Northeast China

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Northeast China
Country	China
Area
• Total	791,826 km2 (305,726 sq mi)
Population [1]	98,514,948
• Density	124/km2 (320/sq mi)
GDP	2022[2]
- Total	¥5.795 trillion $861.514 billion
- Per Capita	¥58,824 $8,746 (excluding Inner Mongolia)

Northeast China (Chinese: 东北; pinyin: Dōngběi) is a geographical region of the People's Republic of China, consisting of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over 350,000 km² (140,000 sq mi) and one of the country's most important breadbaskets (due to its fertile black soil). The region is separated from the Russian Far East to the north by the Amur, Argun, and Ussuri Rivers; from North Korea to the south by the Yalu and Tumen Rivers; and from the neighboring North China by the Greater Khingan Range and Yan Mountains. The four prefectures of Inner Mongolia that are east of the Greater Khingan are sometimes also considered broader parts of the Northeast, which was historically known as Inner Manchuria.

Northeast China was one of the first regions of China to undergo industrialization, and was the pioneering region during the planned economy era that followed the PRC's founding, earning it the honorfic nickname "the Republic's eldest son" (Chinese: 共和国长子; pinyin: gònghéguó zhǎngzǐ). However since the Chinese economic reform of the 1980s, which had mostly benefited the coastal provinces in East and South China that have direct access to export sea routes and foreign investments, the Northeast's once-powerful industrial sector has shrunk significantly with stagnant economic growth, mass layoffs from state-owned enterprises during the late 1990s, and ongoing exodus of skilled population since the turn of the 21st century, leading to the region being often referred to as China's Rust Belt.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} To salvage the situation, an economic campaign named the Northeast Area Revitalization Plan was launched in 2003 by the State Council and the newly ascended Hu–Wen Administration, in which five prefectures of eastern Inner Mongolia, namely Hulunbuir, Hinggan, Tongliao, Chifeng and Xilin Gol, are also formally defined as regions of the Northeast.^[8]