Чанчунь қаласы: Қытайдың автомобиль өнеркәсібінің орталығы және тарихы

Capital city of Jilin Province, China

is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province in China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a sub provincial city, comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 county level cities. According to the 2020 census of China, Changchun had a total population of 9,066,906 under its jurisdiction. The city's metro area, comprising 5 districts and 1 development area, had a population of 5,019,477 in 2020, as the Shuangyang and Jiutai districts are not urbanized yet. Changchun is an important industrial base with a particular focus on the automotive sector. Because of its key role in the domestic automobile industry, Changchun was sometimes referred to as the "Detroit of China." The city is home to several major universities, notably Jilin University and Northeast Normal University, members of China's prestigious universities in the Double First Class Construction.

Changchun was initially established on imperial decree as a small trading post and frontier village during the reign of the Jiaqing Emperor in the Qing dynasty. Trading activities mainly involved furs and other natural products during this period. In 1800, the Jiaqing Emperor selected a small village on the east bank of the Yitong River and named it "Changchun Ting". At the end of the 18th century peasants from overpopulated provinces such as Shandong and Hebei began to settle in the region. In 1889, the village was promoted into a city known as "Changchun Fu".

In May 1898, Changchun got its first railway station, located in Kuancheng, part of the railway from Harbin to Lüshun (the southern branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway), constructed by the Russian Empire. After Russia's loss of the southernmost section of this branch as a result of the Russo Japanese War of 1904–1905, the Kuancheng station (Kuanchengtze, in contemporary spelling) became the last Russian station on this branch. which now owned all the tracks running farther south, to Lüshun, which they re gauged to the standard gauge (after a short period of using the narrow Japanese 3ft6in gauge during the war). A special Russo Japanese agreement of 1907 provided that Russian gauge tracks would continue from the "Russian" Kuancheng Station to the "Japanese" Changchun Station, and vice versa, tracks on the "gauge adapted by the South Manchuria Railway" (i. e. the standard gauge) would continue from Changchun Station to Kuancheng Station. It was the worst ever recorded outbreak of pneumonic plague which was spread through the Trans Manchurian railway from the border trade port of Manzhouli. This turned out to be the beginning of the large pneumonic plague pandemic of Manchuria and Mongolia which ultimately claimed 60,000 victims.

The Treaty of Portsmouth formally ended the Russo Japanese War of 1904–05 and saw the transfer and assignment to the Empire of Japan in 1906 the railway between Changchun and Port Arthur, and all its branches. Having realized the strategic importance of Changchun's location with respect to Japan, China and Russia, the Japanese Government sent a group of planners and engineers to Changchun to determine the best site for a new railway station. Without the consent of the Chinese Government, Japan purchased or seized from local farmers the land on which the Changchun Railway Station was to be constructed as the centre of the South Manchuria Railway Affiliated Areas (SMRAA). In order to turn Changchun into the centre for extracting the agricultural and mineral resources of Manchuria, Japan developed a blueprint for Changchun and invested heavily in the construction of the city. At the beginning of 1907, as the prelude to, and preparation for, the invasion and occupation of China, Japan initiated the planning programme of the SMRAA, which embodied distinctive colonial characteristics. The guiding ideology of the overall design was to build a high standard colonial city with sophisticated facilities, multiple functions and a large scale. Accordingly, nearly ¥7 million on average was allocated on a year by year basis for urban planning and construction during the period 1907 to 1931. The comprehensive plan was to ensure the comfort required by Japanese employees on Manchurian Railways, build up Changchun into a base for Japanese control of the whole Manchuria in order to provide an effective counterweight to Russia in this area of China. The city's role as a rail hub was underlined in its planning and construction, the main design concepts of which read as follows: under conventional grid pattern terms, two geoplagiotropic boulevards were newly carved eastward and westward from the grand square of the new railway station. The two helped form two intersections with the gridded prototypes, which led to two circles of South and West. The two sub civic centres served as axes on which eight radial roads were blazed that took the shape of a sectoral structure. At that time, the radial circles and the design concept of urban roads were quite advanced and scientific. It activated to great extent the serious urban landscapes as well as clearly identifying the traditional gridded pattern. With the new Changchun railway station as its centre, the urban plan divided the SMRAA into various specified areas: residential quarters 15%, commerce 33%, grain depot 19%, factories 12%, public entertainment 9%, and administrative organs (including a Japanese garrison) 12%.

