The city of Jilin is a little-visited industrial settlement on either side of the Songhua or Sungari River. Like many other cities in the northeast, Jilin has a short history and was a small village until the 17th century when it was fortified. The station generates one of Jilin’s major winter attractions– shugua or needle-like white frost which covers the branches of the riverside pine and willow trees. As warm water from the power station flows into the Songhua, its temperature rises and it remains unfrozen. Evaporating water droplets from the river condense along the branches of trees and freeze, producing a sparkling display of ice-rimmed branches, resembling fragile pieces of coral. As with Harbin, winter is the main tourist season, and Jilin also stages an ice festival from January to the end of February.

Pleasant walks along paths, and past shrines and pavilions are possible in hilly Beishan Park in the west of town. The park has an array of Daoist and Buddhist temples that are worth investigating, including the Guandi Temple, the Three King Temple, and the Jade Emperor’s Temple, with a gaggle of fortune tellers in front.

Locals are proud of the city’s attractive Catholic Church, built by the French in the early 19th century. It rises up west of Jilin’s main bridge on Songjiang Lu, the road along the north bank of the river. East of the church is the Confucius Temple, dedicated to the great sage. Candidates of the imperial civil service examinations came here to pray for his help and blessings. The sedate temple provides an escape from Jilin’s modern face.

In the south of the city, the Meteorite Shower Museum houses a scattering of rock fragments that rained down around Jilin in 1976, including a vast specimen weighing nearly two tons (1,770 kg).