Photo Gallery
Photo 1: The Ghost of Threats Past
An aura of obsolescence surrounds these tanks and armored personnel carriers at a military base just a few miles from Russia's border with China near the town of Pogranichnyi (photographed in late October 1999). The location of these bases, however, appears to hamper trade and travel between Russian and China: to get from the Grodekovo border checkpoint to the highway leading to Primorskii krai's major cities buses and trucks take a long and arduous detour on bumpy dirt roads through the hills. The short paved road from Grodekovo to the highway runs right by these military bases and is blocked at the highway juncture for no stated reason.
Photo 2: Tourists and traders abound at the border checkpoint at Grodekovo (October 1999).
They come and go by the busload and many start doing business off the backs of their trucks right at the border crossing. In the nearby town of Pogranichnyi buses such as the one depicted in this photo depart regularly from the market square for the Chinese city of Suifenhe.
Photo 3: This Chinese restaurant at the edge of the open-air market in the town of Pogranichnyi (October 1999) symbolizes the difficult passage to globalization of the Russian Far East.
The shiny blue plastic paneling is peeling off and dirty stray dogs roam around the building, but inside the place is clean and one can order Peking duck and a couple of dozen standard Chinese dishes. A far cry from the Fifth Avenue style of globalization in Moscow, this restaurant opens culinary vistas unimaginable in the post-war Russian Far East under the Soviet rule.
Photo 4: Timber exports are a big part of local trade with China.
This truck is ready to go through the checkpoint.
Taking photos of the checkpoint gate, however, was not allowed under a penalty of security violation punishable by a fine of 65 minimal Russian wages, according to the border guard on duty. The photo was taken in late October 1999.
Photo 5: This scene represents the controversies of cross-border trade between Russia and China.
The empty box on the ground contained Chinese-made vodka which local residents like because of affordable prices, and which local government officials often deride as a poisoning threat.
On this box, photographed in October 1999 one can see an inscription claiming the vodka is of superior quality.
Behind the vodka box one can discern the barbed wire electric fence with a yellow "keep off" sign at the top of a post warning of high voltage.