China's old industrial base in Jilin Province plans to optimize its industry and focus on five
sectors where it has advantages. These are automobile production, fine chemicals and
synthetic materials, maize reprocessing, liquid crystal display screens or LCDs, and the
development of traditional Chinese medicine. The provincial government hopes that the
five sectors will help increase the industrial added value by over 9 percent annually in
the coming five years.The city of Jilin also has many other attractions that are well worth
visiting, such as the Dragon Pool Mountain, the Lafashan Forest Park and the Guanma
Limestone Caves. Like the city of Harbin, Jilin also enjoys a great reputation for its
charming winter scenery and exciting ice and snow activities. The city’s annual Ice and
Snow Festival is now famous nationwide, rivaling that held in Harbin. Of the many
enchanting winter views in the city, the most fascinating is the icy-rimed trees along the
banks of the Songhua River, a unique sight that can rarely be seen elsewhere in China.
Winter in Jilin is quite cold. The temperature often drops to minus 20 degrees centigrade,
turning the rivers and lakes freezing hard into superb skating rinks. But the Songhua
River that runs through the city center is an exception. After the dam of the Fengman
Hydropower Station was built in the upper reaches of the Songhua river, the friction as its
passes through the turbines keeps the water just warm enough to stop it from freezing,
even in the bitterly cold winter. The temperature difference between the water and the cold
air makes heavy white vapor rise from the river, which then freezes on the willow and pine
trees along the banks, creating a magical scene - of masses of giant blooming crystalline,
snow-white flowers. Well, winter now covers Jilin in her winter cloak of snow and sparkling
ice. If you are ready to brave the cold, maybe you should go and see it for yourself during
the winter holidays. Getting there is very easy. It has convenient air and rail links with many
big cities in the country, and there are some 20 star-rated hotels to ensure you have a warm
comfortable place to go after a chilly, but fun day, outdoors. And if you’re interested in
astronomy, the Meteorite Museum in the city is a good place to go. The museum has a
collection of some 140 meteorite pieces. They all come from a heavy meteorite shower
that hit the suburbs of Jilin in 1976. The heaviest one weighs some 1,800 kilograms, which
is so far the largest of its kind in the world.