Yilan County, Heilongjiang


Yilan County is a county of Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang. It is more than to the east-northeast of central Harbin. Its county seat, which is also called Yilan, is located near the confluence of the Mudan River with the Sungari. The easternmost county-level division of Harbin City, it borders Fangzheng County to the southwest, Tonghe County to the west, as well as the prefecture-level cities of Yichun to the north, Jiamusi to the northeast, Qitaihe to the southeast, and Mudanjiang to the south.

Transportation

During the rule of the Ming Dynasty in China, Yilan, formerly known as Sanxing, was one of the two important centers of the Jianzhou Jurchens of the Hurka River valley..
The town retained its importance into the Qing period, and in 1692 became the seat of a Deputy Lieutenant-General. Subordinated to the Governor General in Jilin City. the Sanxing Fu dutong was in control of the northeastern section of the Jilin Province - a large region stretching northeast along the Sungari and the Amur to the Pacific Ocean.
In 1887, three British travelers - H. E. M. James, Francis Younghusband and Harry English Fulford visited Sanxing on their tour of Manchuria. According to Fulford's account, the town had the population of around 10,000, trade in furs and fish being its main industries.
Lu Houmin, who was the official photographer for the top Chinese leaders particularly Mao Zedong from 1950 to 1964 was born in Yilan.

Climate