistricts 3 towns
Municipal seat	Henan Subdistrict
Area [1]
• County-level city	1,748.3 km^2 (675.0 sq mi)
• Urban	40.66 km^2 (15.70 sq mi)
Elevation	179 m (587 ft)
Population  (2020 census)[2]
• County-level city	686,136
• Density	390/km^2 (1,000/sq mi)
• Urban	548,700
• Urban density	13,000/km^2 (35,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Website	www.yanji.gov.cn

Yanji
Chinese	延吉
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Yánjí Wade–Giles Yen-chi
Chinese Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl	연길
Hancha	延吉
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Yeon-gil McCune–Reischauer Yŏn'gil
South Korean name
Hangul	옌지
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Yenji McCune–Reischauer Yenji

Yanji (Chinese: 延吉; Korean: 연길; alternately romanized as Yenki or Yenji) is a county-level city in the east of China's Jilin Province, and is the seat of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. Its population is approximately 400,000 of which a significant portion is ethnic Korean. Yanji is a busy hub of transport and trade between China and North Korea. The city is home to Yanbian University, a comprehensive university and the only Project 211 university in Yanji.

History

Yanji and its environs were largely unpopulated until the 1800s when Qing dynasty rulers of China began to encourage migration there from China proper as part of its Chuang Guandong policy to populate Manchuria in an effort to stem encroaching Russian expansion.^[3]

The city was the seat of Jiandao Province in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo from 1934 to 1943. In 1943, the city itself was renamed Jiandao (Chientao) and made a part of the Dongman Consolidated Province (东满总省).

Following World War II, the city (again called Yanji) was nominally part of a new Songjiang Province but with the communist seizure of power in 1949, Sonjiang's borders were changed and Yanji became part of Jilin Province.

Yanji is now part of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, which is situated in eastern Jilin.^[4] Yanji City is centrally located, surrounded by five other county-level cities and two rural counties (see map); it is the administrative seat of the prefecture.^[5]

International incidents

The North Korean military detonated its second nuclear test in May 2009 close to the Chinese border, and the blast set off an earthquake of magnitude 4.5 with an epicenter only 112 mi (180 km) from Yanji.^[6] The mutual goodwill of the Chinese and Korean populations in the region was put under severe strain, and many in Yanji expressed newfound feelings of dismay and insecurity regarding their North Korean neighbors.^[6]

A South Korean pastor, the Reverend Kim Dong-shik, was kidnapped in Yanji in January 2000, one of numerous well-publicized North Korean abductions of South Koreans; a suspect of mixed Korean-Chinese descent, said to have been trained in Pyongyang, was arrested and charged with the crime in December 2004.^[7]

Yanji was the starting point of an international dispute in 2009 when two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, were detained by North Korean border guards when, after leaving Yanji, they overstepped the nearby demarcation line.^[8] The two were freed only after intervention at the highest level by former US President Clinton.^[9]

Crystal meth seeping across the border from North Korea has led to a drug problem.^[10] According to a Brookings report, "Jilin Province is not only the most important transshipment point for drugs from North Korea into China, but has itself become one of the largest markets in China for amphetamine-type stimulants." Yanji had registered nearly 2100 drug addicts in 2010 compared to just 44 in 1990; local officials admitted that the actual number was possibly five or six times higher.^[11]

