Baicheng

Baicheng, city, northwestern Jilin sheng (province), northeastern China. The region was originally a hunting ground reserved for the Mongols, and farming was not allowed legally by the Qing government until 1902; it is now an area of extensive agriculture, with pastoral activities playing a major role.

A county called Jing’an was first set up for the area in 1904; it was renamed Tao’an in 1912 and then Baicheng in 1938. It remained a place of minor importance until a railway running south from Qiqihar (Heilongjiang province) to Siping (Jilin) via Baicheng was constructed in the 1920s. In the 1930s another rail line was opened northwestward to Inner Mongolia, connecting the city to Ulanhot and the mines at Arxan (A’ershan); these two lines enabled Baicheng to become a regional transportation hub. One more rail line southeast to Changchun was opened in the mid-1930s as well.

Baicheng had only a small population at the end of World War II, with a thermal-power-generating plant and a paper mill but little other industry. Since 1949 more small-scale industrial operations have been established, based on local agriculture, but Baicheng has remained essentially a communication centre. Coal mines and two nature preserves are located nearby. Pop. (2002 est.) 275,403.