On 10 March 1932 the capital of Manchukuo, a Japan controlled puppet state in Manchuria, was established in Changchun. The city was then renamed Hsinking (; Japanese: ; literally "New Capital") on 13 March. The Emperor Puyi resided in the Imperial Palace which is now the Museum of the Manchu State Imperial Palace. During the Manchukuo period, the region experienced harsh suppression, brutal warfare on the civilian population, forced conscription and labor and other Japanese sponsored government brutalities; at the same time a rapid industrialisation and militarisation took place. Hsinking was a well planned city with broad avenues and modern public works. The city underwent rapid expansion in both its economy and infrastructure. Many of buildings built during the Japanese colonial era still stand today, including those of the Eight Major Bureaus of Manchukuo as well as the Headquarters of the Japanese Kwantung Army.

Hsinking was the only Direct controlled municipality in Manchukuo after Harbin was incorporated into the jurisdiction of Binjiang Province. In March 1932, the Inspection Division of South Manchuria Railway started to draw up the Metropolitan Plan of Great Hsinking The Bureau of capital construction which was directly under the control of State Council of Manchukuo was established to take complete responsibility of the formulation and the implementation of the plan. In accordance with the Metropolitan Plan of Great Hsinking, the area of publicly shared land (including the Imperial Palace, government offices, roads, parks and athletic grounds) in Hsinking was , whilst the area of residential, commercial and industrial developments was planned to be However, Hsinking's population exceeded the prediction of 500,000 by 1940. In 1941, the Capital Construction Bureau modified the original plan, which expanded the urban area to The new plan also focused on the construction of satellite towns around the city with a planning of land per capita. Because the effects of war, the Metropolitan Plan of Great Hsinking remained unfinished. By 1944, the built up urban area of Hsinking reached , while the area used for greening reached As Hsinking's city orientation was the administrative center and military commanding center, land for military use exceeded the originally planned figure of 9 percent, while only light manufacturing including packing industry, cigarette industry and paper making had been developed during this period. Japanese force also controlled Hsinking's police system, instead of Manchukuo government. Major officers of Hsinking police were all ethnic Japanese. The population of Hsinking also experienced rapid growth after being established as the capital of Manchukuo. According to the census in 1934 taken by the police agency, the city's municipal area had 141,712 inhabitants. By 1944 the city's population had risen to 863,607, with 153,614 Japanese settlers. This population amount made Hsinking the third largest metropolitan city in Manchukuo after Mukden and Harbin, as the metropolitan mainly focused on military and political function.

In 1936, the Imperial Japanese Army established Unit 100 to develop plague biological weapons, although the declared purpose of Unit 100 was to conduct research about diseases originating from animals. During the Second Sino Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II the headquarters of Unit 100 ("Wakamatsu Unit") was located in downtown Hsinking, under command of veterinarian Yujiro Wakamatsu. This facility was involved in research of animal vaccines to protect Japanese resources, and, especially, biological warfare. Diseases were tested for use against Soviet and Chinese horses and other livestock. In addition to these tests, Unit 100 ran a bacteria factory to produce the pathogens needed by other units. Biological sabotage testing was also handled at this facility: everything from poisons to chemical crop destruction.

On 20 August 1945 the city was captured by the Soviet Red Army and renamed Changchun. The Russians maintained a presence in the city during the Soviet occupation of Manchuria until 1946. National Revolutionary Army forces under Zheng Dongguo occupied the city in 1946, but were unable to hold the countryside against Lin Biao's People's Liberation Army forces during the Chinese Civil War. The city fell to the Chinese Communist Party in 1948 after the five month Siege of Changchun, and the communist victory was a turning point which allowed an offensive to capture the remainder of Mainland China. Between 10 and 30 percent of the civilian population starved to death under the siege; estimates range from 150,000 to 330,000. as of 2015 the PRC government avoids all mention of the siege.

Renamed Changchun by the People's Republic of China government, it became the capital of Jilin in 1954. The Changchun Film Studio is also one of the remaining film studios of the era. Changchun Film Festival has become a unique gala for film industries since 1992. and production of the Jiefang CA 10 truck, based on the Soviet ZIS 150 started in 1956. Soviet Union lent assistance during these early years, providing technical support, tooling, and production machinery. In 2002, the local television broadcast was hijacked by a small group of Falun Gong practitioners. These events were depicted in the documentary Eternal Spring. Changchun hosted the 2007 Winter Asian Games.

Changchun lies in the middle portion of the Northeast China Plain. Its municipality area is located at latitude 43° 05′−45° 15′ N and longitude 124° 18′−127° 02' E. The total area of Changchun municipality is , including metro areas of , and a city proper area of The city is situated at a moderate elevation, ranging from within its administrative region. In the eastern portion of the city, there lies a small area of low mountains, with the Laodaodong Mountain, which has an altitude of 711 meters, being the highest. The city is also situated at the crisscross point of the third east–westward "Europe Asia Continental Bridge". Changchun prefecture is dotted with 222 rivers and lakes. The Yitong River, a small tributary of the Songhua River, runs through the city proper.

