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Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture

Encyclopedia : Y : YA : YAN : Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture

Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture (}; }; Korean: 연변조선족자치주) is an autonomous prefecture in Jilin province, in the northeastern part of the People's Republic of China. Yanbian is south of Heilongjiang, east of Jilin's Baishan City, north of North Korea's North Hamgyong Province, and west of Russia. Yanbian is designated as an autonomous prefecture due to the large number of ethnic Koreans living in the region. The prefectural capital is Yanji, and the area is 42,700 km².

The Prefecture has an important Balhae archaeological site: the Ancient Tombs at Longtou Mountain, which includes the Mausoleum of Princess Zhenxiao. Balhae was an ancient Korean kingdom and civilization that flourished in the region in the 7th to 10th centuries.

Contents

Administration

The prefecture is subdivided into 8 county-level divisions: 6 county-level cities and 2 counties: (For a map, see #External links)

The above counties and cities are divided into 642 villages (边境村/邊境村).

History

Yanbian was inhabited since 26,000 years ago by what today the Chinese called the Antu (安圖人) (a county is named after them). Since around the 8th century, Yanbian was part of Balhae. In the Ming Dynasty, Yanbian was Jianzhou Guard-district (建州衛), late Qing Dynasty divided into Yanji (延吉廳) and Hunchun (琿春廳) Subprefectures.

In the 19th century, many Korean immigrants migrated en masse from the Korea Peninsula to China. After the foundation of the Republic of China, a second wave arrived. The population increase was caused by a Japanese invasion in that region. The Japanese were trying to use Korean immigration to diffuse the staying power of Chinese in that region. After the end of World War II, many Koreans in China did not go back to Korea, even though their country was liberated. Instead, they joined the Chinese Civil War and were mobilized by communist leader Mao Zedong to fight against the Chinese Nationalist army. As a reward for their involvement, the Communist Party gave Koreans their own autonomous prefecture inside China and divided the land of Han Chinese among the cooperating Koreans.

The name "Yanbian" was created in the 1920s, because it stretches (yan) on the boundary (bian) of three nations. It was also in the Yanji Border-affairs Public Bureau, where Yanji means Luck of the Stretch. During the Manchukuo period, it was called Kan-do (間島) Province by the Japanese. The same characters when used as hanja in Korean are pronounced and romanized as Gando (hangul: 간도), the name still currently used by Koreans to refer to the entire larger region of Manchuria long inhabited by those of Korean ethnicity. After the PRC, it became an autonomous region (区) in 1952, and upgraded to an autonomous prefecture in 1955.

Geography

Mountains that are in the prefecture are: There have been over 40 types of minerals and 50 kinds of metals, including gold, lead, zinc copper, silver, manganese and mercury, discovered near or in the mountains.

Average land height is 500 metres above sea level.

Main rivers include:

The rivers sustain 28 running water processing facilities.

The rivers created basins, which are suitable for agricultural uses, like rice paddies and bean farms.

Transportation

Railways include: Public roads are 1,480-kilometre altogether. There are four airports.

Demographics

Ethnicity compositions: Population density: 51 people per km².

Like the peninsular Koreans, Yanbianese Koreans' most common surname is Kim. Many immigrated from Korea during the 19th century, and again during the Japanese Occupation.

The Yanbianese have one of the highest living standard in the PRC, with an index of urbanization standard (城市化水准/城市化水準) at 55.6%, 20 more percents than the provincial standard (31.3%) and 25 more than the national (26.5%).¹

Culture

Yanbianese uses the Korean language. Like the peninsular Korean language, Yanbianese Korean uses Western punctuation, for its writing.

Yanbian University is the only university in China that teaches courses at 12 colleges in Korean as well as Chinese languages.

The Museum of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture was planned in 1960, and constructed in 1982. It contains over 10,000 exhibits, including 11 first-level artifacts. The exhibits' labels and explanations are bilingual in Korean and Chinese, and tour guides are also available in both languages.

Tourism

There are seven public parks in Yanbian's green space (18% of whole prefecture), including: Also popular among locals during holidays and festivities.

Nature and Environment

Over 70% are originally forest in the prefecture, so there is a rich diversity of life.

References

¹ "Jilin's Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture Urbanization Standard Exceeds that of the Whole Country" (吉林延邊朝鮮族自治州城市化水準走在全國前列) Xinhua News 2002-09-02 09:46:06: article no longer on-line

See also

External links


Prefecture-level divisions of Jilin
'''Sub-provincial cities: Changchun
'''Prefecture-level cities: Baicheng | Baishan | Jilin City
Liaoyuan | Siping | Songyuan | Tonghua
'''Autonomous prefecture: Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture
List of Jilin County-level divisions

 

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