Hunchun

Hunchun
珲春市 · 훈춘시
Hun-ch'un
A street in Hunchun
A street in Hunchun
Hunchun in Yanbian
Hunchun in Yanbian
Hunchun is located in Jilin
Hunchun
Hunchun
Location of the city center in Jilin
Coordinates: 42°51′47″N 130°21′58″E / 42.863°N 130.366°E / 42.863; 130.366
CountryPeople's Republic of China
ProvinceJilin
PrefectureYanbian
SeatXin'an Subdistrict
Area
 • County-level city5,145.4 km2 (1,986.7 sq mi)
 • Urban
125.39 km2 (48.41 sq mi)
Elevation
41 m (135 ft)
Population
 (2017)[1]
 • County-level city271,000
 • Density53/km2 (140/sq mi)
 • Urban
216,300
Time zoneUTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code
133300
Hunchun
Simplified Chinese珲春
Traditional Chinese琿春
Chinese Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl혼춘시
South Korean name
Hangul훈춘시

Hunchun (simplified Chinese: 珲春; traditional Chinese: 琿春; pinyin: Húnchūn; Chosŏn'gŭl: 혼춘; Hangul: 훈춘) is a county-level city in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, far eastern Jilin province. It borders North Korea (North Hamgyong province) and Russia (Primorsky Krai), has over 250,000 inhabitants, and covers 5,145 square kilometers.[2][3] The site of the eastern capital of the Balhae Kingdom between 785 and 793, Donggyeong, was located here.

The city's name Hunchun comes from Huncun in Manchu language. (Manchu: ᡥᡠᠨᠴᡠᠨ, Möllendorff: huncun, Abkai: hunqun).[4]

The city and the village Fangchuan is located near the point of junction of the borders of China, Russia, and North Korea; provided with an observation platform, it is a popular tourist attraction.[5]

Administrative divisions[edit]

Hunchun (labelled as Hun-ch'un 琿春) (1954)
Map including Hunchun (labeled as HUN-CHʻUN) (AMS, 1967)

Hunchun has four subdistricts, four towns, and five townships.[6]

Subdistricts:

Towns:

Townships:

Climate[edit]

Climate data for Hunchun (1991–2017 normals, extremes 1981–2010)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 9.2
(48.6)
12.4
(54.3)
20.3
(68.5)
33.6
(92.5)
33.4
(92.1)
36.9
(98.4)
35.6
(96.1)
36.2
(97.2)
31.3
(88.3)
27.3
(81.1)
19.3
(66.7)
9.9
(49.8)
36.9
(98.4)
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) −5.1
(22.8)
−0.5
(31.1)
6.2
(43.2)
14.6
(58.3)
19.7
(67.5)
22.8
(73.0)
25.8
(78.4)
26.8
(80.2)
23.1
(73.6)
15.8
(60.4)
4.8
(40.6)
−3.4
(25.9)
12.6
(54.6)
Daily mean °C (°F) −10.5
(13.1)
−6.5
(20.3)
0.2
(32.4)
7.7
(45.9)
13.1
(55.6)
17.3
(63.1)
21.2
(70.2)
22.0
(71.6)
16.8
(62.2)
9.1
(48.4)
−0.6
(30.9)
−8.2
(17.2)
6.8
(44.2)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) −15.2
(4.6)
−12.1
(10.2)
−5.3
(22.5)
1.6
(34.9)
7.8
(46.0)
13.4
(56.1)
17.8
(64.0)
18.3
(64.9)
11.6
(52.9)
3.3
(37.9)
−5.1
(22.8)
−12.5
(9.5)
2.0
(35.5)
Record low °C (°F) −27.7
(−17.9)
−27.9
(−18.2)
−24.1
(−11.4)
−7.3
(18.9)
−0.8
(30.6)
5.6
(42.1)
8.9
(48.0)
8.7
(47.7)
−1.7
(28.9)
−9.2
(15.4)
−21.2
(−6.2)
−23.4
(−10.1)
−27.9
(−18.2)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 8.9
(0.35)
8.4
(0.33)
14.2
(0.56)
31.5
(1.24)
76.4
(3.01)
83.6
(3.29)
136.5
(5.37)
122.9
(4.84)
76.3
(3.00)
37.3
(1.47)
21.8
(0.86)
8.8
(0.35)
626.6
(24.67)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 2.3 3.1 4.8 7.0 13.4 14.4 15.1 14.2 9.5 6.1 5.3 3.7 98.9
Average snowy days 3.8 4.5 4.8 1.8 0 0 0 0 0 0.7 4.8 5.3 25.7
Average relative humidity (%) 53 52 54 58 69 80 84 81 75 64 59 56 65
Mean monthly sunshine hours 189.9 197.2 230.6 220.5 213.6 179.3 161.4 178.8 217.3 212.5 169.5 169.1 2,339.7
Percent possible sunshine 65 66 62 55 47 39 35 42 59 63 59 61 54
Source: China Meteorological Administration[7][8]

Economy[edit]

Since the early 1990s, the Chinese government invested significantly in transforming Hunchun into a regional economic center, thanks in large part to the influence of the former Jilin governor Wang Zhongyu, whose work with Zhu Rongji allowed him to become the first head of China's State Economic and Trade Commission.[9] On 9 March 1992 the Chinese parliament approved to set up Hunchun Border Economic Cooperation Zone. The national government and Jilin provincial government have invested in succession over four billion yuan in Hunchun through the 1990s.[10]