Changchun has a four season, monsoon influenced, humid continental climate (Köppen Dwa). Winters are long (lasting from November to March), cold, and windy, but dry, due to the influence of the Siberian anticyclone, with a January mean temperature of Spring and autumn are somewhat short transitional periods, with some precipitation, but are usually dry and windy. Summers are hot and humid, with a prevailing southeasterly wind due to the East Asian monsoon; July averages Snow is usually light during the winter, and annual rainfall is heavily concentrated from June to August. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 49 percent in July to 69 percent in February, a typical year will see around 2,597 hours of sunshine,

According to the Sixth China Census, the total population of the City of Changchun reached 7.677 million in 2010. The statistics in 2011 estimated the total population to be 7.59 million. The birth rate was 6.08 per thousand and the death rate was 5.51 per thousand. The urban area had a population of 3.53 million people. In 2010 the sex ratio of the city population was 102.10 males to 100 females.

Changchun has four major religions: Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam. There are 396 government approved places for religious activities and worship services. Shamanism had been circulated in Northeast China during ancient times and was believed by many Manchus. Now the shamanism and the study of it have become an important cultural heritage of the region.

Jilin Provincial Museum, a national first grade museum, is located in Changchun. The museum was moved to Changchun from Jilin City after the transfer of the provincial government seat. It was originally located in the centre of the old town, but, after nine years of construction, a new building for the museum's collections was completed in 2016 on the city's outskirts in Nanguan District near Jingyuetan Park. Badabu is a group of buildings of the former eight Manchukuo ministries which are Ministry of Public Safety, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Culture and Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Civil Affairs that has recently become a sightseeing highlight because of their unique combined Chinese, Japanese and Manchurian architecture. Jingyuetan National Forest Park is located to the southeast of the city, and is one of the AAAAA Tourist Attractions of China. The park hosts Vasaloppet China annually.

Founded in 1993, the Changchun Automotive Trade Center was re established as the Changchun Automotive Economic Trade and Development Zone in 1996. The development zone is situated in the southwest of the city and is adjacent to the China First Automobile Works Group Corporation and the Changchun Film ThemeCity. It covers a total area of approximately Within the development zone lies an exhibition center and five specially demarcated industrial centers. The Changchun Automobile Wholesale Center began operations in 1994 and is the largest auto vehicle and spare parts wholesale center in China. The other centers include a resale center for used auto vehicles, a specialized center for industrial/commercial vehicles, and a tire wholesale center. It is located from downtown Changchun, from the freight railway station and from the Changchun international airport. The zone is devoted to developing five leading industries: namely automotive parts and components, photoelectric information, bio pharmaceutical, fine processing of foods, and new building materials. In particular, high tech and high value added projects account for over 80 percent of total output. In 2006 the zone's total fixed assets investment rose to RMB38.4 billion. Among the total of 1656 enterprises registered, 179 are foreign funded. The zone also witnessed a total industrial output of RMB 277 billion in 2007.

Changchun is served by a comprehensive bus system, which having more than 250 bus route, most buses charge 1 2 yuan per ride. Changchun is one of the few cities preserving the historic tram system in China. The tram system first opened in 1941, having 6 lines covering almost 53 km at its peak. But after several route adjustments, there is only one line left since the 2000s. A new branch line is opened in 2014, which links the new Changchun West Railway Station. The whole system is now operated under the bus system of Changchun.

Changchun Rail Transit is an rapid transit system of Changchun, combind light rail lines and metro lines. Its first line was opened on 30 October 2002, making Changchun the fifth metropolitan city in China to open rail transit. Till November 2018, there are 5 lines in Changchun, including Line 1, Line 2, Line 3, Line 4, and Line 8. Changchun railway covers about 100.17 kilometers. Till September 2019, there are 4 lines of Changchun Rail Transit under construction, including Line 6 and Line 9, as well as Line 2 West Extension and Line 3 East Extension. By 2025, the Changchun rail transit line network will consist of 10 lines with a total length of 341.62 kilometers. In September 2019, the average daily passenger volume of Changchun Rail Transit reached 680,400 person, and the maximum daily passenger volume of its line network was 830,500 person on 13 November 2019. The total estimated passenger volume in 2019 is about 168 million person.

Changchun is linked to the national highway network through the Beijing – Harbin Expressway (G1), the Ulanhot – Changchun – Jilin – Hunchun Expressway (G12), the Changchun – Shenzhen Expressway (G25), the Changchun – Changbaishan Expressway (S1) and the busiest section in the province, the Changchun–Jilin North Highway. This section connects the two biggest cities in Jilin and is the trunk line for the social and economic communication of the two cities. The operation of the airport is shared by both Changchun and nearby Jilin City. The airport has scheduled flights to major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu and 68 other cities. There are also scheduled international flights between Changchun and overseas cities such as Bangkok, Osaka, Khabarovsk,
Singapore, Tokyo and Vladivostok.