A Winter Day Around Changchun’s Puppet Palace, Occupation History Museum, Old Russian Consulate, and Mosque

On our second day in Changchun, we set aside most of the day for the Museum of the Imperial Palace of Manchukuo, one of the city’s essential historical stops. For adults, admission is 70 yuan, while visitors under 18 enter free. Some people complain that the ticket costs more than entry to Beijing’s Forbidden City, but for families traveling with children, it can still feel worthwhile. The site’s WeChat mini program also offers combination tickets for better value. One bundled pass pairs the palace with the old Changchun Film Studio site for 129 yuan per person. We chose a palace ticket combined with the Changchun Zoological and Botanical Garden night admission for 99 yuan each, which saved 20 yuan compared with buying both separately.

The children, though, had their own priorities. Growing up in southern China, they were far more fascinated by the snow piled along the landscaping outside than by the exhibits indoors. Throughout the visit, they showed almost no interest in the historical displays or the architecture, and instead kept squatting down to play with snow wherever they could find it.

The palace complex itself turned out to be much larger than I had expected. Now rated as a national 5A tourist attraction, the site originally served as a salt warehouse in old Changchun, and later became a salt administration office. From 1932 to 1945, it was the residence and workplace of Puyi, installed here as the puppet emperor of Manchukuo. Buildings such as Jixi Tower, Qinmin Tower, and Tongde Hall stand one after another across the grounds, and together they contain dozens of exhibition rooms along with a substantial collection of historical artifacts.

The architecture throughout the compound blends Chinese and Western styles. By the standards of a century ago, the interiors and furnishings were strikingly luxurious: a piano, billiards room, private cinema, swimming pool, air-raid shelter, and horse-racing facilities were all part of the estate. Even by today’s standards, the living conditions would have been far beyond what ordinary people could imagine. Before visiting, I had pictured Puyi as being confined by the Japanese in a cramped and restrictive residence. Walking the grounds changed that impression. The estate was extensive, the amenities were complete, and the lifestyle on display was far more comfortable than I had assumed. Yet no amount of luxury can soften the humiliation embedded in the history of a puppet regime.

In winter, the swimming pool fills with snow and ends up becoming a natural playground. Children gathered inside it, running around and tossing snow at each other, a strangely vivid contrast against the heavy historical atmosphere of the place. Since we were traveling with two kids who had little patience for museum-going, we spent about two hours there and could only manage a fairly quick look through the complex.

There are also several smaller attractions near the palace that can be visited for free. The Eye of the Museum Art Center and the Museum of the History of the Northeast Under Occupation both require advance reservation by phone. A few additional exhibition spaces recreate everyday family life in old Changchun during the last century. These are also free and are especially interesting because they give a direct sense of how ordinary residents once lived.

After lunch, we continued on foot to two nearby sites: the former Russian Consulate from the Tsarist era and a mosque. Neither required advance booking; at the consulate, on-site registration was enough. The consulate building has a distinctive foreign look and photographs well, but there is not much to see inside. The children went straight back to playing in the snow in the courtyard, and we finished our loop through the place pretty quickly.

The gate of the mosque was open, though we did not see any staff around. The rooms inside were all closed, so there was no way to go in and look around. That did not matter much to the children, who immediately found another snowbank in the courtyard and started playing again.