Shiwei Travel Tips ( Photos & Maps)

Plan your Inner Mongolia Tour? Shiwei （室韦）is worth your exploring, an exotic and mysterious land. It is an ancient village in the northeast tip of Inner Mongolia that borders Russia.

Ergun River 额尔古纳河

Ergun River ( also known as the Argun or Ergune) is a 1,620-kilometre long river that forms part of the eastern China–Russia border, together with the Amur ( known as Heilongjiang in China).

The Ergun River marks the border between Russia and China for about 944 kilometres, until it meets the Amur (Heilongjiang).

Shiwei Town is recognized by google map as "Shiweizhen". "zhen" in Chinese means "town". Shiweizhen is located on the right bank of Ergun River with its Russian village called Olochi （奥洛奇）the left bank.

ABC of Shiwei

Shiwei boasts the living place for the ancestors of the Mongols of Genghis Khan. The name of “Mongolia” originated from a Mongolian tribe called “Mengwu Shiwei”, the earliest recorded name of “Mongolia”. Later it became the name for the whole Mongolia.

Now Shiwei is home to one of the smallest ethnic minority groups in China – the China’s Russian Ethnic Minority. In April, 2001, the Russian Minority Township was established. There are around 2000 Russian descendants, or Russian-Chinese more exactly still living in this village. Most of them are fourth and fifth generation.

In late 19th century, the Russian Tsar and capitalists swarmed into China developed trade business and opened mines. Many Russian farmers came in and settled down. Also many poor Chinese came from Shandong, Henan and Hebei to join the team of gold mines digging, logging and hunting. Later many Russians and Chinese inter-married, creating plentiful moving love stories.

Though mostly they live in Chinese style, they eat Russian food. The village still keeps the practice of building the traditional Russian houses – “Mukeleng”, a kind of wooden houses built with logs on the stone formation.

In 2005, Shiwei was selected as one of the top beautiful townships in China. Since then, more and more tourists come to this pretty village to experience the Russian Ethnic Minority Town. The local government has allocated funds to the local villagers to develop their home hotels. It is said that 90 percent of the families in the village are engaged in catering business. The local villages are getting wealthy by developing local tourism.

How to Get to Shiweizhen

Shiwei Town is about 290km to the north Hailar ( the seat of Hulunbuir). If you go to Shiwei from Hulunbuir (Hailar), you may hire a local vehicle driving directly to Shiwei.

If you want to go to Shiwei by bus, there are plentiful buses running from Hailar to Ergun City where you can connect the buses to Shiwei or vice versa.

Virtual Tour of Shiweizhen

Now follow us to have a brief virtual tour of the exotic and mysterious Sino-Russian town - Shiweizhen.

In Shiwei Town, one of the interesting thing to do is to cruise along the border River - Ergun River for the close-up view of the Russian Village known as Olochi and the bucolic countryside landscape.

I stand a high mound and take some pictures of Ergun River and Olochi Village for a distant view, feeling the closeness between the two villages and the border area. But it is said that there is no daily business and people connection on the border area.

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Tip:  Hassle-free Hulunbuir  Guided Tours

If you don’t want to go the do-it-yourself route and prefer the hassle-free escorted tours,  here are some options for guided tours to Hulunbuir Grassland, Inner Mongolia:

Beijing Yinchuan Alxa Highlight 7 Day Tour

Further Readings