What does the easternmost part of China look like?

2008

Heixiazi Island, which has been drifting for nearly 80 years

Together with the surrounding islands such as Silver Dragon Island and Mingyue Island

Officially returned to the embrace of the motherland

Became China's easternmost territory

(Please watch in horizontal mode, a panoramic view of Heixiazi Island; the Heixiazi Island in a broad sense includes the three island systems mentioned above, consisting of 87 islands and sandbanks in the river, photographer @李伟)

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Its return

It also makes Fuyuan City, Heilongjiang Province, where it is located

Entering the public eye

This little-known northeastern city

It is the "Eastern Pole" among China's "Four Poles"

The easternmost railway station, the easternmost airport, the easternmost port

All flowers fall here

(Dongji Square, one of the landmarks of Fuyuan City, photographer @Gong Qiang)

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It is also known as China's "City of Sunrise".

The sun rises at 3 a.m. every June and July.

And it is the day when the sun first rose in China

It accounts for 70% of the year

(Sketch of the earliest county-level administrative area in China where the sun rises, drawn by @龙雁玲/Planetary Research Institute)

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It is also China's gateway to regional cooperation in Northeast Asia.

Two rivers flow around the city

Enjoy the convenience of river-sea transport

The per capita GDP ranks among the top in Heilongjiang Province all year round

(Please watch in horizontal mode, overlooking the city of Fuyuan, photographer @张扬小强)

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It's far enough

Many people have never seen its beauty.

It's not far away

The times are constantly revealing their legends

Fuyuan

What kind of city is it?

All this

It all starts with the birth of a Dongji water town.

01

Dongji Water Village

When we open the map of China

We can easily find Fuyuan's location

In the head of a rooster

The Northeast is rising

Fuyuan is like a slightly protruding "chicken beak"

Embedded on the eastern border of the motherland

(Sketch of Fuyuan location, drawn by @Chen Zhihao/Planetary Research Institute)

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This is not an ordinary border.

It is made up of rivers that are more than 200 kilometers long.

Heilongjiang River from the West

And the Ussuri River from the south

Meet and intersect in the northeast corner of Fuyuan

(The Heilongjiang River branch on the left side of the picture meets the Wusuli River; both the Heilongjiang River and the Wusuli River are famous boundary rivers in my country, photographer @公强)

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They left the Heilongjiang River basin in China

The final majesty and mystery

Outline the outline of Fuyuan

It will also make Fuyuan a unique

Dongji Water Village

Many people may not imagine

Heilongjiang in a remote corner

Its length in China

It ranks third among all rivers in the country.

Second only to the Yangtze River and the Yellow River

Its total basin area

Even reached 1.856 million square kilometers

Even the Yangtze River can only be ranked second in front of it.

(Sketch of the Heilongjiang River Basin; the Heilongjiang River Basin mainly includes China, Russia and Mongolia. Map by @钟雨恬/Planet Research Institute)

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Developed water system

Huge water storage

A magnificent spectacle

In the Fuyuan River

The width of the Heilongjiang mainstream can reach 3 to 4 kilometers

In the summer flood season

The concentrated water from upstream often arrives quickly.

Galloping, surging, flowing

Causes large-scale flooding

Swallowing everything around

(Please watch in horizontal mode, Fuyuan section of the Heilongjiang mainstream, photographer @郭宏宇)

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Taming the River

In winter, the temperature in Fuyuan can drop to -30 degrees Celsius.

From late November

The wide river surface began to freeze

The formation of ice that lasts for nearly 150 days and can be up to 1 meter thick

If there is a blizzard

Tens of centimeters of snow will bury everything on the ground.

(Please watch in horizontal mode, snow falls in Heilongjiang, photographer @陈雷)

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But the river is alive.

Spring arrives, snow and ice melt

April is the time for the river to open.

Kaijiang

Refers to the breaking and disintegration of ice on the river

Transformed into drift ice floating on the river

Rushing downstream with the river

Spectacular

In some years

The river flows quickly upstream but slowly downstream

Ice floes pile up downstream, pushing up water levels

Flooding may occur

The overflowing flood mixed with ice debris swept across both banks

It is called "the river that opens up" by the locals.

