Yichun ( zh, s=伊春, p=Yīchūn) is a

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

on the Songhua river in

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Us ...

province, China. The city is separated from Russia by the

Amur River The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...

and has an international border of . According to the 2010 census, it had a total population of 1,148,126 with 729,202 people living in 15 districts separated by forests. The greening rate of Yichun is up to 83%. The nickname of Yichun is Lindu ( zh, s=林都 , p=Líndū , l=forest capital , links=no).

History

Yichun was named after the Yichun River (), which is a small tributary of Tangwang River (). The word Yichun means "nine" in Mongolian language. During the

Shang dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty that ruled in the Yellow River valley during the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and followed by the Western Zhou d ...

Yichun was populated by the Sushen (). Before the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, the region was inhabited by several nomad tribes in the northeastern border area of China including Sushen and Donghu. During the Qing dynasty, Yichun was under the administration of Qiqihar and Hulan's Deputy Lieutenant-General (Fudutong) before it became a minor town under Tangyuan County's jurisdiction in the 1890s. The region's real development began after the establishment of

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially known as the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of Great Manchuria thereafter, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China that existed from 1932 until its dissolution in 1945. It was ostens ...

after Japanese force seized Manchuria in 1932. In November 1941, a railway from Suihua to Jiamusi was built before its branch was extended to today's Yichun district from Nancha in July 1942. In 1945, Yichun was established as Yichunjie (Yichun Street) under Tangyuan County's control. As a major center of lumber industry, Yichun has grown at an astonishing rate since 1949. In 1952 Yichun County was established by the PRC Government. On 13 Feb 1958 Yichun was designated a

Prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

. However, in order to set up a pilot of the combination of enterprise management and government, The CPC Central Committee and State Council approved to establish Yichun Special District () instead of Yichun City in 1964. In 1979 the City of Yichun was reinstated. Jiayin and Tieli were put into Yichun's jurisdiction.

Geography

Yichun is located in the northeast part of Heilongjiang with a border length of , part of which faces

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

across the

. The Lesser Khingan Mountains cross the city. The total administrative area is . The channels and valleys are densely covered with trees and grasslands. There are 702 rivers, all of which are in the Amur and Songhua River

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s; the total water pondage is . The Tangwanghe River is the main river.

Climate

Yichun has a

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

-influenced, hemiboreal climate (Köppen Dwb), with long, bitterly cold, but very dry winters, and very warm, humid summers. With an annual mean temperature of , it is among the coldest Chinese cities, and

diurnal temperature variation In meteorology, diurnal temperature variation is the variation between a high air temperature and a low temperature that occurs during the same day. Temperature lag Temperature lag, also known as thermal inertia, is an important factor in diur ...

tends to be large, especially in winter and spring. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to . During the warmer months, rainfall is somewhat enhanced by the mountainous topography, allowing for a generous annual precipitation total of . However, the monsoon still means that more than 60% of the annual precipitation falls from June to August alone.

Subdivisions

On 13 Jun 2019, the District division adjustment plan of Yichun, which plans to merge all of the original 15 districts to 4 districts and 4 counties was approved by the State Council. Yichun, Heilongjiang currently comprises 4 districts, 1 county-level city and 5 counties.
Districts: Yimei, Wucui, Youhao and Jinlin
County-level city: Tieli
Counties: Tangwang, Fenglin, Nancha and Dajingshan

Economy

The city's GDP topped RMB 20.24 billion in 2010, featuring a growth of 15.7% over the previous year. In 2010, value-added industrial output generated by enterprises with designated size or above rose 29.3% to RMB 7.12 billion. In 2010, the foreign trade value of Yichun totaled US$302.23 million, up 36.3% year on year. Wood processing and metallurgy are the main industries in Yichun. In 2010, value-added industrial output from wood processing increased 34% to RMB 2.01 billion, while that from metallurgy rose 39.2% to RMB 2.2 billion, accounting for 33.6% of the industrial sector's total. These two industries accounted for 91% of Yichun's total value-added industrial output according to the statistics in 2009.

Transportation

Yichun Lindu Airport, located in a forest approximately from downtown Yichun, is the city's airport. It started operations in August 2009, and is capable of serving 142,000 passengers a year. Yichun Railway Station operates daily trains to Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province. The Yichun-Hegang Highway and the Yichun-Harbin Highway(part of Hegang-Harbin Highway) connect the city with other cities in Heilongjiang Province.

References

External links

Yichun City
{{authority control Cities in Heilongjiang Prefecture-level divisions of Heilongjiang