Resources （资源）

“The treasure is under feet, under the soil, under the water, and all over the mountains and plains in Jilin province you can find the treasures.”，this sentence is the very description of Jilin. Jilin province is an abundance of the natural resources.

Land Resources Jilin province has long been called the “Land of Black Soil”,and is one of the most important commodity grain production base in China. As we all know, o ne of the only three masses of black soil (the two others are on the large plain in Ukraine and Mississippi drainage area in USA) is in the northeast of China. Jilin’s black soil is fertile, with an average organic substance of 2-3% at the surface, and as much as 15%＋in some places. The province yields large quantities of high quality agricultural products such as corn, paddy rice, soybeans, oil-bearing crops, and coarse food grains, and it has every favourable condition for the development of a high-efficiency and organic agriculture. The province has 4.7031 million hectares of cultivated lands, the per capita is 0.15 hectares, which is higher than the national average.

Forestry Resources Jilin is a major forestry centre in China. It boasts 8.052 million hectares of forests, and 42.5% of its land is wooded. Its total growing timber stock of 860.89 million cubic metres ranks sixth in the nation. The Changbai Mountains, the renowned “Perpetually White Ocean of Forests”, is one of China’s six timberlands with a good variety of trees, including red pine, oak (Quercus), northeast China ash, and cork (Bhelodendron). The Changbai pine, a precious species in the Changbai Mountains, is dubbed “Beauty Pine” for its straight trunk, bright-coloured bark and luxurious foliage; it is included in the State Council’s 1999 Catalogue of Major Wild Plants for State Protection.

Mineral Resources Jilin has 83 mineral resources with verified deposits, and its deposits of kerogen shale, diatomite, tabular spar, cinder, nickel, molybdenum and mineral water are among the largest in China. China’s largest and finest mineral water resources are found in Jingyu County in east Jilin Province. For this reason the Mineral Water Committee of the China Mining Federation has named the county “Jingyu Mineral Water City in the Changbai Mountains in China”. Wahaha and Nongfu Shanquan, both being major mineral water suppliers in China, have opened bottling factories there.

Grassland Resources As one of the eight main nation’s pastoral areas, Jilin Province is rich grassland resources. It has 5.842 million hectares of grasslands, 4.379 million hectares of them being of economic value. These grasslands are mainly in the hilly east and west Jilin. In east Jilin they are scattered but have high forage grass yields; and west Jilin is a famed livestock breeding centre thanks to the fact that the grasslands there are extensive and linked and yield a kind of quality forage grass that is particularly good for sheep.

Water Resources Jilin Province is situated in the upper and middle reaches of the major rivers of northeast China. There are 1,648 rivers with drainage basins of over 20 sq km, belonging to the five main river systems----- the Songhuajiang, Liaohe, Yalujiang, Tumenjiang and Suifenhe rivers. The east mountainous part, though having far less subterranean water than the plains of west Jilin, is densely clustered with rivers and rich in surface runoffs, and, claiming 98% of all the hydropower resources available in the entire province, is home to such large hydroelectric power stations as Baishan, Hongshi, Yunfeng and Fengman. Jilin has built 13 large reservoirs, 85 medium-sized ones and 1,300 small ones, in addition to 500 dammed ponds, the total storage capacity is 29.8 billion cubic metresof water.

Wildlife Resources The biological population of Jilin is well-bred and diverse. There are 5,284 varieties of wild plants and 437 speciess of wild animals. It is famed for the “Three Treasures of the Northeast” – ginseng, marten pelt and pilose antler – as well as such native mountain delicacies as fern, vetch, young fatsia shoots, pine mushroom, edible black fungus, hedgehog hydnum, mountain grape and mountain walnut. The popular Tonghua grape wine is produced in the province. The Changbai Mountains is one of China’s three major natural treasure houses of medicinal herbs. Among Jilin’s 1,452 kinds of medicinal herbs, the precious ones include ginseng, asarum, root of Chinese wild ginger, tuber of elevated gastrodis (Gastrodia elata)， and what is known as “immortality grass”. There are 77 nationally protected precious and endangered species of wildlife in Jilin, including northeast tiger, leopard, sika deer, sable, red-crowned crane, golden eagle, red otter, and Ussuri white salmon. Since 1996, Jilin province has been working hard, enforcing the relevant laws in order to save the wild animals on the verge of extinction. Traces of some endangered species that had disappeared for so many years, such as sika deer, black bear, boa, and lynx, and even the northeast tiger, have been reportedly seen recently in Jilin province.(The Information Office of the People’s Government of Jilin Province)