The province’s railways generally stretch along two orientations: from northwest to southeast and from southwest to northeast. The national artery railway line from Beijing to Harbin runs through the province from south to north. Such principal cities in China as Harbin, Shenyang, Dalian, Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Jinan, Nanjing, and Shanghai can be reached directly from the province. A railway network has been formed to link up various cities, prefectures and townships of the province with Changchun as its center, Jilin city, Siping and Meihekou as its hubs, and the Beijing-Harbin, Changchun-Tumen, Changchun-Baicheng, Siping-Qiqihar, Shenyang-Jilin, Siping-Meihekou and Meihekou-Ji’an as its trunk lines.

Highways:

By the end of 2000, the total distance of highways in the province was 35,216 km with a highway density of 18.8 km per 100 square kilometers. Included in the expressway network are six highways: Changchun-Siping, Changchun-Jilin, Changchun-Yingchengzi, the ring road of Changchun, Jilin-Jiangmifeng, and Yanji-Tumen. The total length of the expressways was 383 km. The expressway from Changchun to Lalinhe (161 km long) is now under construction and expected to be put into operation in 2002.

Airports:

With Changchun, the capital city as its center, and Jilin and Yanji as main airports, the air network links the province with Beijing, Shanghai, Haikou, Kunming, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Korea’s Seoul, and Japan’s Sendai.

Waterway transport:

The major navigation rivers in the province include the Nenjiang River, Songhua River, Tumen River and Yalu River. Generally, the navigation period lasts from mid-April to late November. With a total of 1,789 km waterways and three inland ports (Da’an, Jilin and Fuyu), Jilin boasts an inland waterway handling capacity of 1.40 million tons a year.