On 16 March 2013, a joint agreement to export textiles to North Korea was announced.[11][12] The textiles would be made into up to 8,000 shirts in North Korea and exported back to China.[11][12]

Hunchun Border Economic Cooperation Zone was approved to be national-level border economic cooperation zone in 1992, with a planning area of 24 km2 (9.3 sq mi). In 2002 and 2001, Hunchun Export Processing Zone and Hunchun Sino-Russia Trade Zone was set up in it. Being located in the junction of China, Russia, and Korea, it enjoys a strategic location. The city focuses on the development of sea food processing, electronic product manufacture, bio-pharmacy, textile industry and other industries.[13]

Hunchun Export Processing Zone is located in 5 km2 (1.9 sq mi) area in Hunchun Border Economic Cooperation Zone. Its planned area is 2.44 km2 (0.94 sq mi). It enjoys good infrastructure and policies as its parent zone does.[14]

Transport[edit]

In the early 1990s, Jilin province government constructed a railway and improved the highway to Hunchun. The Tumen River Bridge connects between Hunchun and the North Korean village of Wonjeong (원정) in Sonbong. The bridge was built during the Japanese occupation in 1938. In 2010 the bridge was renovated as part of an agreement between North Korea and China to modernize the Rason port in North Korea.[15] In addition, a new railway line was constructed which links Hunchun and Makhalino (a station on the Ussuriysk-Khasan line, 41 km (25 mi) before Khasan) in Russia and began operating in February 2000.[16] Hunchun port is 42 km (26 mi) from Posyet and 63 km (39 mi) from Zarubino port towns of Russia.

The Jilin–Hunchun intercity railway, a 250-km/h high-speed passenger rail line from Jilin to Hunchun via Tumen (吉图珲铁路客运专线), began construction work in January 2011, and was scheduled and finished at the end of September 2015.[17][18] The railway has been described as "Dongbei's most beautiful railway" (due to the terrain it runs through) and "the fastest way to Vladivostok" (4 hours by train from Shenyang to Hunchun, plus four hours by bus from Hunchun to Vladivostok).[19] Reflecting the border location of the city, the train station has its sign in four languages: Chinese, Korean, Russian, and English.[5]

Sign near Mount Paektu promoting Hunchun's location near Russia and North Korea to tourists

Sister Cites[edit]

Rason, North Korea[20]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, ed. (2019). China Urban Construction Statistical Yearbook 2017. Beijing: China Statistics Press. p. 50. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  2. ^ North Korean Economy Watch > News and analysis of the North Korean economy[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "News and analysis of the North Korean economy : Koryolink continues to expand customer base". North Korean Economy Watch. November 17, 2009.
  4. ^ Emperor of Qing Dynasty (1771). 御製增訂清文鑑·卷十·人部一人類一·滿洲 [Enlarged and Revised Manchu Dictionary written by the Emperor of Qing (han -i araha nonggime toktobuha manju gisun -i buleku bithe, juwanci debtelin, niyalmai šošohon uju, niyalmai hacin uju, manju, 4-ci afaha)] (in Manchu). Vol. 10, Human-beings 1. p. 4.
  5. ^ a b Schmitz, Rob (November 16, 2015). "China's Frontier Towns > China bets big on border town with Russia, North Korea". Minnesota Public Radio.
  6. ^ 延边朝鲜族自治州-行政区划网 www.xzqh.org (in Chinese (China)). xzqh.org. Retrieved 2011-04-28.
  7. ^ 中国气象数据网 – WeatherBk Data (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  8. ^ 中国气象数据网 (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  9. ^ Cotton, James (Nov 1996), "China and Tumen River Cooperation: Jilin's Coastal Development Strategy", Asian Survey, vol. 36, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 1086–1101.
  10. ^ "A survey of Hunchun". Office of the TCDC/ECDC Network in China. Archived from the original on 2008-04-07. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
  11. ^ a b Rank, Michael (March 16, 2013). "China signs first offshore processing agreement with North Korea". NK Economic Watch. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  12. ^ a b 吉林对朝出境加工业务运行 (in Chinese). IDPRKorea.com. 2013-03-07. Archived from the original on 22 November 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  13. ^ RightSite.asia | Hunchun Border Economic Cooperation Zone
  14. ^ RightSite.asia | Hunchun Export Processing Zone
  15. ^ Bridge on China-North Korea border being renovated Archived 2010-04-19 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Kawamura, Kazumi. "Nine Transportation Corridors in Northeast Asia and Their Discontinuous Points". The Economic Research Institute for Northeast Asia. Archived from the original on 2014-05-06. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
  17. ^ "吉珲铁路客运专线开工 孙政才宣布工程开". Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. Retrieved 2010-10-31.
  18. ^ 吉图珲铁路有望7月试运行. 2015-04-16.
  19. ^ "吉图珲高铁今试跑 国庆有望通车 - 火车票网".
  20. ^ http://wb.jl.gov.cn/yhcs_85472/201910/t20191018_6115233.html[bare URL]