Geography and climate

Yanji is situated among foothills, with the main metropolitan area contained in a small, very flat area.^[12] It is ringed by mountains dotted with small, remote farming communities.^[13] It has a four-season, monsoon-influenced, humid continental climate (classified in the Köppen system as Dwb), with long, very cold winters, and short, but very warm, humid summers. Spring and autumn constitute very short transitions with some, but usually not heavy, rainfall. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −13.2 °C (8.2 °F) in January to 21.7 °C (71.1 °F) in August, while the annual mean is 5.69 °C (42.2 °F) and a total precipitation of 531 mm (20.9 in), most of it falling during the summer. Sunshine is generous but falling far short of the central and western parts of Jilin; with monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 39% in July to 62% in February, there are 2,280 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Climate data for Yanji (1991–2020 normals)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	7.8 (46.0)	14.3 (57.7)	26.6 (79.9)	32.8 (91.0)	33.3 (91.9)	36.7 (98.1)	37.7 (99.9)	37.3 (99.1)	33.1 (91.6)	28.9 (84.0)	19.6 (67.3)	10.0 (50.0)	37.7 (99.9)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F)	−6.4 (20.5)	−1.5 (29.3)	5.8 (42.4)	15.0 (59.0)	21.1 (70.0)	24.5 (76.1)	27.1 (80.8)	27.0 (80.6)	22.5 (72.5)	14.8 (58.6)	3.6 (38.5)	−4.8 (23.4)	12.4 (54.3)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−12.6 (9.3)	−8.4 (16.9)	−0.8 (30.6)	7.7 (45.9)	14.0 (57.2)	18.4 (65.1)	21.8 (71.2)	21.6 (70.9)	15.5 (59.9)	7.4 (45.3)	−2.4 (27.7)	−10.5 (13.1)	6.0 (42.8)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F)	−17.6 (0.3)	−14.3 (6.3)	−6.8 (19.8)	1.0 (33.8)	7.7 (45.9)	13.4 (56.1)	17.6 (63.7)	17.4 (63.3)	10.0 (50.0)	1.4 (34.5)	−7.3 (18.9)	−15.1 (4.8)	0.6 (33.1)
Record low °C (°F)	−31.4 (−24.5)	−27.9 (−18.2)	−23.3 (−9.9)	−10.3 (13.5)	−1.5 (29.3)	5.3 (41.5)	9.5 (49.1)	6.9 (44.4)	−1.7 (28.9)	−11.6 (11.1)	−23.6 (−10.5)	−29.9 (−21.8)	−31.4 (−24.5)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	4.9 (0.19)	6.5 (0.26)	11.4 (0.45)	27.2 (1.07)	63.9 (2.52)	81.1 (3.19)	123.8 (4.87)	116.3 (4.58)	60.0 (2.36)	29.2 (1.15)	16.7 (0.66)	5.8 (0.23)	546.8 (21.53)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)	2.7	3.7	5.1	7.7	13.4	14.0	13.6	14.2	9.0	6.7	5.6	3.9	99.6
Average snowy days	5.4	5.6	7.1	2.8	0.1	0	0	0	0	1.3	5.8	6.5	34.6
Average relative humidity (%)	58	54	52	51	62	73	78	79	75	64	61	59	64
Mean monthly sunshine hours	174.3	186.8	219.3	211.4	222.1	199.8	186.2	193.1	210.7	203.1	154.8	153.2	2,314.8
Percent possible sunshine	60	63	59	53	49	44	40	45	57	60	54	55	53
Source: China Meteorological Administration[14][15][16]

Administrative divisions

Yanji has six subdistricts and four towns.^[17]

Name	Simplified Chinese	Hanyu Pinyin	Korean	McCune–Reischauer	Administrative division code
Subdistricts
Jinxue Subdistrict	进学街道	Jìnxué jiēdào	진학가도	chinhak kato	222401001
Beishan Subdistrict	北山街道	Běishān jiēdào	북산가도	puksan kato	222401002
Xinxing Subdistrict	新兴街道	Xīnxīng jiēdào	신흥가도	sinhŭng kato	222401003
Gongyuan Subdistrict	公园街道	Gōngyuán jiēdào	공원가도	kongwŏn kato	222401004
Henan Subdistrict	河南街道	Hénán jiēdào	하남가도	hanam kato	222401005
Jiangong Subdistrict	建工街道	Jiàngōng jiēdào	건공가도	kŏnkong kato	222401006
Towns
Xiaoying Town	小营镇	Xiǎoyíng zhèn	소영진	soyŏng chin	222401100
Yilan Town	依兰镇	Yīlán zhèn	이란진	iran chin	222401101
Sandaowan Town	三道湾镇	Sāndàowān zhèn	삼도만진	samtoman chin	222401102
Chaoyangchuan Town	朝阳川镇	Cháoyángchuān zhèn	조양천진	choyangch'ŏn chin	222401105

Demographics

The Korean diaspora in China has significant populations in at least eleven major Chinese cities,^[18] but none larger than Yanji:^[13] official Chinese census reports from 1990 placed the city's ethnic Korean population at over 170,000.^[18] In 1994, the estimated total population of Yanji was 343,600.^[19] Official census reports from 2000 have not yet been released publicly,^[18] but current estimates place it between about one third of the city's total population^[12][20] to more than one half.^[3][21] Both Chinese and Korean are considered "official languages" of the city:^[12] all official signs are in bilingual text.^[21][22]

