Baishan

Baishan sits in the far southeast of Jilin, wrapped around the western flank of Changbai Mountain and separated from North Korea only by the Yalu River; the name literally means "White Mountain". Its economy is built on what the forest and the volcano provide: timber and forest products, ginseng and Chinese medicinal herbs, wild berries, diatomite and other minerals, hydropower from the Baishan Dam on the Second Songhua River, and above all bottled water — Baishan is promoted as China's international mineral water city, and springs in Fusong and Jingyu supply several of the country's biggest water brands. Higher education is served by Changbaishan Vocational and Technical College, the city's only public tertiary institution, formed in 2008 from three earlier schools and now with roughly 5,000 students and a Changbai Mountain international health-water college created in 2021 to serve the bottling industry. Transport improved sharply on 28 September 2025, when the Shenyang–Baihe high-speed railway opened with a stop at Baishan East and cut Shenyang–Changbai Mountain journeys to under two hours, complementing Changbaishan Airport in Fusong County, mainland China's first forest tourism airport. For visitors Baishan is above all the quiet approach to Changbai Mountain: the west slope boardwalk up to Heaven Lake, the waterfalls and basalt canyons of Wangtian'e, the border promenades of Linjiang, and dozens of naturally carbonated volcanic springs around Jingyu.