It is easy to have a quick look at China's past and present, but it takes time to gain a panoramic knowledge of China. The "Panoramic China" series is meant to assist readers, especially those overseas, in this respect. Each volume in the series focuses on a province, municipality or autonomous region, describing, with illustrations, the outstanding characteristics of each area from different perspectives.

Jilin: Tales of Changbai Mountain

More than 200 years ago, great numbers of creative people, inured to hardship and hard work, came to Jilin Province from areas south of the Shanghaiguan Pass to seek their livelihood in northeast China. They gathered ginseng, logged, rafted and reclaimed wilderness in the vast virgin forest and the Jilin Plains formed by the Songhua River. As the father mountain and mother river that have nurtured generations of Jilin people, Changbai Mountain and the Songhua River have become synonymous with Jilin Province.

This book vividly depicts Changbai Mountain and the Songhua River-the purity, productiveness and lush beauty, along with the people who live there.