| 摘 要： | SITUATED in northern Heilongjiang Province, Heihe looks across the Sino-Russian border at Blagoveshchensk, the administrative center of Russia's Amur Region. At their closest point, the two cities are just 750 meters apart. Their histories are therefore closely interrelated. The Gift Swap That Launched a Thousand Deals In September 1987, Heihe presented Blagoveshchensk with 208 tons of watermelons, or one kilogram for each of its citizens. In return, it received 306 tons of fertilizer from its Russian neighbor. This gift swap sparked off a flurry of border trade between the two nations, and much of it was carried out through these cities. Border trade quickly expanded to every aspect of business. Merchants brought diverse cargoes such as furs, toys, razor blades, and tableware from Russia and other CIS countries to Heihe, and returned with many China-made goods like jewelry, sportswear, and down-padded anoraks.
|