(Please watch in horizontal mode, Heilongjiang Kaijiang, photographer @陈雷)

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Floods year after year

Reshaping the Earth

The Heilongjiang River and its tributaries carry silt

In the Lesser Khingan Mountains, Wanda Mountains, Buryat Mountains, etc.

Swinging freely among the mountains

Gradually, an extremely low and narrow plain was formed.

This is the Sanjiang Plain.

Especially in Fuyuan area

It also formed a sandbar in the river that stretched for dozens of miles.

Known as the Fuyuan Delta

The famous Heixiazi Island

It is the largest island in the delta.

(Please watch in horizontal mode, topography of Sanjiang Plain, drawn by @陈志浩/Planetary Research Institute)

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Rivers transform the land

There’s more

The overflowing mud and sand are deposited into flat land

The river wants to find a destination for itself

sometimes

They stumbled across the plains

Forming countless winding snakes

(Zhuaji River, a tributary of the Wusuli River, flows through the heart of the Sanjiang Plain. Photographer: Ma Chunlin)

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sometimes

They fell into an unexpected depression on the ground

So it exists as lake bubbles of various sizes.

The huge number

There are more than 800 in Fuyuan.

(Please watch in horizontal mode, Dalijia Lake, the largest lake in Fuyuan, photographer @孙浩辰)

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besides

They will also be contained by the boundless earth.

The soil absorbs this water as best it can.

Convert it into abundant groundwater

This water will freeze in autumn and winter, forming permafrost

The maximum depth can reach more than 2 meters

And melt again in the spring when the flowers bloom

This cycle repeats

Beginning without end

Since Fuyuan is at a higher latitude

The evaporation from the soil surface is relatively weak

In addition, the river floods from time to time

This makes the ground here too wet all year round.

The accumulated water mixes with the soil

Forming a continuous swamp

Swampy wetlands are thus formed.

(The colorful Sanjiang Plain Swamp, photographer @石耀臣)

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This is our country's swamp wetland

The largest and most concentrated region

The wetland area in Fuyuan alone

It can reach 68,000 hectares

Especially Heixiazi Island

Almost all of the land is wetland

Especially precious

(The Wusu Bridge leading to Heixiazi Island, photographer @堂少)

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For Fuyuan, the easternmost water town

The rivers are its bones

Wetlands are its flesh and blood

And what grows on this vast wetland

All living things

It is its features and soul

Throughout the wetland ecosystem

The most eye-catching

The vegetation here

Due to the long-term wetness of the wetland surface

The plants here also adapt to different micro-environments

Forming a characteristic

Band distribution

(Please watch in horizontal mode, a cross-section of the Sanjiang Plain Wetland, drawn by @王天怡/Planet Research Institute)

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The terrain difference is relatively large

Areas with good drainage conditions

Deciduous broad-leaved forests dominate

The green mountains and plains

Covering the sky

(Forest in Fuyuan, photographer @郭宏宇)

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In the lower-lying areas

Due to the increase in soil moisture

Forests degraded into island-like distribution

Instead, there are bushes that can reach more than 3 meters high.

Going deeper into the wetlands

The more water accumulates on the ground

Even the bushes can't conquer this place

Various herbs

Become the most prosperous life in this area

(Please watch in horizontal mode, sedge in Fuyuan Wetland, image source: Visual China)

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Lush vegetation

Reshaping everything in this Dongji Water Village

They change from spring to autumn, and flourish and wither one after another.

After being scattered, it was absorbed by the swamp.

After a long evolution

Becomes an extremely rich humus in the soil

It also makes the Sanjiang Plain

It has become one of the most widely distributed black soil areas in the world.

The vegetation also brings a rich animal population here

As big as black bears, wild boars, roe deer

As small as weasels, foxes, and badgers

In this complex ecosystem

Found a place to stay

(Black bears on Heixiazi Island; the word "Heixiazi" refers to black bears in the Northeast dialect, photographer @Gong Qiang & Li Wei)

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Traveler in the sky

I also like this place very much

Every spring when the ice and snow melt

Flocks of migratory birds return from the south

Sanjiang Plain Wetland with mild climate and abundant food

It is undoubtedly an ideal place for living and reproduction.

