Khabarovsk

Khabarovsk (English) Хабаровск (Russian)
—  Inhabited locality  —
A riverside beach in the city center, with the Saviour Transfiguration Cathedral seen on the background
Khabarovsk
Coordinates:
Holiday	Last Sunday of May
Administrative status
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Khabarovsk Krai
Administrative center of	Khabarovsk Krai, Khabarovsky District
Municipal status
Urban okrug	Khabarovsk Urban Okrug
Mayor	Alexander Sokolov
Representative body	City Duma
Statistics
Area	372 km2 (144 sq mi)
Population (2002 Census)	583,072 inhabitants[1]
- Rank	25th
- Density	1,567 /km2 (4,060 /sq mi)[2]
Time zone	VLAT/VLAST (UTC+10/+11)
Founded	May 31, 1858
Postal code(s)	680xxx
Dialing code(s)	+7 4212
Official website

Native villages near the site of the future Khabarovsk according to an English map of 1773. The map is based on an earlier French map by d'Anville, which in its turn makes use of the data collected by Jesuit cartographers in 1709. The village closest to today's Khabarovsk is labeld Hitcha. Maack's "Cape Kyrma" site (thought by B.P. Polyakov to be the site of Stepanov's Kosogorsky Ostrog) is Heremo

Old City Duma in Khabarovsk

Russian Orthodox Assumption (Uspenskiy) Cathedral on Komsomol'skaya Square

Khabarovsk (Russian: Хаба́ровск, Russian pronunciation: [xɐˈbarəfsk]) is the administrative center and the largest city of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. It is located some 30 km from the Chinese border. It is the second largest city in the Russian Far East, after Vladivostok. The city became the administrative center of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia in 2002. Population: 579,000 (2005 est.); 583,072 (2002 Census);^[1] 600,623 (1989 Census).^[3]

The city lies at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about 800 kilometers (497 mi) north of Vladivostok and is accessible from there by an overnight train running along the Trans-Siberian railway. Rail distance from Moscow is 8,523 kilometers (5,296 mi).

History

Earliest history of the region

The lands near the confluence of the Ussury and the Amur, where today's Khabarovsk stands, have been populated by many centuries by Tungusic people, probably related to the Jurchens of the past and/or the Nanais of the present day. Chinese expeditions reached this area as early as the first half of the 15th century, when the fleets of the Ming eunuch Yishiha sailed several times from Jilin City all the way to Tyr on the lower Amur.

17th century Russian explorers

In the middle of the 17th century the Amur Valley became the scene of hostilities between the Russian Cossacks, trying to expand into the region and to collect tribute from the natives, and the rising Manchu Qing Dynasty, intent on securing the region for itself.

Khabarov's Achansk

The Russian explorers and raiders of the 1650s set up a number of more or less fortified camps (ostrogs) on the Amur; most of them were in use for only a few months, and later destroyed. It is usually thought that the first such camp in the general area of today's Khabarovsk was the fortified winter camp named Achansk (Ачанск, or Ачанский городок), built by the Cossacks of Yerofey Khabarov in September 1651 after they had sailed to the area from the upper Amur. The fort was named after the local tribe whom Khabarov's people called "Achans".^{[4] [5]} Already on October 8 the fort was unsuccessfully attacked by joint forces of Achans and Duchers (who had good reasons to hate the Cossacks, due to their rather heavy-handed tribute-extraction tactics^[6]), while many Russians were out fishing.^[5] In late November, Khabarov's people undertook a three-day campaign against the local chief Zhakshur (Жакшур) (whose name is also known in a more Russian version, Zaksor (Заксор)), collecting a large amount of tribute and announcing that the locals were now subjects of the Russian Czar. Similar campaign was waged later in winter against the Ducher chief Nechiga (Нечига), farther away from Achansk.^[5] On March 24 (or 26) 1652, Fort Achansk was attacked by Manchu cavalry, led by Ninguta's commander Haise, reinforced by Ducher auxiliaries, but the Cossacks stood their ground in a day-long battle and even managed to seize the attackers' supply train.^[5] Once the ice on the Amur broke in the spring of 1652, Khabarov's people destroyed their fort and sailed away.^[5]

