Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture (Jilin Province)

In 1949 AD, immediatly after the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China the Yanbian Korean Ethnic Minority University was created in Jilin Province. It was the first such Ethnic University to be established in the Nation. Not much later, in 1952 AD during the establishment of a National Ethnic Minority Protection Plan the new Chinese government gave Koreans their own autonomous region in North-East Jilin Province on the Border with North-Korea. This Area, Yanbian was upgraded into an ethnic autonomous prefecture, the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in 1955 AD.

Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, or Yanbian ChaoXianzu ZizhiZhou, measures 42,700 square kilometers (roughly 45% of the Size of South Korea) and is located in the far North-Eastern Corner of Jilin Province where it borders on both Russia and North-Korea. To the North and West lies the Russian controlled area of Primorsky Krai with the nearby City of Vladivostok. Yanbian Prefecture has two counties, Antu and Wangqing.

The border region here is formed naturally by the southern slopes of the Sikhote-Alin mountainous formation of which most territory is mountainous and consists for 80% of forested highlands

(The Sikhote-Alin Mountains were the scene of a historic meteor explosion in 1947 AD).

To the South-West lies the Changbai Shan mountain range ("the everwhite mountains"), China's largest wildlife reservation area. Immediatly South-East of Yanbian Prefecture lies the reclusive State of North Korea.

The Korean Prefecture has only 2.2 million inhabitants (the total population in Yanbian in 2008 was 2.185.500, of which 58.34% Chinese, 38.76% Korean, 2.9% other minorities) concentrated in Six major population centres. These

are Dunhua, then the Prefectural Capital City of Yanji (Yon'gil) counting 399 thousand citizens and Yanji Chaoyangchuan Airport, LongJing and Tumen somewhat famed for its bridge (the Tumen-Namyang bridge) and border-crossing into North-Korea.

because of its remote location in view of both the Russian and North-Korean Borders. From Fangchuan it is still some 17 kilometers to the Sea of Japan, all of which currently is North-Korean Territory. Yanbian Prefecture, Jilin Province and China are therefor landlocked in this strategic far North-Eastern Corner.

A Satellite Image of the Korean Peninsula and Parts of China's North-Eastern Liaoning and Jilin Provinces giving a rough idea of local borders and towns.

- Mouse over Image to reveal the location of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture !

By far the most Ethnic Koreans in Jilin Province are concentrated in and around the Border City of Tumen which is only separated from Namyang of North Hamgyong province of North Korea by the Tumen River. Of its 136,000 inhabitants, approximately 78,000 (or 57%) are of Korean descent. Many North Korean Refugees inevitably pass through Tumen and the

A small level of tourism industry exists at Yanbian Prefecture. First of all the Yanbian Korean Prefecture is the location of important Balhae archaeological site (an ancient Korean Kingdom that existed during the Tang Dynasty Era in the manchurian and korean regions) known as the Ancient Tombs at Longtou Mountain, which includes the Mausoleum of Princess Zhenxiao. This ancient Kingdom play a very important role in Korean Nationalism leading to continued public interest. Many Korean tourists visit each summer season. The Relics of the Ancient Kingdom play a sensitive role in international

government in order to establish a railway container service between Hunchun and the North Korean port town of Rajin crossing the border via the Tumen-Namyang bridge. This container link is now part of a thriving cross-border trade between both Nations and a vital economic lifeline for North Korea.

A Satellite Image based Map of the the North-Eastern (Manchuria) Chinese Province of Jilin (with parts of Liaoning Province), the Chinese-North Korean Border, Part of Russian Primorsky Krai (Maritime) Province of Siberia in the Russian Federation, and the Nations of North Korea (DPRK) and South Korea (DRK) on the Korean Peninsula. - MOUSE OVER IMAGE !

