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Explore the region
About Yanji
Yanbian Museum provides the historical and folk-customs background, while the Korean Folk Customs Park presents a constructed village setting for food, architecture and cultural activities. Mao'er Mountain rises above the southern outskirts and offers a forest walk with views of the city and surrounding rice-growing plain. These stops give distinct perspectives and need local transfers; the hill climb can be shortened or omitted.
Yanji and its surroundings were largely unpopulated until the Qing dynasty began encouraging migration from China proper in the 1800s, under the Chuang Guandong policy, to settle Manchuria against Russian expansion. After the Qing lifted a settlement ban in 1881, Korean migrants entered the area following a famine at home, and the settlement grew from a reclamation bureau into Yanji Subprefecture (延吉厅) in 1902, was raised to Yanji Prefecture (延吉府) in 1909 in place of Hunchun, and became Yanji County (延吉县) in 1913.
Yanji was the seat of Jiandao Province in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo from 1934 to 1943, when the city was renamed Jiandao. After the Second World War it was nominally part of Songjiang Province, but border changes following the Communist takeover placed it in Jilin Province by 1949. The Yanbian Korean Autonomous Region, predecessor of today's Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, was established in September 1952 with Yanji as its seat.
Yanji covers a total area of 1,748.3 square kilometers and is centrally located within the prefecture, surrounded by five other county-level cities and two rural counties. Its registered population was 686,100 in 2020, of whom 292,200, about 48.6 percent, were ethnic Korean, alongside Han, Manchu, Hui and Mongol residents.
What to look for
- Yanbian Museum's archaeology and Korean folk-customs displays.
- The Korean Folk Customs Park's village-style setting and Mao'er Mountain's forested city viewpoint.
Background & history
Yanji (Chinese: 延吉; Korean: 연길 Yŏn'gil; alternately romanized as Yenki or Yenji) is a county-level city in the east of China's Jilin Province, and is the seat of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture. Yanji City is located in the eastern part of Jilin Province. It is the seat of the government of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture and the political, economic and cultural center of the entire autonomous prefecture. Yanji is a busy hub of transport and trade between China and North Korea. The city is home to Yanbian University, a comprehensive university and the only Project 211 university in Yanji.
Excerpt from Wikipedia: Yanji · Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected introductory sentences; formatting simplified. Background information, not current visitor-service advice.
Location & getting there
Getting to Yanji
Begin at Yanbian Museum, 8627 Changbai West Road. Continue by local transport to the folk-customs park on Yannan Road, then use the Yanlong Road approach for Mao'er Mountain if adding the climb.
Combine your visit
Suggested order within this visit:
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Yanbian Museum延边博物馆
Establish the regional history and cultural context.
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Korean Folk Customs Park中国朝鲜族民俗园
Compare museum interpretation with the village-style cultural setting.
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Mao'er Mountain延吉帽儿山
Add a forest walk or viewpoint above the southern city, using a separate local transfer.
This sequence is an editorial suggestion based on the features described in the sources. Access to individual buildings or areas should be checked locally; no travel time or shared admission is implied.
Find Yanji overview
延吉 · 延边朝鲜族自治州
The pin marks the area, not the entrance.
More places nearby
Approximate straight-line distances between map pins, not travel distances.
Korean Folk Customs Park of China 中国朝鲜族民俗园
3 km awayThe Korean Folk Customs Park in southern Yanji is a purpose-built cultural landscape arranged around traditional-style homes, food and performance spaces. It presents the appearance of a village while accommodating restaurants…
View guide →Yanji Dinosaur Museum 延吉恐龙博物馆
4 km awayYanji's dinosaur museum grew from fossil discoveries made at Longshan on Mao'er Mountain's southern slope. Its six Korean-style buildings divide the visit between a broad Dinosaur Planet introduction and the Dragon Rising in…
View guide →Head Mountain 延吉帽儿山
6 km awayMao'er Mountain takes its name from a hat-like profile above Yanji's southern outskirts. The approach moves from a forest boardwalk to a long stair climb, ending at a lookout over the city, river valleys and surrounding rice…
View guide →Sources & visit information
The linked encyclopedia sources support background and place descriptions. Current opening hours, ticket prices, booking rules and transport schedules have not been independently verified for this guide. Confirm them with the venue or operator before travelling.
Visitor information adapted and edited from Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 93843774.
Background paragraphs translated and condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "延吉市", Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 93843774.
Background paragraphs condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "Yanji", English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 1337438251.