ken g asked on march 8th in the borderpoint group
>>Why is Fangchuan Chinese? Its location must have made it difficult to survey after 1860, and I can’t figure out any logical reason for its being a part of China. Thoughts?
to which my reply
with a request that it be forwarded kindly to the original venue
[log in to unmask] by anyone who can
is as follows
this terminal sliver & most seaward proruption of jilin province of china embracing fangchuen village
& extending a very few miles along the left bank & bed of the tumen river & the west side of a low prolongation of the changkufeng ridge
& lying immediately above the cnkpru tricountry conjunction
did not actually become a part of china til 1886
insofar as the full text of the dispositive original treaty of hunchun has evidently been lost
but another source
albeit in broken & sometimes impenetrable english
gives reason to suppose that this lost treaty of 1886 which provided for the mentioned slight seaward territorial extension of china
may also have conferred on china the right of access to the sea thru the remaining few miles of the russian controlled side of the estuary
& it further suggests that this access was later blocked by the soviets by a low slung railway bridge that spans the estuary just below the trijunction until the present day
so
tho any grant of access to the sea has effectively been rescinded
& the logical reason you seek for fangchuen being part of china has largely been forgotten
the territorial concession that was evidently granted for facilitating the access remains in effect
with thanx in advance