The exact location of Khabarov's Achansk has long been a subject for the debate among Russian historians and geographers.^[6][7] A number of locations, both upstream and downstream of today's Khabarovsk, have been proposed since Richard Maack, one of the first Russian scholars to visit the region, identified Achansk in 1859 with the ruins on Cape Kyrma, which is located on the southern (Chinese) shore of the Amur, upstream of Khabarovsk.^[6] The most widely accepted point of view is probably that of B.P. Polevoy, who believed that Khabarov's Achansk was located in the Nanai village later known as Odzhal-Bolon (Russian: Оджал-Болонь), located on the left bank of the Amur, closer to Amursk than to Khabarovsk. One of his arguments was that both Khabarov's Achan (sometimes also spelled by the explorer as Otshchan, Отщан), and Wuzhala (乌扎拉) of the Chinese records of the 1652 engagement are based on the name of the Nanai clan "Odzhal" (Оджал), corresponding to the 20th-century name of the village as well. (The name of the clan was also written as "Uzala", as in the name of its best known member, Dersu Uzala).^[6]

B.P. Polevoy's view appeared to gain wide support among the Russian georgrapher community; petitioned by the Amur Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, the Russian Government renamed the village of Odzhal to Achan in 1977, to celebrate its connection with Khabarov's raid.^[6]

As to the Cape Kyrma ruins, thought by Maack to be the remains of Achansk, B.P. Polevoy identified them as the remains of another ostrog - namely, Kosogorsky Ostrog, where Onufriy Stepanov stayed a few years later.^[7]

Stepanov's raids

Another large group of Cossacks, led by Onufriy Stepanov, appeared in the area soon from Khabarov's departure from the Amur, and was active there until its destruction in 1658. Their attempts to penetrate into the Sungari to collect a tribute of grain suffered a setback in 1654, when a joint Manchu-Korean army met the Russian forces at the Battle of Hutong (hangul: 후퉁강 hanja: 厚通江 (混同江)), which was won by Manchu-Korean allied forces.

Four years later, in 1658, Manchu forces commanded by the military governor of Ninguta, Sarhuda and reinforced by the Korean contingent of 260 Korean musketeers and cannoneers sent by King Hyojong and commanded by Shin Ryu, met Onufriy Stepanov's near the mouth of the Sungari River, killing 270 Russians and driving them out of Manchu territory. Those campaigns are better known in Korean chronicles as "Suppression of the Russians" (Nasun Jeongbeol; hangul: 나선정벌 hanja: 羅禪征伐).

Qing Empire

After the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689), the area become an uncontested part of the Qing Empire for the next century and a half. Modern historical maps of the Qing period published in China mark the site of future Khabarovsk as "Boli". All of the middle and lower Amur region was nominally part of the Jilin Province, run first out of Ninguta and later out of Jilin City.

French Jesuits who sailed along the Ussury and the Amur in 1709, preparing the first more or less precise map of the region. According to them, the indigenous Nanai people living on the Ussury and on the Amur down to the mouth of the Dondon River (i.e., in the region including the site of the future Khabarovsk) were known to the Chinese as Yupi Dazi ("Fishskin Tartars")^[8]

From Khabarovka to Khabarovsk

In 1858, the area was ceded to Russia under the Treaty of Aigun. The Russians founded the military outpost of Khabarovka (Хаба́ровка),^[9] named after a Russian explorer Yerofey Khabarov. The post later became an important industrial centre for the region. Town status was granted in 1880.

In 1894, a department of Russian Geographical Society was formed in Khabarovsk and began initiating the foundation of libraries, theaters, and museums in the city. Since then, Khabarovsk's cultural life has flourished. Much of the local indigenous history has been well-preserved in the Regional Lore Museum and Natural History Museum and in places like near the Nanai settlement of Sikhachi-Alyan, where cliff drawings from more than 1,300 years ago can be found. The Khabarovsk Art Museum exhibits a rare collection of old Russian icons.

In 1916, Khabarovsk Bridge across the Amur was completed, allowing Transsiberian trains to cross the river without using ferries (or temporary rail tracks over the frozen river in winter). By 1941 a rail tunnel was constructed as well.

After the defeat of Japan in WWII, Khabarovsk was the site of the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials, in which twelve former members of the Japanese Kwantung Army and Unit 731 were put on trial for the manufacture and use of biological weapons during World War II.