(The Sanjiang Plain Wetland is also the wintering ground for many migratory birds from further north; please watch in horizontal mode, a flock of migratory birds in the Fuyuan Wetland, photographer @陈雷)

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According to statistics

Birds living in the wetlands of Fuyuan

Up to 263 types

Among them are precious species such as the Oriental White Stork and the Whooper Swan.

(A flock of birds in Fuyuan Wetland, photographer @Tang Shao & Picasso & Chen Lei)

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Behemoths dominate the land

Birds conquer the sky

For rivers, lakes and swamps throughout the wetlands,

Fish are its favorite

They are not only a key link in the wetland ecosystem

It also becomes a link with human society

This makes this land a unique

Dongji Fishing City

02

Dongji Fishing City

Although the plants and birds on land

Already dizzying

But when we cast our eyes toward the vast expanse of water

You will find

After all, Fuyuan is still the world of fish

(Please watch in horizontal mode, illustration of fish resources in Fuyuan City, drawn by @龙雁羽/Planet Research Institute)

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The body length can easily reach five or six meters

Sturgeons can weigh up to a ton

It is the largest "Black Dragon" in Heilongjiang.

Although it likes to crawl on the bottom of the river

It is definitely at the top of the food chain.

Can swallow dozens of small fish in one mouthful

It originated in the Cretaceous period more than 100 million years ago.

I have seen the dinosaur world and human civilization.

So far, it only exists in the Heilongjiang River Basin.

It can be called a "living fossil" on this land.

Acipenser schrenckii

It is a "smaller version" of its size and temperament.

Even so

Its 3-meter-long body and weight of more than 100 kilograms

It is also enough to dominate the other fishes.

(Please watch in horizontal mode, sturgeons and whitebait in Fuyuan Fish Museum, photographer @郭宏宇)

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For sturgeon such as sturgeon and Acipenser schrenckii

Migration is their natural survival instinct

Fuyuan, where two rivers meet and the riverbed is covered with gravel

It is an excellent spawning ground for them.

Spring and autumn every year

There will be groups of sturgeons and belugas wading in from everywhere.

Here they continue their bloodline that has been passed down for billions of years

But when it comes to migration

Even the giants of the water, such as sturgeons and belugas

Even in front of salmon , you have to give in.

This species is widely distributed in the cold waters of the North Pacific.

Fish that lay eggs only once in their lifetime

It is the most famous migratory fish in the world.

Every autumn

Sexually mature salmon

They will start their tragic journey

They swim upstream from the sea

Across the rapids, across the raging waves

After all the hardships, they returned to the place where they were born

There

They give birth to their offspring

He also met his own death soon after

(The orange-red stripes on salmon are an important feature of their breeding season. The salmon swimming upstream in the picture belong to the British population. It is only for illustration. The picture is from @Visual China)

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certainly

The story that happened underwater in Fuyuan

Not all are so tragic

Traditional domestic fish such as silver carp and grass carp

Accustomed to swaying in the water grass

Small loach and catfish

Also enjoying themselves in the mud on the beach

The lake fish is not even as long as a finger.

In groups

With hundreds of brothers and sisters

Shuttle between morning and evening

Spring and Autumn, life and death, ups and downs

Whether it is the law of the jungle or harmonious coexistence

Under the water of Fuyuan

There is a world that has been vivid for billions of years

(The "treasure of the town" in Fuyuan Fish Museum - the largest sturgeon specimen in China, 108 years old and weighing 1,128 kilograms, photographer @孙浩辰)

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And above the water

Another world begins to intervene

That is

The world of people

As early as the Pre-Qin period

The Sushen people living here

It depends on the huge fish population here.

Developed a unique way of living according to local conditions

That's fishing and hunting

They use local materials

Use birch, river stone and other materials to make tools

Hunting the beasts of the woods

Catching fish in the river

(A Neolithic pottery bowl with what appear to be wave patterns on it, unearthed from the Liangzi Oil Depot site in Fuyuan. Image source: @Fuyuan Municipal Bureau of Culture, Sports, Radio, Television and Tourism)

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Thousands of years have passed

The Central Plains has experienced countless wars and changes.

