On October 14, some media reported that after the mutual visa exemption between China and Russia was launched, a large number of Russian friends came to Heihe City, Heilongjiang Province to organize groups to buy breakfast, eat steamed buns, and drink beer. Even morning market vendors set up Chinese-Russian bilingual signs. The topic #Russians group went to Heilongjiang for breakfast# immediately became a hot search topic.
On the afternoon of the 14th, a Chao News reporter contacted Mr. Xiang, the owner of a Malatang shop near Huafu Mall on Xing’an Street, Heihe City. He told reporters that there have indeed been a lot more Russian tourists recently, but they have not yet returned to the busiest time. “When you came to Heihe a few years ago, you couldn’t tell whether it was Chinese or Russian.”
Mr. Xiang told reporters that Russian friends who come to Heihe mainly visit around the pedestrian street. “There is a morning market on Bian’er Shang Cultural Street in the morning. They don’t like Malatang and prefer to eat pot-wrapped pork.” Mr. Xiang said that in addition to eating and drinking, Russians I also like to buy clothes in Heihe.
Liu Hui, who opened a travel agency in Heihe in 2009, is still doing tourism business in Heihe. “Recently, there have been more Chinese tourists coming to consult about traveling to Russia. We receive a lot of consultation calls every day, which is definitely a good thing for us.” Liu Hui said that since the mutual visa exemption group tourism business between China and Russia was resumed at the end of September, There are many tourist groups coming and going every day, and business is indeed much better.
On September 21, 2023, after friendly consultations between China and Russia, Heihe City, Heilongjiang Province resumed the mutual visa-free group tourism business between China and Russia. The business had previously been suspended due to the impact of the global epidemic.
Screenshot of the video of Russian friends having breakfast at the Heihe morning market. Source: Heihe Culture and Tourism
In fact, it is nothing new for Russian friends to come to Heihe to visit the morning market, eat steamed buns, drink beer and buy things. The two places are geographically close and popular, and the exchanges between the people are frequent. Liu Hui, a native of Heihe, was particularly touched by this, “For example, we Heihe people are under great pressure at work and have holidays on Saturdays and Sundays. We sign up for a tour and leave, go to his place (Russia) for two days to play, stay for two days, and return on Monday.” When I come back to work, it’s like being in Zhejiang, maybe it’s as simple as going to Jiangsu for a walk on the weekend.”
Liu Hui said that if you want to travel to Russia now, you can submit your passport and other materials one day in advance. Basically, you can leave the next day and you can reach Russia by boat in about ten minutes, which is very convenient. He said that Heihe is slowly returning to its former vitality and he hopes more people will visit Heihe.
It is reported that Heihe City is one of the first cities in China to open to the outside world along the border. It has the location advantage of “one city, two countries”, multiple overlapping policy advantages, and three-dimensional and diverse cross-border channel advantages. It is a transit point for border tourism between China and Russia. Heihe and Blagoveshchensk, Russia, face each other across the river. The nearest straight-line distance between the two places is only a few hundred meters. With the resumption of mutual visa-free group tourism between China and Russia, the number of entry-exit personnel at the Heihe Port has increased significantly in recent days, driving the development of the city’s tourism economy. According to statistics, during the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day “Double Festival” holidays that just passed, Heihe City received a total of more than 600,000 tourists, returning to 184.9% of 2019.
Reporter Li Muzi
The original title is “Russians form a group to have breakfast in Heilongjiang?” Local merchants in Heihe: I still like to buy clothes! 》
2023-10-14 15:19:07
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