Friday, November 6, 2015

Russia returns land to China after more than a century

By Liu Jing

China regained control of 4.7-square-kilometers of land from Russia as five new boundary markers along the countries' border were unveiled in Northeast China's Jilin province on Wednesday.

The land is part of the territory ceded to Russia by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) after its defeat in the Second Opium War.

From 1858 to 1915, the declining Qing Dynasty gave up about 1,500,000 sq km to Tsarist Russia through several unequal treaties.

The area will be administered by Jilin's Hunchun, a county-level city bordering Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.


The regained territory covers a part of the Hubutu River, which is only 60 km from Ussuriysk, the largest Chinese cargo transportation center in Russia's Far East. The countries are discussing opening a new port on the northward-flowing river.

According to Hunchun municipal government, China and Russia redefined the border in 1993, and the land was acquired by China at that time.


In 2014, the State Council of China named five places in the area “Jiepailing", "Tuolungang", "Hongqizhuang", "Jilonggou" and "Lanxiangpin”. Location of the boundary markers was finalized by the Hunchun government in May.

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