A charming river view of Yanji city, in the Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture. [Photo/Jilin Daily]

Northeast China's Jilin province is to launch a series of activities to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture this year, according to local media reports.

The Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture is under provincial jurisdiction and is the home of the Korean ethnic group. It is located in eastern Jilin, close to Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK, making it important for foreign trade.

The raft of activities will include the Yanbian Cultural Tourism Development Forum, the 2022 Yanbian Cultural Tourism Season, food exhibitions and various cultural performances.

Yanbian covers 42,000 square kilometers and has a population of 2.03 million, with 722,435 people from the Korean ethnic group, or 35.6 percent of the population. They are widely said to have a higher level of education than many other Chinese ethnic groups.

The autonomous prefecture is in the Changbai Mountains area and boasts big supplies of lumber, as well as bountiful water and minerals resources. It has a rich cultural heritage and burgeoning tourism that takes advantage of its folk activities centered on Korean history and culture.

In 2021, its annual GDP hit 80.12 billion yuan ($11.67 billion), an increase of 6.8 percent over the previous year, achieving an average increase of 3.6 percent over the last two years.

Of that, the added value last year of the primary industry was 6.86 billion yuan, or 7 percent higher year-on-year, while the added value of the secondary industry was 29.71 billion yuan, an increase of 6.7 percent and the added value of the tertiary industry was 43.56 billion yuan, up 6.7 percent.