Experience the best of Changchun

Changchun lies on the broad plain of north-east China and is called the Forest City for its tree-lined avenues and parks. In the 1930s the Japanese made it the capital of the puppet state of Manchukuo, and the palace of its emperor, Puyi, is now a museum with its rooms and gardens preserved. China's first domestically built lorries came off the assembly line here in the 1950s, and the Changchun Film Studio is among the country's oldest.

Nanhu Park, with its lake and bridges, and Jingyuetan, a reservoir ringed by pine forest to the south-east, give the city green space close to the centre. Jilin city, where freezing river mist coats the trees with rime in winter, lies to the east, Changbai Mountain and its crater lake farther south-east, and Harbin, famous for its winter ice festival, is a short fast-train ride to the north-east.

The north-eastern table is built on dumplings, pickled cabbage stews, roast lamb skewers and, from the Korean communities of Jilin province, cold noodles and spicy stews. Winter is long and bitterly cold, with snow lying for months, while summer is short and green.