Vladivostok

Vladivostok (Russian: Владивосто́к; IPA: [vlədʲɪvɐˈstok] ( listen)) is a city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia, situated at the head of the Golden Horn Bay, not far from Russia's borders with China and North Korea. The population of the city, according to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, is 592,069,^[1] down from 594,701 recorded in the 2002 Census.^[2]

The city is the home port of the Russian Pacific Fleet and the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean.

In 2012, Vladivostok will host the 24th Summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. In preparation for the event, the infrastructure of the city is being renovated and improved. Two giant cable-stayed bridges are currently under construction in Vladivostok, namely the Zolotoy Rog bridge over the Zolotoy Rog Bay in the center of the city, and the Russky Island Bridge from the mainland to Russky Island, where the summit will take place. The latter bridge will become the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world upon completion.

Names

The name Vladivostok (Владивосток) loosely translates from Russian as "Lord of the East", a name similar to Vladikavkaz which means "Lord of the Caucasus". In Chinese the city was known during the Yuan Dynasty as Yǒngmíngchéng (永明城, meaning "city of eternal light"), then during the Qing Dynasty as Hǎishēnwǎi (海參崴, meaning "sea cucumber cliffs"). In modern day mainland China (PRC), it is known by the transliteration Fúlādíwòsītuōkè (符拉迪沃斯托克) although its historical Chinese name Hǎishēnwǎi is still often used in mainland China^[6] and Taiwan.^[7] The Japanese name of the city is Urajiosutoku (ウラジオストク; a rough transliteration of the Russian originally written in Kanji as 浦塩斯徳 and often shortened to Urajio; ウラジオ; 浦塩). In Korean, the name is transliterated as Beulladiboseutokeu (블라디보스토크) in South Korea, Ullajibosŭttokhŭ (울라지보스또크) in North Korea, and Beullajiboseu-ttokeu (블라지보스또크) by Koreans in China.

History

The territory on which modern Vladivostok is located had been part of many nations, such as the Mohe, Bohai Kingdom, Jīn Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, and various other Chinese dynasties, before Russia acquired the entire Maritime Province and the island of Sakhalin by the Treaty of Beijing (1860). Qing China, which had just lost the Opium War with Britain, was unable to defend the region. The Pacific coast near Vladivostok was settled mainly by the Chinese and Manchus during the Imperial Chinese Qing dynasty period. A French whaler visiting the Zolotoy Rog in 1852 discovered Chinese or Manchu village fishermen on the shore of the bay. The Manchus banned Han Chinese from most of Manchuria including the Vladivostok area — it was only visited by shēnzéi who illegally entered the area seeking ginseng or sea cucumbers.

The naval outpost was founded in 1859 by Count Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky, who named it on the model of Vladikavkaz, a Russian fortress in the Caucasus. The Russians erected an elaborate system of fortifications between the 1870s and 1890s. A telegraph line from Vladivostok to Shanghai and Nagasaki was opened in 1871, the year when a commercial port was relocated here from Nikolayevsk-on-Amur. Town status was granted on April 22, 1880. The municipal coat of arms, representing the Siberian tiger, was adopted in March 1883.

The first high school was opened in 1899. The city's economy was given a boost in 1903, with the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which connected Vladivostok to Moscow and Europe. In the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution, Vladivostok was of great military importance for the Far Eastern Republic, the Provisional Priamurye Government, and the Allied intervention, consisting of foreign troops from Japan, the United States, Canada, Czechoslovakia, and other nations.^[8] The taking of the city by Ieronim Uborevich's Red Army on 25 October 1922 marked the end of the Russian Civil War.

As the main naval base of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, the city was officially closed to foreigners during the Soviet years. It was at Vladivostok that Leonid Brezhnev and Gerald Ford conducted the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in 1974. At the time, the two countries decided quantitative limits on various nuclear weapons systems and banned the construction of new land-based ICBM launchers.

In 2012 Vladivostok will host the 24th APEC summit. Leaders from the APEC member countries will meet on Russky Island, off the coast of Vladivostok.^[9] With the planned summit on Russky Island, the government and private businesses are building resorts, dinner and entertainment facilities, in addition to the renovation and upgrading of Vladivostok International Airport.^[10] Two giant cable-stayed bridges are currently under construction in preparation for the summit, namely the Zolotoy Rog bridge over the Zolotoy Rog Bay in the center of the city, and the Russky Island Bridge from the mainland to Russky Island (it will become the longest cable-stayed bridge in the world upon completion). The new campus of Far Eastern Federal University will be completed on Russky Island by 2012.

Geography

The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.

