Two to three days covers the main sights. Spend one day on Puyi's palace museum and the Badabu buildings along Xinmin Avenue, and another at Jingyuetan and Movie Wonderland, both on light rail Line 3. Add a day for the World Sculpture Park and an evening on a snack street.

Because China's car industry started here. First Automobile Works, now FAW Group, began building its plant in 1953, and in 1956 it rolled out the Jiefang truck, the first vehicle fully made in China. FAW is still based in Changchun, and the city hosts a large auto fair.

Yes. From 1932 to 1945 the city was renamed Hsinking, or Xinjing, meaning "new capital", as the seat of the Japanese-run state of Manchukuo. It took back the name Changchun afterward, and buildings from that era, such as Badabu and Puyi's palace, are now museums and university halls.