My home town is named Jilin. It locates in northeast China and shares the boundary with Russia and North Korea. We live in the mountains and rivers because we are surrounded by them and beloved by them. However, our lives depend on them. The Songhua River and Songhua lake have always been the primary source of supply of aqua products and flash water. They never rise temper with us, so the civilization in Jilin City will continue to thrive. Although we are living peacefully with nature now, we need to realize that Jilin City is actually in a very dangerous geological position. We will know the answer very quickly.
The two gifts the mother nature give us are Songhua River and Songhua Lakes. They are originated from the Changbai Mountain – a mountain that geologically shared between China and North-Korea. The Mountain is a hybernated volcano, the most recent eruptions occurred in 1597, 1668, and the year 1702. Those eruptions created a natural wonder – Haven Lake. It is now covered by snow most of the time and has already become a famous tourist attraction. However, the volcano is still trying to wake-up.
Changbai Mountain in a Larger Scale.
Scientists observed that the volcano had entered an activated status in the year 2002. It is projected that there might be another eruption happening soon since bubbles are floating form the bottom of the lake. Also, more terrifyingly, the landscapes that sit around the mountain are rising at a speed of 3 mm per year in altitude. That also suggests that there is lave poured into the crust continuously.
There is only one thing that can answer the volcano activity. Changbai Mountain directly sits on one of the largest earthquake zones. In the picture below, all the earthquake zone are marked by black lines.
My hometown is a beautiful place but full of potential dangerousness. The information that I provide above almost completes the puzzle. But there is one piece still missing, that is the human factor.
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%BF%E7%99%BD%E5%B1%B1
I did some research about the climate type of Jilin City.
Jilin city belongs to the Dwa climate type according to the
Köppen climate classification
“Dwa = ; coldest month averaging below 0 °C (32 °F) (or −3 °C (27 °F)), at least one month’s average temperature above 22 °C (71.6 °F), and at least four months averaging above 10 °C (50 °F). At least ten times as much rain in the wettest month of summer as in the driest month of winter (alternative definition is 70% or more of average annual precipitation is received in the warmest six months).”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification
In the world, only the area that is colored by red has a Dwa climate type. In this region, there is only one river that is called the Songhua River that will not freeze due to FengMan Hydraulic Power Plant. During the winter, besides temperature, the humidity is also very low. Imagine a river carries a tremendous amount of thermal energy (30-degree Celcius higher than the surrounding environment) flows through this Dwa region. Water will quickly vaporize and soaring to the sky; it crystalizes after meeting the cold air and then stays on the trees sitting nearby the river bank. It is wonderful. Trees merge with landscapes; everything seems to covered by a layer of silver. Usually, a typical rime morning in Jilin City requires extreme low temperature and humidity. Visitors only got around 2 hours to observe this incredible scene before the sun rises. So it can be said that the rime morning in Jilin is precious, both in the scale of space and time. However, it is human movement (the construction of FengMan Hydraulic Power Plant) that results in this wonder.
Rimes on the tree is only a side effect of the construction of the hydropower dam. The dam raises the water level of the Songhua River that forms a lake called Songhua Lake.
As you can see from the map above, the Songhua Lake shapes like a beautiful snowflake that portraits the contour of the landscape. You can also see my hometown — Jilin City, sitting at the north of the lake. My city looks so small compared with the size of Songhua lake.
Also, the whole city is under the “lake level.” That means if the dam has any structural problem, sure we will have no electricity. The entire town will be wiped out from the map.
It is so hard to predict the future of my hometown. I want to bless it forever by making a digital drawing for it. Changbai mountain, Songhua River, and Songhua Lake, they breed all the life that lives around them, and we never see them as threats. I want to appreciate their beauty and generosity by painting all of those three wonders together.
