Saturday February 11, 2012
In an earlier blog post I ranted on about how cosmopolitan Harbin was. But I now regret that description.
While Harbin is genuinely proud of its multicultural roots, it is exactly that - a legacy. Current day Harbin is dominated by the Chinese Han population, and there are literally no Russian or Jewish people living there. The buildings and museums are all that remains of their contribution.
Then this week I discovered Hunchun.
Hunchun is the major city in the narrow wedge of China squeezed in between Russia and North Korea. As I type this I'm just 20km from the former and 10km from the latter. We're about 100km as the crow flies from Vladivostok, the remote Siberian port city made famous in Australia by a Tim Tam advertisement.
Being in such a strategic location Hunchun is cosmopolitan right here right now. While it lacks the obvious architectural icons of Harbin there are actual European Russian people living here, alongside ethnic Koreans, and the Han Chinese. There are old Babushka ladies eating toffee fruit on sticks! All the shop signs are trilingual - Cyrillic, Korean, Chinese.
The hotel that I'm staying at seems to be especially popular with Russians - at breakfast I was the only oriental customer in the dining room. On the streets there are Eastern European ladies strutting around, and burly Russian blokes being all burly.
South of the city is a village named Fangchuan, which is where China stops (!). The place is set on a hill and on a clear day from the same spot you can face west and see North Korea then swivel to the east to see Russian territory. On a very good day one can even enjoy a vista of the Sea Of Japan off the Russian coast.
Terrific, I'd love to visit! In fact that's what most tourists come to Hunchun for. My guide Mr Urm and I made the drive towards this geopolitical wonder.
We reached an ominous looking military checkpoint about 20km short of Fangchuan. Mr Urm had to show his identification but the trouble began when they asked for my papers. When they saw from my Australian passport that I was a foreigner, my guide and the soldier began a vigorous debate.
We were denied entry. Or specifically I was denied entry.
The story is that when Kim Jong Il passed away in December, South Korean television news vans camped in Fangchuan to point their cameras into North Korea to record the reaction.
Who knew the North Korean authorities would be sensitive about that sort of thing?! They immediately requested Fangchuan be closed to foreigners and the Chinese authorities duly obliged.
In an earlier blog post I ranted on about how cosmopolitan Harbin was. But I now regret that description.
While Harbin is genuinely proud of its multicultural roots, it is exactly that - a legacy. Current day Harbin is dominated by the Chinese Han population, and there are literally no Russian or Jewish people living there. The buildings and museums are all that remains of their contribution.
Then this week I discovered Hunchun.
Hunchun is the major city in the narrow wedge of China squeezed in between Russia and North Korea. As I type this I'm just 20km from the former and 10km from the latter. We're about 100km as the crow flies from Vladivostok, the remote Siberian port city made famous in Australia by a Tim Tam advertisement.
 |
| Hunchun: Trilingual signs illuminate an avenue of karaoke joints. |
The hotel that I'm staying at seems to be especially popular with Russians - at breakfast I was the only oriental customer in the dining room. On the streets there are Eastern European ladies strutting around, and burly Russian blokes being all burly.
South of the city is a village named Fangchuan, which is where China stops (!). The place is set on a hill and on a clear day from the same spot you can face west and see North Korea then swivel to the east to see Russian territory. On a very good day one can even enjoy a vista of the Sea Of Japan off the Russian coast.
Terrific, I'd love to visit! In fact that's what most tourists come to Hunchun for. My guide Mr Urm and I made the drive towards this geopolitical wonder.
 |
| Checkpoint near Hunchun on the road leading out to Russia. |
We were denied entry. Or specifically I was denied entry.
The story is that when Kim Jong Il passed away in December, South Korean television news vans camped in Fangchuan to point their cameras into North Korea to record the reaction.
Who knew the North Korean authorities would be sensitive about that sort of thing?! They immediately requested Fangchuan be closed to foreigners and the Chinese authorities duly obliged.
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