Shiwei () is a
sum (a type of township-level division) under the administration of
Ergun City
Ergun (; mn, Эргүн ''Ergün''), formerly Ergun Right Banner ( mn, ''Эргүнэ хот''; ), is a county-level city in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, containing the autonomous region's northernmost point. The city has an area of , and a popul ...
,
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
. The township is located in Northeastern Inner Mongolia on the border with
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.
The township is one of the
border crossings
''Border Crossings'' is a live, all-request, music-oriented radio show that is broadcast worldwide by the US government-operated Voice of America
Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the State media, state-owned news network and International br ...
between China and Russia, lying on one side of the
Ergune River.
On the opposite bank lies the Russian village of Olochi, connected to Shiwei by the
Friendship Bridge.
Demographics
![Txu-oclc-6614368-nm50-3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/Txu-oclc-6614368-nm50-3.jpg)
Shiwei is notable for being home to descendants of ethnic Russians, one of China's smallest minorities.
(
Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
, caption =
, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
are among the 56 nationalities officially recognized in China.) They mostly live in the neighboring township of
Enhe
Enhe Russian Ethnic Township () is an ethnic township in Northeast Inner Mongolia under the administration of Ergun City. The township along the banks of the Argun River. Enhe is the only ethnic township in China designated for China's Russian ...
(恩和俄羅斯族鄉), which since 2011 has split from Shiwei to become an ethnic township.
Ethnic Russians first arrived in large numbers in
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...
during the 1890s as colonists.
Marriages between Russian women and Han Chinese men in the towns and villages of the frontier areas along the Ergun River like Shiwei emerged in the 1890s, at the same time of the first wave of Russian settlement.
Interracial marriages between Chinese women and Russian men were rare, a marriage pattern that does not fit the colonial convention of Western men marrying native women.
Economy
Shiwei serves as a border crossing between China and Russia. A
Friendship Bridge was built following a joint agreement between Russia and China to construct it in 2001, an outcome of the
1991 Sino-Soviet Border Agreement
The 1991 Sino-Soviet Border Agreement was a treaty signed between China and the Soviet Union on May 16, 1991. It set up demarcation work to resolve most of the border disputes between the two states. Initially signed by China and the Soviet Union, ...
, a treaty on resolving most of the border disputes between the two states.
Social anthropologist Ed Pulford has described the Friendship Bridge, which allows no passenger traffic and primarily serves as a crossing for trucks carrying quarried stone into China, as an example of how "even the most fervent attempts to forge cross-border linkages can become almost comically ineffective" when it comes to Russian–Chinese relations.
Education
There is one school: Ergun City Shiwei Primary School (额尔古纳市室韦小学).
Tourism
Domestic tourists on package tours stop in Shiwei to view the Russian side from a viewing platform on the riverbank on the Chinese side of the Friendship Bridge.
The central square of Shiwei offers nighttime entertainment in the form of neon lights, techno music, and an atmosphere of revelry.
Along with neighboring
Enhe
Enhe Russian Ethnic Township () is an ethnic township in Northeast Inner Mongolia under the administration of Ergun City. The township along the banks of the Argun River. Enhe is the only ethnic township in China designated for China's Russian ...
, Shiwei is marketed as a tourist destination to experience a "Russian town" in China.
Since being listed in 2005 by
CCTV
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
as one of the "top ten most beautiful townships in China", Shiwei has seen an influx of tourists.
However, domestic media and tour operators have given more weight to Enhe as the place to experience a "Russian village".
References
{{China–Russia border crossings
Township-level divisions of Inner Mongolia
Ergun City