These people who survive in the wilderness of Northeast China

Still following the life of our ancestors

The names used by them in the Central Plains have also changed several times.

The most remote branch of them continues to this day.

That is the Hezhe people.

In today's Chinese ethnic map

The Hezhe people are undoubtedly a very striking existence

on the one hand

They live close to the border.

Along the Heilongjiang and Wusuli Rivers

Scattered with sparse villages

(Distribution diagram of the Hezhe ethnic group in China, drawn by @钟雨恬/Planet Research Institute)

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on the other hand

They are among the ethnic minorities in northern my country.

The only ethnic group that once relied mainly on fishing

The Ussuri Boat Song is well known to Chinese people

It vividly depicts their fishing and hunting life.

(Part of the lyrics of "Ussuri Boat Song", written by Guo Song and Hu Xiaoshi)

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"The Wusuli River is long and long

The blue river water is wavy

The Hezhe people spread out thousands of nets

The boat is full of fish and the boat is full of fish.

However

The picture depicted in the lyrics

Still just a Hezhe people

One of the rich fishing techniques

In fact

The Hezhe people have many ways of fishing

It's beyond imagination

Spring snow melt

Fish that have been hungry for a winter gather to look for food

Hezhe fishermen seize the opportunity

Use fishing nets, harpoons and other tools to carry out night fishing

The fish caught is the most of the year

(Fishermen from Fuyuan are fishing on the Wusuli River at dawn. Photographer: @陈雷)

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In the hot and humid summer

Fishermen repair their fishing gear

At the same time, tools such as zhù were used to block the river.

Easier access to fresh fish

After Bailu

Entering the autumn fishing season

Migratory fish such as salmon

Beginning to be active in the rivers

Fishermen put their net stakes into the whirlpool in the middle of the river

Under the guidance of the river's own flow

Fish often "fall into the trap"

(A little girl holding a salmon, picture source: Visual China)

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The river freezes in winter

Experienced fishermen will

Breaking through the ice in areas with stable currents

Use a special fishhook to slowly stir the river water

To catch big fish under the ice

(The severe cold in winter is a natural refrigerator. The fresh fish caught by fishermen will freeze quickly and be placed upside down in the fish market waiting for customers. Photographer @莲漾de)

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In obtaining fish

The Hezhe people in Fuyuan are already very familiar with this

And even more amazing

It is their use of fish

Eating fish is not easy

The Hezhe people are accustomed to cutting fish into thin strips.

Mix with vinegar, salt, ginger and green onion

Eat it raw for its freshness

It is called "Shasheng fish"

It is the most famous specialty food in Fuyuan today.

(A Hezhe woman is making raw fish, picture source: Visual China)

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Or peel off the fish skin

Grill over charcoal until medium rare

Eat with salt

Another rough feast

The peeled fish skin

It plays a greater role in the Hezhe society.

People dry it, roll it, beat it, dye it

Finally, it is sewn into a unique fish skin coat

Even the needles used to sew clothes

Also made from fish bones

It can be said that everything is put to good use

(Sketch of the production process of fish-skin clothing of the Hezhe people, drawn by @龙雁羽/Planet Research Institute)

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Since the late Qing Dynasty

The Han population in the interior gradually immigrated here

The long-standing fishing culture is also being learned by more people

With the support of modern technology

Make Fuyuan a real "Easternmost Fishing Capital"

People are focusing on developing the fish products processing industry

Canned fish, caviar and other flavored foods

Delivering delicious food to all parts of the country

(Caviar is made using traditional techniques, image source: @Visual China)

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People use advanced biotechnology

Carry out artificial breeding of rare fish species such as sturgeon and beluga

Protecting Fuyuan’s biodiversity

People also preserve the traditional fishing culture

Build a fish museum with scientific research, sightseeing and exhibition value

Records the vicissitudes of history of this eastern fishing capital

(Fish Museum in Fuyuan City, photographer @石耀臣)

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However

Fuyuan’s vicissitudes are not limited to this

When our sights cross the surging river

The familiar yet strange mountains and wilderness on the other side remind us

Fuyuan is still a city intertwined with historical honor and disgrace.

