KIRIN, Girin, or in Chinese Chwen-Chang, the chief town of the province of Central Manchuria or Kirin, is situated at the foot of the Lau-Ye-Ling mountains, at the edge of a wide and well-wooded plain, and on the left bank of the Girin-ula or Sungari, there 300 yards in breadth. The situation is one of exceptional beauty; but the streets are narrow and irregular. Tobacco is the principal article of trade, the kind grown in the province being greatly prized throughout the Chinese empire under the name of “Manchu leaf.” Formerly ginseng was also an important staple, but the supply from this quarter of the country has been exhausted. Outside of the town lies a plain “thickly covered with open coffins containing the dead bodies of Chinese emigrants exposed for identification and removal by their friends; if no claim is made during ten years the remains are buried on the spot.” Kirin was chosen by the emperor Kanghi as a military post during the wars with the Eleuts; and it owes its Chinese name of Chwen-chang, i.e., Naval Yard, to his building there the vessels for the transport of his troops. The population was estimated at 300,000 in 1812; at present it is about 120,000.

See Palladius, “Expedition through Manchuria,” in Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc., 1872; Williamson, Journeys in North China.