Literally, the name Hailin in English means "sea forest", somepeople guessthe meaning is "boundless forest", but the trurh is this city was a merger of two counties which called "Xinhai"and"Wulin".As easy to remember,the new city's name was choose one Chinese character in each old counties, and combined them as"Hailin". In this sense, Hailin shares a name with the "boundless" Linhai Snowfield. 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, the real life hero Zhang Zonggui. His story was made into a modern, revolutionary Beijing operaTaking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, based the 1957 novel 林海雪原 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 or Yīn Dynasty, if not the Neolithic era. Historic sites include ancient Qunli rock paintings, Jiangdong ancient cemeteries of Jin Dynasty, the early site of the Qing DynastyNinguta city, 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 the Japanese established a military airport at Hailin. Even recently 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 Korean autonomous town , Shanshi 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. The larger rivers are the Mudanjiang River, the Hailang River, Sandao River, Erdao River, Toudao River, Shanshi River, Mijang River, Hongdian River, and Douyin 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, the largest artificial lake in northeast China, and the largest animal raising center in China, if not the world. Hengdaohezi Northeast Tiger Park is 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.
