Girin Ula

Girin Ula, the river city later known as Jilin, grew around a shipyard on the Songhua. In Ming times vessels were built here to carry grain toward the Amur country. The river remained a strategic route for the Qing, who sent exiles to build boats and established a fortified city at the shipyard in 1673. As Qing and Russian forces contested the Amur, the shipyard supplied vessels for the frontier. The general's headquarters moved here from Ningguta in 1676, making Girin Ula a centre of military government over a vast northeastern territory. The Kangxi Emperor visited in 1682 and celebrated the river fleet in a poem, giving lasting fame to the sight of masts and ships gathered at the city.