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Changchun (Simplified Chinese: 长春; Traditional Chinese: 長春; Pinyin: Chángchūn) is the capital and largest city of Jilin province, located at the northeast of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city. The name originated from the Jurchen language. The Changchun metropolitan area has a population of 6.83 million and a population of 2.78 million in its city proper.

History

Changchun is a new city with only about 200 years of history. Changchun started as a minor trading town. In the year of 1800, Emperor Jiaqing of Qing Dynasty selected a small village on the east bank of the Yitong River and named it as "Changchun Ting", and in the year of 1889, it was promoted as "Changchun Fu".

It expanded rapidly as the junction between of the Japanese-owned South Manchurian Railway and the Russian-owned Chinese Eastern Railway which had different rail gauges, as well as permit licences, from 1905-1935. Changchun had railway repair shops and branch lines originating in Changchun extended into Korea and Inner Mongolia.

In 1932 moving from Jilin City (Kirin city) 200 km to the east, Changchun became the capital of Manchukuo, a state in Manchuria. Then known as Hsinking 新京 (Pinyin: Xīnjīng, Wade-Giles: Hsin-ching, Japanese: Shinkyō, English trans.: New Capital), the capital was a well-planned city with broad avenues and modern public works. The city underwent rapid expansion in both its economy and infrastructures. From 1931 to 1945 China's last emperor Pu Yi would be installed as the Manchukuo government head by the Japanese authority. He would reside in the Wei Huang Gong (偽皇宮), better known as the "Puppet Emperor's Palace".

Severely damaged during World War II, the city was liberated by the Soviet Red Army in 1945. The Russians maintained a presence in the city after the Chinese civil war until 1956. Kuomintang forces occupied the city in 1946, but were unable to hold the countryside against Chinese Communist forces. The city fell to the communists in 1948 after a 12-month-long siege by the People's Liberation Army that resulted in a massive famine with a civilan death toll of 100,000 to 300,000. Renamed Changchun by the People's Repubic of China government, it became the capital of Jilin in 1954. The Changchun Film Studio is also one of the remaining film factories of the era. From the 1950s, it was designated to become a center for China's automotive industry. The famous Red Flag limousines were made in Changchun as were the Liberation (Jiefang) trucks based on a Ford model used in Russia who supplied much of the early manufacturing machinery.

Changchun hosted the 2007 Winter Asian Games.

Economy

Changchun has a complete industrial system with 128 categories and over 3,000 types of products. As Changchun's main industry, the manufacturing of transportation facilities and machinery such as those of automobile, passenger train, and tractor has developed very well and its total output constitutes, respectively, 1/5, 1/2, and 1/10 of that of the nation's. The industries such as machinery, electronics, optics, chemistry, medicine, textile, metallurgy, building materials and foodstuffs all assume their own features and advantages.

The GDP per capita was ¥21336 (ca. US$2580) in 2003, ranked no. 52 among 659 Chinese cities.

Universities and Colleges

Sister cities