On the Spatiality of Trade in Two Siberian Border Towns: Surfaces, Verticality and the Subterranean

This talk with Cambridge professor Franck Billé examines the economic implications of a set of "twin" cities on the Chinese-Russian border.

Franck Billé, Research Associate, Department of Social Anthropology & Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit, University of Cambridge, UK

The two Manchurian cities of Blagoveshchensk (Russia) and Heihe (China) are the point along the 2500 mile border where Russian and Chinese urbanisms come closest together. Economically co-dependent, these ‘twin’ cities are nonetheless very different kinds of siblings. With the bulk of the trade taking place on the Chinese side, Heihe has rapidly developed into a modern town; by contrast Blagoveshchensk appears sedate and almost stagnant. This imbalance is especially visible at night when Heihe’s riverbank illuminates in a wide array of colors.

If these lights are in many ways symptomatic of China’s economic boom and newly acquired confidence, they are viewed with some ambivalence by Russian onlookers. Brushed aside as a cheap spectacle barely concealing enduring economic and cultural poverty, Heihe’s riverbank is consistently described as a façade. In addition, Russian descriptions of Heihe tend to focus on the open-air markets and the commercial activities that take place at street level. Yet, much is happening beyond these surfaces.

Taking its cue from these ‘surface readings’ the paper will explore Russian spatial focus on horizontality. I will suggest that a certain cultural bias whereby horizontality is the primarily plane where modernity is staged and enacted renders invisible those economic drivers that operate below this surface as well as along a vertical axis.

Event Contact: 510-642-3230