Economy

Yanji Department Store

With its current population estimated at four hundred thousand,^[12] Yanji is small by Chinese standards (by comparison, the population of Shanghai is almost twenty million).^[23] Yanji is also relatively young: the city was developed only in the nineteenth century^[3] and became the regional capital after the Second World War.^[24] Recent growth in tourism and overseas investment has helped to make Yanji a notably prosperous city.^[21] It abounds with modern architecture of steel and glass,^[21] and its broad avenues^[21][22] are conspicuously clean and well-maintained.^[22] In modern times, Yanji has become a city of transport and trade.^[25] China is the largest trading partner of North Korea, accounting for almost 40% of that country's international commerce, and Yanji is the center of much of the cross-border enterprise.^[25]

Beyond North Korea, other countries have begun to partner with Yanji business groups: currently there are over five hundred joint ventures with international partners ongoing in Yanji.^[21] Much of the recent investment has been made by South Korea^[26][27] and Taiwan, which has helped substantially in building the city's tourism industry.^[21]

Yanji also burnishes its reputation as a center of tourism by hosting the annual North China Travel Fair. Held every year since 1996, the fair is one of the largest of its kind in the country, showcasing over a thousand exhibitions representing cultural and economic partners from across China and overseas.^[28] Yanji also hosts the Tumen River Area International Investment & Business Forum, a three-day exposition held annually since 2000.^[29]

Transport and infrastructure

Yanji BRT station

Daily train service to most major urban centers of the province is available from Yanji, including a 24-hour trip to Beijing.^[5] A much shorter trip to the Chinese capital can be arranged at Yanji Chaoyangchuan International Airport which serves the area with scheduled passenger flights domestically and to Korea.^[5] International air service is provided by the Changchun Longjia Airport, and surface travel to Changchun itself has been made more accessible since the large Changchun-Yanji Expressway was opened to the public in 2009.^[30]

A new 125-mile (201 km) water and sewage pipeline was completed in 2006, linking Yanji and the neighboring cities of Jilin and Songyuan to modern sewage treatment plants along the Songhua River.^[31]

As of 2012, Yanji offers the most convenient road access to the Rason Special Economic Zone in North Korea.^[32]

Education

Yanbian University

Yanbian University is a comprehensive university in Yanji, founded in 1949; it offers eleven programs of study, including four doctoral programs.^[33] The university maintains a full-time teaching staff of over 1,400, serving an active student body of over sixteen thousand.^[33] One of Yanbian University's graduates, a Korean language major, is Zhang Dejiang, formerly a deputy secretary of the Municipal Committee of Yanji (1983–1985), and now a Vice-Premier of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.^[34][35]

Yanji is also home to the Yanbian University of Science and Technology, a technical research college founded in 1990,^[36] and the Yanbian Medical College.^[37]

Yanbian International Academy, the area school for foreigners, is located in Yanji.^[38] There is also a school for Koreans, Korean International School in Yanbian.

Sport

Yanji stadium entrance

Yanji hosts sporting events at the 50,000-seat People's Stadium.^[39] The city was the eighteenth stop^[40] for the Olympic torch relay at the opening of the 2008 Summer Games.^[41]

Officials from the Guinness Book of World Records visited the athletics stadium at Yanbian University in July 2010 to witness a new world record being set: over one thousand students simultaneously juggled soccer balls with their feet for more than ten seconds.^[42]

Culture

Two all-Korean television channels are produced locally, and others can be freely received from both North and South Korea.^[24] Korean cuisine is highly popular and available everywhere.^[43] An annual Korean folk festival takes place each September in Yanji, featuring traditional Korean music, dance, painting, and sports.^[21]

Yanji Dinosaur Museum

Karaoke is popular in Yanji,^[27]: 35 and the city even has a burgeoning underground beatboxing scene, which has been documented by filmmaker Liu Feng in Yan Bian Box (2007).^[44][45]