Furthermore, the Korean Prefecture lies due North-East of Changbai Shan Reserve, an area popular for South-Korean Tourists due to the myth that current Korean Leader Kim Yong-Il was supposedly born in this snow-covered, rough and pristine mountain area (North Korean propaganda affirms that Kim Jong-Il was born in a guerrilla camp on the Korean face of Mount Paektusan in February 1942 AD. Mount Paektu in turn is the “sacred mountain of the revolution”, the place of the most important guerrilla exploits in the 1930s under the command of Kim Il-Sung.) The claims have a highly symbolic meaning as the name of the Mountain Reverberates through Korean History.

For the Koreans, Mount Paektu is entwined with their earliest history.

politics. Koreans and Chinese have different versions of the past, as Chinese prefer to see the Kingdoms inhabitants being absorbed, Culture and all by the Chinese Empire wheras Koreans see the Balhae Kingdom as an early form of an ethnic Korea and thus claim their heritage beyond North Korea into Chinese Territory. To illustrate the continued importance of the issue : recently in 2004 AD Relations between Beijing and Seoul also turned chilly for awhile when China officially claimed the ancient kingdom of Koguryo in northern Korea and Manchuria (37 BC to AD 668) as part of Chinese history (and thus territory). As far as nationalistic Koreans are concerned it is a historic part of the Korean Motherland.

verse of the Republic of Korea’s (ROC= South Korea) national anthem. Thus, the Main Korean fascination centers on Paektu-San, the dead Volcano and volcanic lake (lake Chongji) from which both border rivers, the Yalu and the Tumen, spring. A good thing to realize when visiting is that the

city is home to large detention center for North Koreans awaiting repatriation to their homeland.

More to the South and West more ethnic Korean agricultural communities straddle the North-Korean Border to beyond the limits of the Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture and as far away as the small town of BaiHe, on the North Gate and border of Changbai Shan Wildlife Reserve and National Park.

Historically, the Yanbian Prefecture consisted mainly of remote agricultural communities engaged in small scale

In addition, a new railway line was constructed to link Hunchun and Russian Port Cities immediately to the North in Russian Primorsky Krai (Maritime Province). Since the year 2000 AD Hunchun connects by railway to Makhalino, a station on the Ussuriysk-Khasan line, 41 km before Khasan in Russia. From this point trains can connect to Posyet (42Km) or Zarubino 63 Km) port towns of Russia on the Sea of Japan Coast.

farming, especially rice farming. However, ever since the Cultural Revolution Era and more recently with China's economic boom in the 1990's, Yanbian has started to follow the path of Industrialization. In 1992 AD, the small port city of Hunchun was chosen as the location of Hunchun Border Economic Cooperation Zone with North-Korea. Since then large investments have been made by both the provincial and the national

main remaining border dispute between the Chinese Government and North Korea concerns Mount Paektu , the mountain at the center of the Changbai Shan Nature Reserve. As a result, the precise border in this area has not been clarified as of yet.

Visitors, especially westerners, are not encouraged to try and hike around the Volcano by themselves as both Chinese and Korean Border Patrols may crisscross the area. Accidentally stray into the restricted border zone and have yourself arrested by either side, with all due

A Satellite Image Overview of The Peoples Republic of China (and wider Regions) at Night. Clearly visible is the black hole formed by North Korea, just across the border from Dandong in Liaoning Province. Five Cities are visible inside North Korea (DPRK) of which only two clearly: Pyongyang the Capital, and the Northern Coastal City of Ch'Ongjin.

- Click Image to go to Full Version with Cities + Explanation.

consequences.

South Korean visitors love to go see Paektu Shan, hike the Mountains and look over into North-Korea after which it is only natural for them to travel on to Yanbian Prefecture to visit the Korean Community and have a look across the Border into North Korea from Tumen.

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According to popular Korean legend, the heavenly God Hwanung (“the king come from the sky”) landed on the volcano to couple (?!) with a woman who then conceived a son, Tangun (“the king of the birch-tree”(Birch Trees are abundant throughout Manchuria)), who in 2333 B.C. founded the Kingdom of Choson, which is regarded as being the first Korean state in history.

Paektu-San is so important to Koreans that its name is even mentioned in the first