Blagoveshchensk

Foreign trade goes not to Aigun, but to the Chinese town of Taheiho, which is situated about 30 miles distant from Aigun and is directly opposite the Siberian city of Blagovestchensk, on the other side of the Amur River.

The Heilungkiang River which the Russians call the Amur is rather narrower than I had expected it to be, and the old Chinese town of Hailanpao, now the Russian one of Blagoveshchensk, is dominated by a television tower.

The Siberian city of Blagoveshchensk is located over 8,000 kilometres from Moscow, but barely 800 metres from China. The two countries are only separated by the Amur river.