Hunchun & Fangchuan
A border city where China, North Korea and Russia meet. Longhu Pavilion at Fangchuan lets you look across all three countries, and border trade, Russian goods and king crab seafood make the border trip distinctive.
Hunchun is a county-level city in the east of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province, at the meeting point of China, North Korea and Russia. It borders Russia's Primorsky Krai to the east, lies across the Tumen River from North Korea to the south, and is the Chinese city closest to the Sea of Japan. Its most famous destination is Fangchuan, about 70 km south of the city center. From Longhu Pavilion you can look across all three countries, with views of Khasan in Russia, the Korea–Russia Friendship Railway Bridge and the Sea of Japan in the distance.
The best season is June to September, when the weather is cool and humid. In July and August the lotus flowers bloom at Jingxin Wetland. Migratory birds pass through in April and October. Winter is severely cold, but the rime ice and snow scenery is lovely; Fangchuan's winter opening hours are shorter.
The sights fall into two parts. One day can be spent on the Fangchuan route along the Tumen River, passing Quanhekou Port, Jingxin Wetland, the Yangguanping embankment, Fangchuan Village, the Zhanggufeng Incident Memorial Hall, the Tuzi Marker and Longhu Pavilion, ending at Sand Dune Park for sunset. In town, you can eat king crab at the seafood street, shop in Russian goods stores and visit the China–Russia border trade zone, and stop at the Balian City ruins along the way. Most of the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park is closed to visitors.
Getting there: Hunchun Station has high-speed trains to Changchun, Jilin and Yanji (about 40 minutes to Yanji). The city offers the Fangchuan tourist shuttle and hired cars, and day trips from Yanji are also common. Plan for 1–2 days. Visitors to border control zones must carry their ID cards. Do not photograph military facilities or border guards.
Top sights
- Fangchuan Scenic Area & Longhu Pavilion – At the tip of Fangchuan, where China, Russia, and North Korea meet, the 64.8-metre Longhu Pavilion gives a single view across Khasan in Rus…
- Tuzipai Boundary Marker – A boundary marker inscribed with the word 'Tuzipai', set up in 1886 after the border was resurveyed; it marks the eastern end of the Sino-R…
- Fangchuan Village – A Korean ethnic border village known as the 'First Village in the East', with folk performances and home-style meals, making it a good lunc…
- Zhanggufeng Incident Memorial Hall – A museum commemorating the 1938 Soviet–Japanese battle at Zhanggufeng; the hill behind it is the site of the fighting.
- Fangchuan Sand Dune Park – Natural sand dunes on the banks of the Tumen River, where you can go sand sliding, watch the sunset and look across at North Korean fields.
- Jingxin Wetland – A vast lake-and-marsh wetland on the lower Tumen River, where wild lotus blooms in summer and hundreds of thousands of migratory birds pass…
- Quanhe Port & Tumen River Bridge – The China–North Korea road crossing to the Rason Special Economic Zone, where the old and new Tumen River bridges stand side by side, makin…
- Hunchun Seafood Street – A popular food street at the hub of Russian king crab imports, where you can pick your seafood and have it cooked on the spot, at prices we…
- Baliancheng Site – The former site of Tongjing Longyuan Prefecture, the Eastern Capital of the Bohai Kingdom, now a nationally protected heritage site and nat…
Where to eat
- Xiangrikui Restaurant – A long-established cold noodle shop in Hunchun. Its signature order is cold noodles with guobaorou (crispy sweet-and-so…
- Yushan Barbecue Skewer City (Branch 3) – A local Hunchun chain of charcoal-grilled skewers. Grill your own meat skewers and Russian-style big skewers, then fini…