Changchun, Wade-Giles romanization Ch’ang-ch’un, city and provincial capital of Jilin sheng (province), China.
The area around the city was originally the grazing ground of a Mongol banner (army division). In 1796 the Mongol duke requested and was granted permission from the Qing (Manchu) court to open this area to colonization by peasants from Shandong and Hebei provinces. In 1800 a subprefecture called Changchun was consequently established, with its administrative centre in Xinli. In 1825 the administration was moved to its present site, a settlement formerly called Kuangchengzi. It was raised to prefectural status and again called Changchun in 1882, and, in the last years of the 19th century, as the pace of colonization increased, it was subdivided into a number of counties. Up until then it had been primarily an administrative centre subordinate to the city of Jilin (Kirin) and a local collecting and market centre. A new period of growth began with the completion in 1901 of the Chinese Eastern Railway.