Heilongjiang border cities embrace e-commerce boom

Cities on the Russian border of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province are being renewed in the digital age. Over the past 50 years, the Sino-Russian border city of Suifenhe has witnessed significant changes in cross-border business, thanks in part to booming e-commerce livestreams.

In the 1980s, Suifenhe pioneered what became known as "watermelon diplomacy", an informal goodwill exchange that helped ease tensions with the Soviet Union and kick-start cross-border cooperation.

Since then, the city has continued to embrace openness. In 2019, Suifenhe became a part of the China (Heilongjiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone.

In 2020, it was approved as a comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zone.

Official data shows that Suifenhe now hosts 1,340 brick-and-mortar stores selling Russian goods and over 7,000 online vendors.

In 2024, online retail sales surpassed 1.5 billion yuan ($209 million), and more than 16 million parcels were shipped.