With its rich natural resources, excellent ecological environment as well as a solid foundation for economic and social development, Jilin Province possesses several advantages compared with others regions and provinces concerning the following aspects:

　　Ⅰ.Ecological and natural resources

　　The entire province is characterized with a variety of geographical features and a unique ecological system. From east to west, four distinctive ecological areas cover the whole province: forests in the eastern part, low mountains and hills in the mid-eastern part, plains in the middle part and grasslands and wetlands in the western part. The general environment here exhibits a harmony of feature diversity and relative unity, which is under good maintenance and has a high degree of restorability. As one of the first state natural reserves among the UNESCO “Human and Ecosphere” reservations, the Changbai Mountain Area in the eastern part has long been called “The Changbai Forest Sea”, who also enjoys a beautiful reputation of “Green Treasure House” and “the Kingdom of Animals”. Entitled “Golden Corn Belt”, Songliao Plain Ecological Area in the middle part has many advantages for developing high-quality farm products and is one of China’s most important production bases for commodity grains. The Grassland and Wetland Ecological area in the western part is an extended region of Keerqin Grassland, which serves as a transitional section from the half-wet forest and grassland to the half-dry grassland and desert, as well as the main passage for birds’ migration and an area for farming and livestock industry with great development potential. This part covers an area of 2.18 million hectares, namely, 11.6% of the whole province, within which there are 32 natural reserves of various types.In 1999, Jilin Province was granted the second Experimental Ecological Construction Province by the state government after Hainan.( excerpts fromthe address given by Governor Honghu on the opening ceremony for National Cross-Area TV Propagating Activity about “An Ecological Jilin of Changbai Mountain and Songhua River”).

　　Jilin Province is a major base of forestry in China, with a forest coverage of 42.5%, ranking the 6th among all China’s provinces, 25 percentage points above the average national level. It has a rich mineral resource of 83 types of nonmetals whose reserve quantities have been detected. Among these, oil shale and wollastonite are of the biggest reserves in the country. Jilin Province is one of China’s “Eight Pasturelands” with a total grassland area of 5.842 million hectares, among which 4.379 million hectares can serve for practical purposes. It is one of China’s main production centers for commodity cattle and fine-wool sheep. Within the whole province, there are more than 200 rivers and tributary streams of Songhua River, Liao River, Yalu River, Tumen River and Suifen River. The drainage area of Songhua River and Liao River water systems accounts for 78.6% of the entire province. The Changbai Mountain has an abundant resource of animals and plants, as well as good-quality mineral water and it serves as the important gene database for wildlife species and a main production center for crude drugs in China. More than 2,300 kinds of wild plants grow here. Ginseng and polise antler have the largest output in the whole country (last year the production of reared Ginseng reached 2.5 tons and polise antler 183 tons). Glossy ganoderma, the tuber of elevated gastrodia, Ever Young Herb，membranous milk vetchhave long been well-known; rare products such as pine mushroom，hedgehog hydnum and toad oil enjoy great popularity among domestic as well as foreign consumers. There are over 70 types of plants available for making invigorant medicine and 80 kinds of edible fungus.“Lushuihe Red Pine Nuts”and “Jilin Changbai Mountain Chinese toad oil” are labeled as “state-preserved-products” in the original production area and their compulsory state standard was officially authorized by General Administration of Quality Supervision , Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China on May 5th, 2004, which was officially brought into effect on June 1st, 2004.( excerpts fromthe provincial governors’ speech text of the second Cooperation and Exchange Expo of Scientific and Technological Innovation in Chinese Enterprises；Introduction Brochure of Jilin Province)

　　Ⅱ.Industrial Advantages

　　Jilin has its distinctive pillar industries with considerable size, especially the processing and manufacturing industry, which promote the rapid development of a number of enterprises within the province. Jilin serves as the important base for processing industry in China, which accounts for 90% of the whole province’s industrial increase. The auto industry, chemical industry, farm produce processing are the pillar industries while pharmacy, food, electronic industry are the leading ones. FAW is considered as the cradle for China’s auto industry. It develops and mass-produces six series of automobiles which include: heavy, medium and light trucks, jeeps, sedans, etc. In 2003, the production of vehicles reached 870,000 and90；5辆(原文不清)，which occupies 21% of domestic auto market. Changchun Carriage Factory is the biggest producing center for trail vehicles in Asia. From its establishment, it occupies half of the domestic output of railway carriages and over 85% of subway carriages. Jilin Chemical Co., Ltd. is a major producing center for chemical materials, with an ethane output of 530,000 tons, providing over 100 types of petrochemicals to 6 millions. High-tech industries such as electronic information are undergoing a rapid development. (excerpts fromschema of prospering Jilin Old Industrial Bases)

