Changchun Dafangshen Airport (), or Dafangshen Air Base, is a military air base in Changchun, the capital of

Jilin Jilin (; 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 (Prim ...

Province in

Northeast China Northeast China or Northeastern China () is a geographical region of China, which is often referred to as "Manchuria" or "Inner Manchuria" by surrounding countries and the West. It usually corresponds specifically to the three provinces east of ...

. Originally constructed in 1941 by the

Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of Japan, 1947 constitu ...

for the capital of its puppet state Manchukuo, Dafangshen Airport saw fierce fighting and was severely damaged during the

siege of Changchun The siege of Changchun was a military blockade undertaken by the People's Liberation Army against Changchun between May and October 1948, the largest city in Manchuria at the time, and one of the headquarters of the Republic of China Army in Nor ...

in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

. It served as Changchun's commercial international airport from October 1960 until August 2005, when all civil flights were transferred to the new

Changchun Longjia International Airport Changchun Longjia International Airport is an international airport in Jilin Province, China, for which it is an aviation hub in China's Civil Airport System. The airport is north-east of provincial capital Changchun and north-west of Jilin ...

Location and facilities

Dafangshen Airport is located west of central Changchun. When opened in 1941, it had a runway measuring by , and a taxiway measuring by . After it became Changchun's main public airport in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

era, it was expanded multiple times, with a domestic terminal, an international terminal, and a dedicated railway among the later additions.

History

Manchukuo and Republic of China

Dafangshen Airport was built by the

in 1941 to serve Changchun (Hsinking), then capital of the Japanese puppet state Manchukuo. It replaced the older and smaller Kuanchengzi Airport (宽城子机场). Near the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, a Soviet airborne force landed at Dafangshen Airport on 20 August 1945 and captured Changchun from the Japanese army. When the Soviet forces left Changchun on 14 April 1946, the communist Northeast People's Liberation Army took over the city and the airport. Soon afterwards Chiang Kai-shek's

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

army drove out the communists on 23 May 1946. During the Liaoshen Campaign of the

, the Northeast People's Liberation Army besieged Changchun.

Xiao Jinguang Xiao Jinguang (; Former name Xiao Yucheng 萧玉成 Nickname: Man Ge 满哥) (January 4, 1903 – March 29, 1989) was a revolutionary and military leader, one of the main leaders of the Red Army and the People's Liberation Army, and one of the te ...

captured Dafangshen and damaged its runway in May 1948 to prevent the Kuomintang from using the airport to supply

Zheng Dongguo Zheng Dongguo () was a field commander in the Republic of China National Revolutionary Army. He took part in the Second Sino-Japanese War, and was active in southern China and in the Burma theatre of the war, drawing troops from Yunnan. After t ...

's defensive forces inside the city. On 16 October, the Kuomintang army launched a fierce attack in an attempt to recapture the airport, but were repelled by Xiao's forces. Most buildings and facilities of the airport were destroyed in the fighting.

People's Republic of China

After the Communists won the civil war and establishment of the

in 1949, Dafangshen Airport was used for pilot training by the Second Aviation Academy of the

People's Liberation Army Air Force The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF; ), also known as the Chinese Air Force (中国空军) or the People's Air Force (人民空军), is an aerial service branch of the People's Liberation Army, the regular armed forces of the Peo ...

. It was later expanded for civil aviation and replaced Datun Airport as Changchun's public airport in October 1960. A domestic terminal and a international terminal were constructed. It served mainly domestic destinations as well as

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

and

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

. As air travel became increasingly common since the

reform and opening The Chinese economic reform or reform and opening-up (), known in the West as the opening of China, is the program of economic reforms termed " Socialism with Chinese characteristics" and "socialist market economy" in the People's Republic of C ...

era, Dafangshen could not longer accommodate the rapid growth of air traffic, and the new

was constructed to replace it as Changchun's public airport. Longjia Airport was opened on 27 August 2005, and Dafangshen reverted to sole military use.

Former airlines and destinations

Shortly after the economic reform and opening up, the air traffic rose dramatically, and many airlines (whether domestic or international) had once operated in Changchun in its heyday. The airlines and destinations are:

Gallery

2002年大房身机场候机厅 departure hall, Da Fang Shen Airport - panoramio

References

{{authority control Airports in Jilin Defunct airports in China Transport in Changchun Manchukuo Airports established in 1941 Airports established in 1960 1941 establishments in China 1960 establishments in China 2005 disestablishments in China Chinese Air Force bases Chinese Civil War