The towns of Blagoveshchensk and Heihe are divided by a river – and the very different routes the Russian and Chinese economies are travelling along. And there’s no doubt which town people want to live in.
Five years ago, one of Khabarovsk’s main exports was its women, who went to work as prostitutes in Japan. Today, the Russian city is booming, thanks to its natural resources. But can this city, closer to Beijing than Moscow…