Fate, Jilin

Fate (Chinese: 法特; pinyin: Fǎtè) is a town within the county-level city of Shulan, in the north of Jilin Province in Northeast China. It is located on the right (eastern) bank of the Songhua River, 45 kilometres (28 mi) west of downtown Shulan, and 75 kilometres (47 mi) north of the prefectural capital of Jilin City.[1]

According to the local government, the town occupies 146.98 square kilometres (56.75 sq mi); as of 2003, its population was 38,105, most of which (35,654) is rural population.[1]

It was formerly organised as a township (法特乡).

Economy

Fate Town is primarily agricultural. There are 9,000 hectares of cropland there (5,000 ha dry fields and 4,000 ha rice paddies). Annual production of rice is 38,000 tons, and of maize (corn), 50,000 tons. Fruits (1,000 tons a year) and vegetables are grown as well, and animal husbandry and aquaculture are important.[1]

History

During the Qing Dynasty, the so-called Outer Willow Palisade, separating the Mongolian and Manchurian lands to the west and east respectively, ended near Fate.[2]

A local historical site is the so-called "Yellow Fish Circle" (黄鱼圈, Huang Yu Juan; 44°31′N 126°26′E): a large round pool with stone walls constructed during the Qing Dynasty, and used to store live sturgeon (the Amur sturgeon and Kaluga sturgeon[3]), considered a delicacy by the Manchu Qing Emperors. The fish, caught in the Sungari River in the spring and summer, was kept in the pool until winter, when it became possible to ship it, frozen, to the imperial court in Beijing without being spoiled on the way.[3] The pool has been described as being 500 m in circumference and over a zhang (around 3.3 m) deep;[3] other sources claimed somewhat greater sizes, some 50,000-60,000 square meters in area and 5 meters deep.

The present name of the site, 黄鱼圈 (Huángyú juān, literally "Yellow Fish Circle"), is said to be a corruption of the original homophonic 鳇鱼圈 (Huángyú juān, Kaluga sturgeon Circle).[3][4]

  • 法特镇 (Fate Town) on Hudong.com (in Chinese)

References
  1. 法特镇人民政府 Archived 2011-09-04 at the Wayback Machine (Fate Town's People's Government), on the site of the Shulan City Government.
  2. Willow Palisade in Encyclopædia Britannica Online; Chinese spelling of place names as per 柳条边
  3. 黄鱼圈的故事 Archived 2011-02-19 at the Wayback Machine (The story of the Yellow Fish Circle) (in Chinese)
  4. Standard dictionaries translate "黄鱼" (literally, "Yellow fish") as a variety of croaker, but that makes no sense in the situation, as croaker is a sea fish, and not a freshwater fish, while 鳇鱼 is indeed the Kaluga sturgeon.

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