Changchun History

Located in the central part of the Mount Changbaishan, Changchun is the capital and the political, economic and culture center of Jinlin Province. It is a historical and vigorous city.
 

In Ancient Times

Originally called Kuanchengzi, the Changchun city was used to affiliated to the Sushen State, an ancient tribe in the Songhuajiang River area in the Xia (21st century-16th century BC), Shang (1600-1046 BC) and the Western Zhou (1046-771 BC) Dynasties. During the Western Han (202BC-9) and Eastern Han (25-220), the Three Kingdoms (220-280) and the Western Jin Dynasties (265-316), it was belonged to the Fuyu State. From the Eastern Jin Dynasty to the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, it was delimited to the Koguryo territory. Later, it was administrated by the Bohai State and the Mongolian maharaja territory in the end of the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasties.

The original Changchun city was destroyed in the flame of war in 926 and the reconstruction of the city was given rise to the abolition of the protection policy and the invasion of the Russia and Japan. Therefore, there is a dispute of this city, an ancient city or a modern city.
 

In Recent Times

In the region of the Emperor Jiaqing in 1800 in the Qing Dynasty, the Emperor Jiaqing decided to built a town to connect the capital of Beijing and the Changbaishan Mountain. So the city was set in Xinli Town. In 1825, the city was moved to Kuanchengzi, the present Nanguan area in Changchun City. In 1889, the Emperor Guangxu upgraded the town as the Changchun Prefecture and appointed the magistrate there. In 1913, it was changed to Changchun County and with magistrate of a county there. Then in 1929, it was named as the county government.
 

During Manchukuo and World War II

Changchun has suffered a lot of hardships, especially in modern times. In the first Sino-Japanese (1894-1895), Japanese had an invasion of the northeastern area of China. The expansion clashed with the wishes of Russia and Russia got the right to build a railway there finally and built a Russian Residence in Changchun. In 1906, Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, and gained the right of the railway in southern Northeast China. In order to expand the Manchurian Railway dependent territory, Changchun Railway Station and the trading port were built. At that time, the city covered an area of about 21quare kilometers and with a population of 150,000.

In the August in 1920, the construction of the municipal administration was begun and in 1932, the Changchun County was changed into Changchun City. At that time, the city was occupied by the Japanese invaders and set as the capital of Manchukuo on March 14th, in 1932. In the following day, the city’s name was changed to Xinjing, and the last emperor of Qing Dynasty was its designed overseer. Then the Changchun city became the central of the economic, military, and political and the cultural of the northeastern area. Till 1944, the city area was reached to 80 square kilometers and with a population of 817,000.

At that time, the Chinese people were forbidden to learn their own language and culture, as they were now under the control of the Japanese Empire. Life for those living in the newly controlled areas was cruel. In 1945, the Changchun city regained its name. The area changed hands again, when the Soviet army took over the city on August 19th, 1945. After that, the army of the Republic of China and the army of Kuomintang had a fight battle in this area.
 

After People's Republic of China Founded

On October 19th, 1948, Changchun was liberated and was identified as a special city. In 1953, it was changed into the municipality directly under the central government. Then, it was set as the capital of Jilin Province and has become the political, economical and cultural center. It was listed as one of the 15 economic centers in China. With the deep city cultural deposits and many historical sites, Changchun is also a famous traveling resort. Since its afforest area ranks the first in the big cities in Asia, it was listed as one the four big garden cities in China.