The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m. Eagle's Nest Mount is often called the highest point of the city; however, with the height of only 199 m (214 m according to other sources), it is the highest point of the downtown area, but not of the whole city.

Vladivostok shares the same or approximate latitude with Sapporo, Sukhumi, Almaty, Florence, Marseille, A Coruña, Boston, and Toronto.

Railroad distance to Moscow is 9,302 km. The direct distance to Moscow is 6,430 km. Direct distance to Bangkok is 5,600 km, to Darwin—6,180 km, San Francisco—8,400 km, Lisbon—10,100 km, London—8,500 km, to Seoul—750 km, to Tokyo—1,050 km, to Beijing—1,331 km.

Climate

Mean annual temperature: +4.9 °C (40.82 °F)

Average temperature in January: −12.3 °C (9.9 °F)

Average temperature in August: +19.8 °C (67.64 °F)

Average annual precipitation: 818 mm (32.2 in) (strong summer maximum)

Köppen climate classification: Dwb (monsoon-influenced humid continental climate, warm summers)

Demographics

The population of the city, according to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, is 592,069,^[1] down from 594,701 recorded in the 2002 Census.^[2] This is further down from 633,838 recorded in the 1989 Census.^[12] Ethnic Russians and Ukrainians make up the majority of the population.

From 1958 to 1991, only Soviet citizens were allowed to live in Vladivostok or visit it. Before this closure, the city had large Korean^[13] and Chinese populations.^[14] Some Koreans who were deported during Stalin's rule from the Russian Far East have since returned, particularly to Vladivostok.^[15]

Vladivostok is among the most diverse cities in Russia due to migration during the Soviet period.^[16] Immigrants from China began arriving in large numbers in the 1990s.^[17]

Economy

The city's main industries are shipping, commercial fishing, and the naval base. Fishing accounts for almost four-fifths of Vladivostok's commercial production. Other food production totals 11%.

A very important employer and a major source of revenue for the city's inhabitants is the import of Japanese cars.^[18] Besides salesmen, the industry employs repairmen, fitters, import clerks as well as shipping and railway companies.^[19] The Vladivostok dealers sell 250,000 cars a year, with 200,000 going to other parts of Russia.^[19] Every third worker in the Primorsky Krai has some relation to the automobile import business. In recent years, the Russian government has made attempts to improve the country's own car industry. This has included raising tariffs for imported cars, which has put the car import business in Vladivostok in difficulties. To compensate, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered the car manufacturing company Sollers to move one of its factories from Moscow to Vladivostok. The move was completed in 2009, and the factory now employs about 700 locals. It is planned to produce 13,200 cars in Vladivostok in 2010.^[18]

Transportation

Vladivostok is the starting point of Ussuri Highway (M60) to Khabarovsk, the eastern most part of Trans-Siberian Highway that goes all the way to Moscow and Saint Petersburg via Novosibirsk. The other main highways go east to Nakhodka and south to Khasan.

The Trans-Siberian Railway was built to connect European Russia with Vladivostok, Russia's most important Pacific Ocean port. Finished in 1905, the rail line ran from Moscow to Vladivostok via several of Russia's main cities. Part of the railroad, known as the Chinese Eastern Line, crossed over into Manchuria, China, passing through Harbin, a major city in Manchuria. During the Soviet era, Vladivostok's status as a closed city meant that ferry-passenger tourists arriving from Japan to travel the Trans-Siberian railway westbound had to embark in Nakhodka. Today, Vladivostok serves as the main starting point for the Trans-Siberian portion of the Eurasian Land Bridge.

Air routes connect Vladivostok International Airport with Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Vietnam.

It is possible to get to Vladivostok from several of the larger cities in Russia. Regular flights to Seattle, Washington were available in the 1990s but have been canceled since. Vladivostok Air resumed flying to Anchorage, Alaska in July 2008.

Urban transportation

On June 28, 1908, Vladivostok's first tram line was started along Svetlanskaya Street from the railway station in Lugovaya Street. On October 9, 1912, the first wooden cars manufactured in Belgium entered service. Today, Vladivostok's means of public transportation include trolleybus, bus, tram, train, funicular, ferryboat and cutter. The main urban traffic lines are City Center—Vtoraya Rechka, City Center—Pervaya Rechka—3ya Rabochaya—Balyayeva, and City Center—Lugovaya Street.

Education

Vladivostok is home to numerous educational institutions, including seven universities:

• Far Eastern Federal University
• Far Eastern State Technical University
• Marine State University
• Far Eastern State Technical Fisheries University
• Vladivostok State University of Economics and Service
• Vladivostok State Medical University
• Pacific State University of Economics

The Presidium of the Far Eastern Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ДВО РАН) as well as ten of its research institutes are also located in Vladivostok, as is the Pacific Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (Тихоокеанский научно-исследовательский рыбохозяйственный центр or ТИНРО).