Eastern Border Town

03

Eastern Border Town

As early as the mid-17th century

The Russians expanded rapidly in the Far East

They began to covet the Heilongjiang River Basin, which was still an inland river in the Qing Dynasty.

(Sketch of Tsarist Russia's invasion of Northeast China, drawn by @钟雨恬/Planet Research Institute)

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The declining Qing dynasty

No longer able to stop the land from being eroded

As of the end of the 19th century

Outer Northeast covers more than 1 million square kilometers of territory

It fell into the hands of Tsarist Russia

Fuyuan is located at the confluence of the Heilongjiang River and the Wusuli River.

This made it the easternmost point of China

Pushed to the forefront of history

Decades later

Frequent fighting in the Heilongjiang River Basin

Especially after the September 18th Incident

The Japanese invaders implemented brutal colonial rule here

Bandits abound in Fuyuan, and smuggling is rampant

People live in poverty

(Khabarovsk, formerly known as Boli, is located east of the confluence of the Heilongjiang and Wuli rivers, only 65 kilometers away from Fuyuan County by water. It was occupied by Tsarist Russia in 1860 and is now one of the largest cities in Russia's Far East. The picture shows Khabarovsk from Fuyuan, photographer @郭宏宇)

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Agriculture is backward, industry is blank, and commerce is declining

Such a border town Fuyuan

How can we escape the fate of being trapped both internally and externally?

There is only one way

That is unity

Together with people of all ethnic groups across the country

Building a self-reliant and strong China

Become the iron wall of her border

(The Wusu Town Sentry Post in Wusu Town, Fuyuan City, was built in 1962. It is the easternmost sentry post in China and is known as the "Heroic First Eastern Sentry Post". Photographer: Li Wei)

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But relying solely on military force

Not enough to change the world

Only by adapting to local conditions to transform natural elements

Only then can we truly change the fate of this land.

The turning point occurred in the late 1950s

To ensure China's food security

Supporting national economic development

The central government issued a call to develop the "Great Northern Wilderness"

The so-called "Great Northern Wilderness"

It refers to the vast wetland with Sanjiang Plain as its core.

Not only is the land here flat, the water source is abundant, and the black soil is widespread

Long sunshine hours in summer

Moreover, the population is sparse and the contradiction between people and land is relatively light.

Great potential for food production

(Please watch in horizontal mode, the Sanjiang Plain is endless and flat, photographer @郭宏宇)

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To reclaim this overgrown swamp

Officers, soldiers, educated youth, and cadres from all over the country

They all set foot on the land of Sanjiang Plain

Thousands of people came to Fuyuan alone.

They rolled up their trousers and picked up pickaxes

In the cold, mosquitoes, wild animals and far away from urban civilization

Fight for one piece of flat and vast arable land after another

In the short fifteen years from 1966 to 1981

The cultivated land area in Fuyuan has increased from 381 hectares to

Soared to 23,600 hectares

The per capita cultivated land area ranks among the top in the country

On these newly reclaimed lands, people

Build farms

The crops here are planted in continuous areas of more than 10,000 mu.

The produced "Dongji Rice" is sold all over the country

(One of the major advantages of continuous planting is that it facilitates mechanized harvesting. Image source: Visual China)

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Today

Fuyuan has become our country

One of the most mechanized commercial grain bases

The "Great Northern Wilderness" of the past

It has become the "Beida Cang" today.

besides

There is also the largest

Cranberry planting base

Formed a highly efficient and diversified agricultural structure

(Cranberry is a large-fruited cranberry, a crop that grows in cold and humid environments. In autumn, when the fruit matures, farmers will pour water into the fields and collect the fruits when they float on the water. Photographer @陈雷)

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Spring is coming

The rivers are also melting

Sino-Soviet (Russian) relations warmed up after reform and opening up

Fuyuan, the easternmost city of China

Neighboring countries separated by the same river are becoming increasingly connected

2008

China and Russia hold ceremony on Heixiazi Island

Its western half officially returned to China

Chinese-style pagoda and Russian-style church

Echoing on the island

Together we safeguard the hard-earned peace

(Please watch in horizontal mode, Dongji Pagoda and Heixiazi Island sunrise, photographer @公强)

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In economic terms

The exchanges between China and Russia are becoming closer

April and May every year

Mangjita Port, sleeping on the south bank of Heilongjiang River

Will wake up on time

Meet from Khabarovsk

Even cargo ships coming upstream from the Pacific Ocean arrive

(The port of Mangjita, which is separated from Russia by a river, is full of imported timber. Photographer: Shi Yaochen)

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It is a rare inland deep-water port in Northeast China.