Transportation

Khabarovsk is served by Khabarovsk Novy Airport with international flights to East Asia, Southeast Asia, European Russia, and Central Asia. It is also served by the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Trans-Siberian Highway (M58 and M60 Highways) and the Amur River and Ussuri River waterways.

Education

There are the following institutions of higher education in Khabarovsk.^[10][11]

• Pacific National University (former Khabarovsk State University of Technology)
• Far Eastern State University of Humanities (former Khabarovsk State Teachers Training University)
• Far Eastern State Medical University
• Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law
• Far Eastern State Transport University
• Far Eastern Academy of Government Services
• Far Eastern State Physical Education University
• Khabarovsk State Institute of Arts and Culture

Tourism

A view along Turgenev Street toward the Savior Transfiguration (Spaso-Preobrazhenskiy) Cathedral

Visitors to the picturesque city of Khabarovsk are likely to enjoy walking the broad Amursky Boulevard with its many vibrant shops and perhaps visit the local market. The city's five districts stretch for 45 kilometers (28 mi) along the Amur River.

Recently, there have been many renovations in the city's central part, rebuilding with historical perspective. A popular attraction for visitors is a walking tour from the Lenin Square to Utyos on Amur via Muravyov-Amursky Street, where visitors can find traditional Russian cuisine restaurants and shops with souvenirs. There are many night clubs and pubs in this area. In Wintertime ice sculptures are on display on the cities squares and parks. Artist come from as far as Harbin in China.

Unlike Vladivostok, the city has never been closed to foreigners, despite its being the headquarters of the Far East Military District, and retains its historically international flavor. Once the capital of the Soviet Far East (from 1926 to 1938), since the demise of the Soviet Union it has experienced an increased Asian presence. It is estimated that over one million Chinese travel to and through Khabarovsk yearly, and foreign investment by Japanese and Korean corporations has grown in recent years.

Sports

• Khabarovsk is home to a Kontinental Hockey League franchise, Amur Khabarovsk, which plays its home games at the Platinum Arena. It is the easternmost-based team in the league.
• FC SKA-Energiya Khabarovsk is the city's best football team, playing in the Russian First Division which is the second tier of Russian football since 2002 season.
• SKA Neftyanik plays in the highest division of the Russian Bandy League.

In 1981 the city hosted the Bandy World Championships. An indoor arena for bandy will be built as one of the first in Russia.

Notable residents

• Birthplace of NHL and Russian hockey great Alexander Mogilny
• Birthplace of 2005 Miss Russia winner Alexandra Ivanovskaya
• Birthplace of Russian filmaker Sergei Bodrov
• Birthplace of professional cycler Andrei Tchmil
• Birthplace of speed skater Ivan Skobrev
• Birthplace of mathematician Efim Zelmanov

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Khabarovsk is twinned with the following sister cities:^[12]

• Bucheon, South Korea
• Niigata, Japan
• Harbin, China
• Villeurbanne, France
• Anchorage, Alaska, United States
• Portland, Oregon, United States
• Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Climate

References

• A.M. Bodisko. From life of Khabarovsk. Khabarovsk, 1913.
• Nikolay P. Kradin. It is protected by the state: The Monuments of Architecture in Khabarovsk. Khabarovsk: Chastnaya kollektsiya, 1999. 192 p. ISBN 5-7875-0011-3

External links

• Khabarovsk city Administration
• Khabarovsk travel guide from Wikitravel
• (Korean) Manchu-Korean expedition against Russian expansion (나선정벌 (羅禪征伐)
• (Korean) map of the Manchu-Korean expedition against Russian expansion (나선정벌 (羅禪征伐)
• (Russian) Major problems of Russian-Korean relationship
• (Russian) CHINA AND RUSSIA relationship and history

Administrative divisions of Khabarovsk Krai Administrative center: Khabarovsk Cities and towns Amursk · Bikin · Komsomolsk-on-Amur · Nikolayevsk-on-Amur · Sovetskaya Gavan · Vyazemsky Administrative districts Amursky · Ayano-Maysky · Bikinsky · Khabarovsky · Komsomolsky · imeni Lazo · Nanaysky · Nikolayevsky · Okhotsky · imeni Poliny Osipenko · Solnechny · Sovetsko-Gavansky · Tuguro-Chumikansky · Ulchsky · Vaninsky · Verkhnebureinsky · Vyazemsky