Jilin dʒiːˈlɪn (; alternately romanized as Kirin or Chilin) is one of the three provinces of Northeast China. Its capital and largest city is Changchun. Jilin borders North Korea (Rasŏn, North Hamgyong, Ryanggang and Chagang) and Russia (Primorsky Krai) to the east, Heilongjiang to the north, Liaoning to the south, and Inner Mongolia to the west. Along with the rest of Northeast China, Jilin underwent an early period of industrialization. However, Jilin's economy, characterized by heavy industry, has been facing economic difficulties with privatization. This prompted the central government to undertake a campaign called "Revitalize the Northeast". The region contains large deposits of oil shale.
The name "Jilin" originates from girin ula () , a Manchu phrase meaning "along the river", shortened to Kirin in English. This Manchu term was transcribed into jilin wula (t 吉林烏拉, s 吉林乌拉) in Chinese characters and shortened the first two characters, which are transcribed in English as Chi-lin (Wade-Giles) and later "Jilin" (Hanyu Pinyin).
History of Jilin
In ancient times, Jilin was inhabited by the Xianbei, Sushen, the Mohe, Jurchens, and the Wùjí (勿吉). The kingdoms of Buyeo and Goguryeo ruled parts of this area.
The region then fell successively under the domination of the Xiongnu, Xianbei state, Bohai Kingdom, Khitan Liao Dynasty, the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, and the Mongol Yuan dynasty. During the Qing Dynasty, much of the area was under the control of the General of Jilin (Girin i Jiyanggiyūn), whose area of control extended to the to encompass much of what is Russia's Primorsky Krai today.
After the Primorsky Krai area was ceded to Russia in 1860, the government began to open the area up to Han Chinese migrants, most of whom came from Shandong. By the beginning of the 20th century, Han Chinese had become the dominant ethnic group of the region. In 1932, the area was incorporated into Manchukuo, a puppet state set up by Japan. Changchun (then called Hsinking), capital of Jilin today, was made the capital of Manchukuo.