Hailin

Hailin (Chinese: 海林; pinyin: Hǎi Lín) is within the Hǎilín Shì county-level city administrative division, located in Mudanjiang prefecture, Heilongjiang Province, northeast China. It has an area of 8,816 square kilometers, and a population of 440,000 (as reported in 2006). Ethnic groups include the majority Han people as well as significant numbers of Manchu and ethnic Koreans.

Name and Meaning

Literally, the name Hailin in English means "sea forest", but a better interpretation seems to be "boundless forest". In this sense, Hailin shares a name with the "boundless" Linhai Snowfield (林海雪原 Linhai Xueyuan).

Hailin is today known by several descriptive names - "forest sea and snow plain", "hometown of Manchurian tigers", and "hometown of Chinese north medicine". However, in the past many knew Hailin from the story of people's revolutionary hero Yang Zi Rong (Chinese: 杨子荣), the real life hero Zhang Zonggui. His story was made into a modern, revolutionary Beijing opera "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy", based the 1957 novel 林海雪原 (pinyin: Lín Hǎi Xuě Yuan; English: Boundless Forests of the Snowy Plateau) by Qü Bo. Various movies have been made of the same story.

History and Administration

Hailin must have been inhabited even in the ancient times of the Shāng Dynasty(Chinese: 商朝) or Yīn Dynasty (殷代), if not the Neolithic era. Historic sites include ancient Qunli rock paintings, Jiangdong ancient cemetries of Jin Dynasty, Ninggu Tower of Qing Dynasty, a wooden Russian Orthodox cathedral, a depot of the Chinese Eastern Railway constructed in 1903, and the Yang Zirong martyrs' cemetery.

During China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) the Japanese established a military airport at Hailin. Even recently (2005) aircraft bombs continue to be discovered during construction and other projects.

The present day administrative division traces its recent history to Xinhai county established in 1946. The division was changed to city-grade in 1992. Nowadays, there are 8 towns and 123 administrative villages in the Hailin City division. The towns include Hailin town, Changting town, Chaihe town, Sandao town, Erdao town, Hengdao town, Xinan town, Shanshi town, and Hainan town.

Geography and Resources

90% of the Hailin City administrative area is mountainous. Principal geographic features of Hailin include Shen Mountain, Qian Mountain, Qiulingman Mound, Haigu Plain, Zhangguancai Ridge, and 140 streams or rivers of the Mudanjiang water system (74 belonging to the Hailang drainage basin and 66 belonging to the Mudanjiang drainage basin). The larger rivers are the Mudanjiang River, the Hailang River, Sandao River, Erdao River, Toudao River, Shanshi River, Mijang River, Hongdian River, and Touyin River.

71% of the county is covered by forest. Important products include timber, medicinal herbs such as ginseng and "eleutherococcus senticosus", and forest foods such as edible mushrooms, which are farmed in large quantities.

Tourism

Tourist activities include skiing. Other attractions include two national forest parks (Roaring Tiger Mountain and China Snowland), the largest artificial lake in northeast China (the Lotus Lake), and the largest animal raising center in China, if not the world (the Hengdaohezi Tiger Center). Hengdaohezi Tiger Park is claimed to be the largest breeding center for Siberian tigers in the country. It was established in 1986 with 8 tigers, and has a population of some 256 tigers (as of 2006).

References

*http://www.hailin.gov.cn/SCP/scpy/UNCHS%20%20%20Sustainable%20Cities%20Programme%20(%20SCP).swf (Flash)
*http://www.hailin.gov.cn/ZSYZ/hljj1.htm (Chinese)
*http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-09/08/content_476018.htm
*http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2006-07/07/content_635596.htm