References

1. Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, ed. (2019). China Urban Construction Statistical Yearbook 2017. Beijing: China Statistics Press. p. 50. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
2. "延边朝鲜族自治州第七次全国人口普查公报" (in Chinese). Government of Yanbian Prefecture. 7 June 2021.
3. "China torch relay: Yanji". BBC News. 21 July 2008. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
4. "The Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture". China.org.cn. 2003. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
5. Harper, Damian (2007). China. Lonely Planet. p. 384. ISBN 978-1-74059-915-3. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
6. Guo, Rongxing; Freeman, Carla (2010). Managing Fragile Regions: Method and Application. Springer. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-4419-6435-9. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
7. Salmon, Andrew (15 December 2004). "Seoul charges suspect in North Korea kidnapping case". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
8. Sang-Hun, Choe (19 March 2009). "North Korea Said to Detain 2 U.S. Journalists". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
9. "North Korea Pardons US Reporters". BBC News. 4 August 2009. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
10. Stone Fish, Isaac (20 June 2011). "North Korea's Addicting Export: Crystal Meth". Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
11. Stone Fish, Isaac (19 June 2011). "North Korea's Meth Export". Newsweek. Retrieved 27 June 2011.
12. Demick, Barbara (5 July 2010). "Nothing Left: Is North Korea finally facing collapse?". The New Yorker. No. 12 & 19 July 2010. pp. 44–49. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
13. Akaha, Tsuneo; Vassilieva, Anna (2005). Crossing National Borders: Human migration issues in Northeast Asia. United Nations University Press. p. 171. ISBN 92-808-1117-7. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
14. 中国气象数据网 – WeatherBk Data (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
15. 中国气象数据网 (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
16. 中国地面国际交换站气候标准值月值数据集（1971－2000年）. China Meteorological Administration. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 25 May 2010.
17. 2022年统计用区划代码：延吉市 (in Chinese). National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China.
18. Bergsten, C. Fred (2003). The Korean Diaspora in the World Economy. US: Peterson Institute. p. 106. ISBN 0-88132-358-6. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
19. Saul B. Cohen, ed. (1998). "Yanji". The Columbia Gazetteer of the World. Vol. 3. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 3515. ISBN 0-231-11040-5. LCCN 98-071262. OCLC 164337564.
20. Lankov, Andrei (16 August 2007). "The Gentle Decline of the 'Third Korea'". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 27 August 2007. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
21. Evans, Thammy (2006). Great Wall of China: Beijing & Northern China. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 118. ISBN 1-84162-158-7. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
22. Legerton, Colin; Rawson, Jacob (2009). Invisible China: A Journey Through Ethnic Borderlands. Chicago Review Press. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-55652-814-9. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
23. "Shanghai's permanent population approaches 20 mln". People's Daily. 20 February 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
24. Fung, Alan (4 October 2003). "A slice of Korea in China". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 8 October 2003. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
25. Steven R., Weisman; Onishi, Norimitsu (16 October 2006). "Rice to Press China to Enforce North Korean Sanctions". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
26. Montgomery, John D.; Inkeles, Alex (2001). Social Capital as a Policy Resource. Springer. p. 54. ISBN 0-7923-7273-5. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
27. Wu, Fulong (2006). Globalization and the Chinese City. Psychology Press. p. 35. ISBN 0-415-35199-5. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
28. "Yanji fair promotes northern tourism". China Daily. 22 July 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
29. "Tumen River Area International Investment & Business Forum". China Daily. 2004. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
30. Liu Mingtai (22 October 2009). "Seven million vote in bid to find 'Top Eight' tourism sites". China Daily. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
31. "Safe water to drink is a major concern for Jilin". China Daily. 12 October 2006. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
32. Luc Citrinot (20 August 2012). "China-North Korea: the next Promised Land for tourism?". Travel Daily News. Retrieved 21 August 2012.
33. "Yanbian University: A Brief Introduction". Yanbian University. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
34. "Zhang Dejiang, Chinese vice-premier". China Daily. Xinhua News Agency. 2008. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
35. "Politburo: Zhang Dejiang". China Daily. 2007. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
36. "Yanbian University of Science & Technology". YUST. 2005. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
37. International Association of Universities (2009). World List of Universities (18 ed.). University of Michigan (MacMillan). p. 96. ISBN 978-0-333-47488-4. Retrieved 22 November 2010.
38. "Where Are We?" (Archive). Yanbian International Academy. Retrieved 1 October 2015. "Yanbian International Academy 2728B Chaoyang Street, Yanji City, Jilin Province China 133000[...]吉林省延吉市朝阳街2728B 外国人学校 中国 133000" – Google Maps has it listed as "Yanbian Waiguoren School"
39. "Stadiums in China". World Stadiums.com. 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
40. "Torch Relay: Planned Route". Beijing2008.cn. Archived from the original on 23 December 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
41. "Olympic torch relay in Yanji concludes". Beijing2008.cn. 2008. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
42. "World record ball-juggling made in China". China Daily. 11 July 2010. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
43. Foster, Simon; Lin-Liu, Jen (2010). Frommer's China. Frommer's. p. 207. ISBN 978-0-470-52658-3. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
44. "Party in his mouth". China Daily. 26 May 2007. Retrieved 23 November 2010.
45. "Yanbian Box". InvAsian. Retrieved 23 November 2010.

External links

• Official government website (in Chinese)
• Yanji region information