Jilin City (), alternately romanized as Kirin, is the second-largest city and former capital of Jilin province in northeast China. As of the 2020 census, 3,623,713 people resided within its administrative area of and 1,895,865 in its built-up (or metro) area consisting of four urban districts. A prefecture-level city, it is the only major city nationally that shares its name with its province. Jilin City is also known as the River City because of the Songhua River surrounding much of the city. In 2007, it co-hosted the Asian Winter Games. History Jilin City is one of the oldest cities in Northeast China. During the reign of the Yongle Emperor in the Ming dynasty, efforts were made to expand Ming control throughout all of Manchuria. Mighty river fleets were built and sailed several times from Jilin City, getting the chieftains of the local tribes to swear allegiance to the Ming rulers. Soon after the establishment of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, the territory of today's Primorsky Kray was put under the administration of Jilin. As the Russian Empire advanced eastward to the Pacific coast, the Qing government ordered a naval shipbuilding factory to be set up here in 1661. Jilin was officially established as a fort city in 1673 when Anzhuhu (), the Deputy Lieutenant-General (), was ordered to build a castle in Jilin. In 1676, the Military Governor of Ninguta was transferred to Jilin City because of its more convenient location and increasing military importance, while the former Deputy Lieutenant-General was transferred in the opposite direction to Ninguta. Since then Jilin City has developed at a rapid pace. The nickname of Jilin City is River City (), which originates from one sentence "" of a poem written by Kangxi Emperor when he was visiting Jilin City in 1682. Jilin retained its importance into the 18th and 19th century as one of the few cities existing beyond the Willow Palisade, along with Tsitsihar, Ninguta and Mukden. After Manchukuo established their capital in Hsinking (present-day Changchun), Jilin City's importance decreased. By 1940, Jilin's population was 173,624, while Hsinking's population reached 544,202 at the same time. Soviet forces captured Jilin during the August Storm operation. Jilin became the provincial capital of Jilin Province after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, until Changchun took this position in 1956. Geography Jilin City, which is located in central Jilin Province spanning from 125°