Maximum water depth up to 17 meters

Tens of thousands of tons of timber and soybeans from Russia

All landed here

Next Steps

They will transfer to the railway

Heading to Harbin, Shenyang and other big cities

Then go to all parts of the country

(The Qianfu Railway, which carries both passengers and freight, is the easternmost railway in China. The picture shows a train passing through the forest in Fuyuan. Photographer: @堂少)

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Based on Manggita Port

Fuyuan has become one of the five major border ports in Heilongjiang Province

Its border trade zone

It has also become the largest Russian product exhibition and sales platform in the province

It’s not just goods that travel between ports

Chinese tourists also continue to pass through Fuyuan

Visa-free travel to Russia

Experience the unique exotic customs

(Fuyuan Dongji Airport has a temporary international air port, which can fly directly to Khabarovsk, photographer @公强)

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Regional peace and industrial development

A new Fuyuan was born

Its per capita GDP ranks among the top in the province all year round.

It once topped the list of all counties (cities) in the province.

Demonstrating strong economic strength

(Indicative of the ranking of per capita GDP of counties and cities in Heilongjiang Province in 2020, "city" refers to county-level cities, map by @龙雁玲/星球研究院)

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The more intuitive

It is the change of its urban appearance

It keeps the freshness here

Wide and straight road

Walk through the colorful buildings

(Street view of Fuyuan, photographer @郭宏宇)

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It leaves its beauty here

Create a series of scenic spots around the "sunrise"

Attract tourists from all over the world to check in and take pictures

(Tourists watching the sunrise at Fuyuan Dongji Square, photographer @石耀臣)

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It will leave the open here

Unique riverside trail

It seems to embrace Heilongjiang into the city's arms

(Please watch in horizontal mode, the novel riverside trail in Fuyuan city, photographer @陈小羊)

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It also leaves the smell of fireworks here

The popular Dongsheng Night Market

Not only is there the aroma of delicious food

It is also filled with the generosity and open-mindedness of the Northeastern people.

(Fuyuan Dongsheng Night Market, photographer @郭宏宇)

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This is the easternmost world of China

In the magnificent sunrise

Rivers, Years, and Humanity

All are illuminated one by one

"The City of the Rising Sun"

Fuyuan

It greets the sun

Also welcome hope

This article was created by

Written by Jiang Shangfan

Picture | Daytime sleep

Design | Long Yanling & Wang Tianyi

Map | Zhong Yutian & Chen Zhihao

Review | Quasimodo by the River & Shanyue Tower & Chen Jingyi

Cover Photographer | Guo Hongyu

【References】

[1] Fuyuan County Local Chronicles Compilation Committee. Fuyuan County Chronicles[M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1998

[2] Editing Group of A Brief History of the Hezhe Nationality. A Brief History of the Hezhe Nationality[M]. Beijing: Nationalities Publishing House, 2009

[3] Chen Gangqi et al. (eds.). Research on the Swamps in Sanjiang Plain[M]. Beijing: Science Press, 1996

[4] Dai Changlei et al. A review of hydrogeographic research in the Heilongjiang River Basin[J]. Acta Geographica Sinica, 2015, 70(11): 1823-1834

[5] Xia Yuguo et al. Preliminary study on fish diversity in the Fuyuan section of Heilongjiang River[J]. Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin, 2012, 28(14): 120-125

[6] Liu Wei. Research on Neolithic Archaeological Culture in the Heilongjiang River Basin[D]. Jilin University, 2021

[7] Zhou Fanlin. Research on the cultural heritage of fish skin clothing craftsmanship of the Hezhe people[D]. Guangdong University of Technology, 2018

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