　　Ⅲ.Advantages of talents, science and education resources

　　Jilin Province has a good foundation of science and education and well-trained talents are abundant. The cost of labors is relatively low. There are 41 ordinary higher educational institutions in Jilin Province, with a registered student amount of 319,000, 480 research institutions, 28 academicians from CAS and CAE, 711,000 technicians in all fields. The ratio of scientists, engineers and college students in every 10,000 people ranks the sixth in the country. Universities such as Jilin University, Northeast Normal University, Changchun University of Science and Technology, etc. and national key scientific research institutions such as Changchun Institute of Optics of CAS, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry of CAS, Changchun Institute of Biological Products are rather influential around the country. In addition, there are also a number of national key labs and engineering research centers. A group of skilled engineers and management personnel, industrial workers serve for the above institutions. (Excerpts fromthe provincial governors’ speech text of the second Cooperation and Exchange Expo of Scientific and Technological Innovation in Chinese Enterprises)

　　A relatively complete system of scientific research and technological exploitation has been established in Jilin Province and its integrated developing level of science and technology ranks 11thamong all the domestic provinces. By 2000, the whole province contains 197 independent scientific research institutions above county level, 153 university, 254 large and medium-sized industrial enterprise research and exploitation institutes, 20 national & ministerial key labs and open labs, 10 state technological centers for enterprises, with all together 747,000 technicians. The R&D expense accounts for 0.74% of the province’s GDP. The development of high-tech and its industrialization are developing at a high speed in the fields of the photoelectric industry, applied software and network, modern Chinese medicine, biological technology, scientific appliances and meters, new materials, agriculture and farm produce processing. Jilin Academy of Agriculture Science has cultivated the first hybrid soybean species in the world and disseminated more than 30 types of new crops. The renovation of main crops has been realized. The industrialization of gene engineering insulin has made China the third country in the world that masters the know-how after USA and Denmark. The technique and industrialization of color film transistor liquid screen with TFT-LCD as a representative has become a new growing point in economy and elevated the technological innovation level in enterprises. There is a breakthrough in the reform of S&T system and the provincial T&E research institutes are undergoing a system transformation. Private S&T enterprises grow rapidly and S&T resource allocation has been further optimized. The macro system of S&T management is in gradual improvement and a new S&T system and mechanism is basically formed. (The S&Tdevelopment programof Jilin Province in the 10th“Five-Year Plan”)

　　IV. Advantage in Agriculture

　　Owing to unique conditions for agricultural production, and long been known as “golden corn belt” and “hometown of soybeans”, Jilin Province is an important commodity grain base and an emerging livestock industry base with farm produce and livestock and poultry products both in large quantity and good quality. The cultivated land in Jilin Province is 5.58 million hectares while per capita is 0.21. Its comprehensive grain production capacity has reached a periodical level of 22.5 million tons. Jilin Province ranks the first in per capita grain amount, commodity grain ratio, domestic grain exports and international corn exports. It also ranks the first in the quantity of mean per capita, and fifth in the quantity of eggs per capita. Last year, its corn production took up 1/7 of the country’s total, commercialized amount 1/4, storing amount 1/2 and export 70%. A batch of agricultural processing flagship enterprises, such as Deda, Dacheng, Haoyue, etc., have mounted among the front of the same trade in the country.