Media

Over fifty newspapers and regional editions to Moscow publications are issued in Vladivostok. The largest newspaper of the Primorsky Krai and the whole Russian Far East is Vladivostok with a circulation of 124,000 copies at the beginning of 1996. Its founder, joint-stock company Vladivostok-News, also issues a weekly English-language newspaper Vladivostok News. Another source of information on the city is the online daily Vladivostok Times. The subjects of the publications issued in these newspapers vary from information around Vladivostok and Primorye to major international events. Newspaper Zolotoy Rog (Golden Horn) gives every detail of economic news. Entertainment materials and cultural news constitute a larger part of Novosti (News) newspaper which is the most popular among Primorye's young people. Also, new online mass media about Russian Far East for foreigners Far East Times. This source invites everyone to take part in informational support of RFE for visitors, travellers and businessmen.

As of 1999, there are also seven radio stations, the most popular being 24-hour VBC (612 kHz, 101.7 MHz) and Europa+ (738 kHz, 104.2 MHz). Europa+ normally broadcasts popular modern British-American music, while the ratio of Russian and foreign songs over VBC is fifty-fifty. Every hour one can hear local news over these radio stations. Radio Vladivostok (1098 kHz) operates from 06:00 till 01:00. It broadcasts several special programs which are devoted to the music of the 1950s-1980s as well as New Age.

The Russian rock band, Mumiy Troll, hails from Vladivostok and frequently puts on shows there. In addition, the city played host to the now-legendary "VladiROCKstok" International Music Festival in September 1996. Hosted by the Mayor and Governor, and organized by two young American expatriates, the festival drew nearly 10,000 people and top-tier musical acts from St. Petersburg (Akvarium and DDT (band)) and Seattle (Supersuckers, Goodness (band)), as well as several leading local bands.

It is the nearest city to the massive Sikhote-Alin Meteorite, which fell on February 12, 1947, in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains, approximately 440 km northeast of Vladivostok.

Theater

Maxim Gorky Academic Theater, named after Russian author, Maxim Gorky, was founded in 1931 and is used for drama, musical and children's theater performances.

Museums

The Arsenyev Primorye Museum (Приморский государственный объединенный музей имени В.К. Арсеньева), opened in 1890, is the main museum of the Primorsky Krai. Besides the main facility, it has three branches in Vladivostok itself (including Arsenyev's Memorial House), and five branches elsewhere in the krai.^[20] Among the items in the museum's collection are the famous 15th-century Yongning Temple Steles from the lower Amur.

Pollution

Local ecologists from the Ecocenter organization have claimed that much of Vladivostok's suburbs are polluted and that living in them can be classified as a health hazard. The pollution has a number of causes, according to Ecocenter geo-chemical expert Sergey Shlykov. Vladivostok has about eighty industrial sites, which may not be many compared to Russia's most industrialized areas, but those around the city are particularly environmentally unfriendly, such as shipbuilding and repairing, power stations, printing, fur farming and mining. In addition, Vladivostok has a particularly vulnerable geography which compounds the effect of the pollution. Winds cannot clear pollution from some of the most densely populated areas around the Pervaya and Vtoraya Rechka as they sit in basins which the winds blow over. In addition, there is little snow in winter and no leaves or grass to catch the dust to make it settle down.^[21]

Sports

Vladivostok is home to the football club FC Luch-Energiya Vladivostok, who play in the Russian First Division, and basketball club Spartak Primorye, who play in the Russian Basketball Super League.

International relations

Twin towns/sister cities

Vladivostok is twinned with:

Notable people

See also

• 32nd Rifle Division
• Russian Far East

References

Bibliography

• Faulstich, Edith. M. "The Siberian Sojourn" Yonkers, N.Y. (1972–1977)
• Poznyak, Tatyana Z. 2004. Foreign Citizens in the Cities of the Russian Far East (the second half of the XIX - XX centuries). Vladivostok: Dalnauka, 2004. 316 p. (ISBN 5-8044-0461-X).
• Stephan, John. 1994. The Far East a History. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994. 481 p.
• Trofimov, Vladimir et al., 1992, Old Vladivostok. Utro Rossii Vladivostok, ISBN 5-87080-004-8

Notes

External links

• Wikitravel on Vladivostok
• Vladivostok Map (IE 5.0+)
• Historical Map of Vladivostok (1912), Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection, University of Texas, Austin.
• Siberian Expedition website, by Benjamin Isitt
• Katauri Interactive
• Economy of Vladivostok