Land Resources

　　Jilin Province has long been calledthe “Land of Black Soil”. The province has 5.5378 million hectares of cultivated land, which accounts for 28.9% of the total area. The cultivated land per capita is 0.21 hectares, 2.18 times higher than the national average. The vast stretches of fertile plains yield large quantities of high quality agricultural products such as corn, rice, soybeans, oil plants, coarse cereals, etc. It enjoys a very favorable condition for developing agriculture that is highly productive and organic.

　　Forestry Resources

　　Jilin Province is a significant center of forestry in China. The forest coverage rate of the whole province is as high as 42.5%. With an 860.89 million cubic-meter reserve of standing timber, Jilin ranks 6th in China. The Changbaishan Mountain region has long been known as the “Changbai Forest Sea”. There are pinus koraiensis, quercus, fraxinus mandshurica, phellodendron amurense rupr, and a variety of other species. The Changbaipine is a unique species. With a tall straight trunk, shiny bark and an elegant shape, its nickname is the “pine beauty”. It has been included in the national list of the most important protected wild plants published in 1999 by the State Council.
Mineral Resources

　　89 mineral resources have been identified, among which 11 of them, such as oil shale, diatomite, tabular spar, cinder and so on have the largest reserve in China, and 41 of them including molybdenum, germanium and nickel rank the top ten in the country. With 54% of the total identified reserve in China, oil shale in Jilin Province enjoys great potential for development. Being one of the three resources for good-quality mineral water, Changbaishan Mountain has the best and most abundant mineral water in China. Jingyu County has beenhonored as “China’s Changbai Mountain Mineral Water Town”.

　　Grassland Resources

　　One of the eight main pastoral areas in China, Jilin Province has a rich resource of grasslands. Covering an area of5.84 22 million hectares, the grasslands are mainly in the west. The vast stretches of grassland yield quality grazing, especially well known at home and abroad for their Guinea grass. They are important bases for developing animal husbandry. In recent years, thanks to the development of the ecological grass, the grassland vegetation in Jilin Province has been remarkably recovered and the scene of “Flocks and herds appear as grass bends to wind.” reappears on the land of the province.
Wetland Resources

　　Widely and vastly distributed, the wetland in Jilin Province has varied types and enjoys a rich variety of bio-species. The total area of the wetland in the province is 1.7523 million hectares, accounting for 9.35% of the total land area, comprising 741,500 hectares of natural wetland and some manmade wetland from paddy fields and so on.They mainly include Xianghai Wetland, Momoge Wetland, Chaganhu Wetland, Hani Wetland, Jingxin Wetland in Hunchun and the wetland in Changbaishan Mountain Nature Preservation Zone, etc.

　　Water Resources

　　Jilin is situated in the upper and middle reaches of the main rivers in northeast China. The Heavenly Lake on the Changbaishan Mountain is the largest alp freshwater lake. There are 1,648 rivers with drainage basins of over 20 square kilometers, belonging to the five main river systems—the Songhuajiang, Liaohe, Yalujiang, Tumenjiang, and the Suifenhe. Jilin Province enjoys advantaged hydropower resources, with a total amount of 5.0081 million kilowatt developablehydropower. Among the big hydropower stations are Baishan, Hongshi, Fengman and the like.

　　Wild Life andPlants

　　The biological population in Jilin Province is healthy and diverse. There are as many as 5,248 identified types of wild plants and 437 types of wild animals. The province is famous for its “Three Treasures”. The Changbaishan mountainous region enjoys a reputation as one of thethree maintreasure troves of natural herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. There are 1,452 medicinal plants such as ginseng, Chinese wild ginger, rhizoma gastrodiae, boschniakia rossica, etc. Rare wild animals include Manchurian tigers, leopards, sikas, Manchurian sables, red-crowned cranes, golden eagles, red otters, Wusuli whitefish, etc. 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 wild animals like sikas, black bears, wild boars, and lynxes have begun to appear. Even Manchurian tigers, which had not been seen for years, are frequently appearing in Jiaohe and Hunchun.
　The Three Treasures of the Northeast

　　The three treasures are ginseng, sable fur, and pilose antler of sikas. Ginseng from the Changbaishan Mountains is a precious medicinal material. It gets its name (ren-sheng) from the fact that its shape is like that of the human body (in Chinese ren is the word for person).Jilin Province is the largest producer of ginseng, producing 85% of the country’s total and over 70% of the world’s total amount. In 1981 a farmer at Beigang, a settlement in Fusong County discovered a ginseng root that was 160 years old. It weighed 287.5 grams and was 79.5 centimeters long. People call it the ginseng king, and it is now displayed as a national treasure in the Jilin Province Hall in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Sable is the national first-grade protected animal. Its fur is a dark brown or grayish brown color. Standing out from the fur, individual needle-like white hairs are found here and there. Being lightweight and tough with deeply graceful and resplendent fine hair, the lustrous fur feels soft and warm. It is the best of all furs. The pilose antler of young stags is a precious ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine. It functions well in generating energy and producing bone marrow. It also nourishes theblood, increasesyang, andstrengthens bones and muscles. As a large producer of sikas, Jilin Province manufactures a lot of goods from them, such as stag pilose antler tincture, sika tail essence, sika embryo paste, etc.