　　V. Advantage in Tourist Resources

　　Jilin Province has plentiful, excellent and favorable tourist resources— unique places of cultural interest and various natural scenic spots of all shapes and kinds.“With the peaks holding up the Heavenly Lake and rare wonders hidden in the sea of forest”,the national Changbaishan Mountains Tourism Zone is endowed with pleasant sceneries. In 1983 Deng Xiaoping climbed up the Changbaishan Mountains and exclaimed that “it would be a life-long regret if you don't climb Changbai”. The Heavenly Lake in the Changbaishan Mountains is the biggest crater lake in China. Coming down from one side of the lake, the Changbaishan Falls seem like a long-piece of white ribbon. The falls are the origin of the Songhuajiang, Tumenjiang and Yalujiang rivers. A vast desolate panorama is formed by the Grand Changbai Canyon’s (discovered this year) grotesque peaks, fantastic rocks, deep and secluded valleys, beautiful waters, ancient trees, and rare grasses. The silvery Jilin frost carries a poetic and artistic conception of spring; it is considered “Spring in Winter”. Jilin’sfrost is one of the four great natural wonders in China. The other three are Guilin's landscape, the stone Forest in Yunnan, and the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. In 1991, on his inspection tour of Jilin, President Jiang Zeminpoetically praised the scenery of “frostclad willows on the banksof the cold river, trees with blossoms carved out of flawless white jade.” A national scenic spot, the choppy Songhuahu Lake is lined by green trees and reflections of the mountains in the water, too much for the eye to take in. Sanjiaolongwan, the deep crater of an ancient volcano now filled with water, is a truly beautiful place. Changchun, in the middle of the province, has Jingyuetan reservoir. It has crystal clear water and vast stretches of green trees. It is a national forest park and is thought to be the biggest man-made forest in Asia. The Xianghai Nature Preservation Zone at Tongyu in the west has great biodiversity, and of China’s sevenmain wetlandsit is the largest. The World Wildlife Fund rated it as a Class A nature preserve on the list of World-Famous Wet Lands. The Clay Forest at Qian'an presents all kinds of shapes and figures in different postures and is of infinite interest. Owing to the different shapes, it is alsocalled the “embankment of wolves teeth”, andbecause of the feeling of terror that it gives, it is also called the “haunted valley”. The fine carvings on the architecture of the buildings in the ancient town of Yehenara at Siping embody the principal features of Man culture.It is a place of interest noted for the local customs. The Imperial Palace and the site for the eight ministries of the Manchurian puppet regime in Changchun, the ancient town of Huanglongfu and the Liao Pagoda in Nong'an County, the town of Aodong of the Bohai Kingdom in the Tang Dynasty located at Dunhua, the Lingguangta Pagoda of the Tang Dynasty at Changbai, the dragon and tiger stone carving of the Qing Dynasty in Hunchun, the Confucian Temple in Jilin, Diaoshuihu Karst Cave in Shuangyang County, the Guanma Cave in Panshi, the volcanoes in Yitong, the Five Women Peak in Ji'an, Lafa Mountain in Jiaohe, Luotongshan Mountain in Liuhe, Shanmen at Siping, Xianjingtai in Helong County, Fangchuan at Hunchun, Beida Lake Ski Resort in Jilin City etc. The 28thSession of the World Heritage Committee approved to officially inscribe Gaogouli Relics with imperial palace, imperial mausoleum and tombs for nobles on the World Heritage list, which is a big event in the Chinese cultural development history, demonstrating China’s unique charm as an ancient civilized nation. With full-bodied regional and cultural characteristics, and recording the inheritance and merge of multi-cultures, Gaogouli Relics serves as a special testimony of Gaogouli, an ancient civilization passed into oblivion, and has attracted attention from numerous modern people. In recent years, the ecological attractions such as winter tours, forest and wetland tours and visits to the adjacent countries have become the most appealing tourist products. Based on its regional advantages, Jilin Province is vigorously developing specialty tourism, emphatically developing eco-tours and special type tours and building eco-tour demonstration zones so as to cultivate new tourism economic growth point and realize the simultaneous growth of both the economic gross and compositive benefit of tourism.

　　VI. Regional Advantage

　　Located to the north of40ºnorth latitude,Jilin Province has unique topographic features. With the closest point 15 km away from the Japanese Sea, the eastern most Hunchun City is the border for three countries including China, DPRK and Russia in the lower reaches of Tumenjiang River. Fangchuan Village, known as “1stVillage in the east of China” and 75 km away from the urban area, is right at the connecting point among the three countries. Going 15 km along Tumenjiang River from here comes the Japanese Sea. It is the only passage into the Japanese Sea from inland China and it is also the closest point via water from China to Russia, east seashore of DPRK, west seashore of Japan, North America and Northern Europe. The average depth of water of this freshwater sea-route is 3.49 meters and may reach 3.77 meters after dredge, surpassing the standard for the first grade international freshwater sea-route. A number of ports, such as Boset and Zarubino of Russia and Rajin of DPRK, are within 100 km from Hunchun City. The closest point is only 4 km away from Bay Posyet of Russia. Within 200 km are ports including Vladivostok, East and Nahodeka of Russia and Chongjin of DPRK. And There’s only 800 km from Hunchun to Niigato of Japan and Pusan of Korea. With convenient transportation and sound infrastructure, Jilin Province radiates well to surrounding areas. Jilin Province has a continental monsoon climate of the temperate zone, with four strikingly different four seasons and pleasant climate.