Manzhouli

Manzhouli, city in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, China. It is situated on the border opposite the Russian town of Zabaykalsk and lies 100 miles (160 km) west of Hailar and 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Lake Hulun. Manzhouli was long a small Mongolian settlement in the Hulun Buir League. It developed after 1900, when it became the western terminus of the Russian-built Chinese Eastern Railway and a junction with Russia’s Siberian railway system. It rapidly grew as a customs station and as a market and communication centre.

After the fall of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty in 1911–12, the city suffered from a Mongolian invasion. Chinese control was restored in 1914, but in 1920 the local Mongolians rebelled and attained some measure of local autonomy. In 1931, after coming under Japanese control, the city acquired some industry. There are coal (lignite) deposits in the vicinity, and these—as well as power-generating facilities and chemical industries—have been developed since 1949. In the 1990s a border-trading district was established in Manzhouli. The city is now a Sino-Russian trading centre and an important business passageway, ranking as one of China’s leading inland trading ports in terms of the volume of freight handled. Lake Hulun, south of the city, teems with white shrimp, and grasslands around the lake support diarying. The annual Mongolian traditional Nadam Fair attracts many tourists from both China and Russia. Pop. (2002 est.) 153,571.