Hulunbuir; Bigger than 40 US States, Where China Meets Russia and Mongolia

Hulunbuir covers about 253,000 square kilometres, roughly the size of Wyoming and bigger than 40 of the 50 US states by total area, and touches Russia, Mongolia and Heilongjiang. Its port of Manzhouli handles most of China’s rail trade with Russia.

呼伦贝尔面积约二十五点三万平方公里,与美国怀俄明州相当,按总面积计算比美国五十个州中的四十个都大,与俄罗斯、蒙古国和黑龙江省接壤。满洲里口岸承担着中国对俄铁路贸易的大部分。

The city government puts the area at about 253,000 square kilometres, roughly the combined area of Shandong and Jiangsu. Only eight Chinese province-level divisions are bigger, and Guangxi, in ninth place at about 237,000, is smaller, according to a Baidu Wenku ranking of provincial areas. Measured the same way, by total area including water, it is also bigger than 40 US states. Only Alaska, Texas, California, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Oregon are clearly larger, and Wyoming, at 253,336 square kilometres, is about the same, according to US Census Bureau figures compiled by Mapology. Michigan, the next in line, has 250,494, according to Enchanted Learning’s Census table.

据呼伦贝尔市政府介绍,全市总面积约二十五点三万平方公里,大致相当于山东省与江苏省面积之和。据百度文库的省级行政区面积排名,比它大的省级行政区只有八个,排第九的广西约二十三点七万平方公里,比它小。按同样口径,即含水域的总面积计算,它也比美国四十个州都大。据马波洛吉整理的美国人口普查局数据,只有阿拉斯加、得克萨斯、加利福尼亚、蒙大拿、新墨西哥、亚利桑那、内华达、科罗拉多和俄勒冈明显更大,怀俄明州二十五万三千三百三十六平方公里,与它相当。据魔法学习网的普查局数据表,紧随其后的密歇根州为二十五万零四百九十四平方公里。

It borders Heilongjiang along the Nen River to the east, Hinggan League to the south, Mongolia to the west and south-west, and Russia along the Argun River to the north and north-west, according to the city government. The frontier runs 1,733.32 kilometres, of which 1,051.08 are with Russia and 682.24 with Mongolia, according to the same source.

据市政府介绍,它东以嫩江与黑龙江省为邻,南接兴安盟,西和西南与蒙古国交界,北和西北以额尔古纳河与俄罗斯接壤。同一来源介绍,边境线共一千七百三十三点三二公里,其中中俄一千零五十一点零八公里,中蒙六百八十二点二四公里。

Manzhouli is China’s largest land port, and the only one among its border ports with road, rail and air links, according to Baidu Baike and the Northeast Asia geopolitical research institute at Jilin University. Its rail crossing lies about 10 kilometres from Zabaykalsk in Russia and carries more than 60 percent of China’s rail trade with Russia, according to Guangming Daily. In 2025 it handled 21.656 million tonnes of freight, the most of any rail port with Russia, and 4,867 China–Europe trains, up 11.2 percent, according to Manzhouli customs as reported by Inner Mongolia News and People’s Daily.

据百度百科和吉林大学东北亚地缘政治经济研究所介绍,满洲里是中国最大的陆路口岸,也是中国沿边口岸中唯一公路、铁路、航空三位一体的口岸。据《光明日报》介绍,满洲里站与俄罗斯外贝加尔斯克站相距约十公里,承担着中国对俄铁路贸易的百分之六十以上。据内蒙古新闻网和人民网转述满洲里海关的数据,二零二五年该口岸进出口货物二千一百六十五点六万吨,居对俄铁路口岸之首,进出境中欧班列四千八百六十七列,增长百分之十一点二。

The 2020 census counted 2,242,875 residents, 12.02 percent fewer than in 2010, according to the city statistics bureau. By the end of 2025 there were 2.119 million, with about 6,000 births against 24,300 deaths, according to the 2025 communiqué. Han people made up 80.10 percent in 2020, Mongols 237,454 or 10.59 percent, Daur 62,112, Ewenki 25,363 and Oroqen 3,574, according to the same bureau. Three of the city’s banners are ethnic autonomous, the Morin Dawa Daur, the Ewenki and the Oroqen, according to the city government.

据市统计局介绍,二零二零年普查全市常住人口二百二十四万二千八百七十五人,比二零一零年减少百分之十二点零二。据二零二五年统计公报,二零二五年末常住人口二百一十一点九万人,全年出生约六千人,死亡二万四千三百人。据同一统计局介绍,二零二零年汉族占百分之八十点一零,蒙古族二十三万七千四百五十四人,占百分之十点五九,达斡尔族六万二千一百一十二人,鄂温克族二万五千三百六十三人,鄂伦春族三千五百七十四人。据市政府介绍,全市有莫力达瓦达斡尔族、鄂温克族和鄂伦春三个民族自治旗。

The Mongols themselves speak different dialects. The Barga arrived from 1732 to 1734 in two groups, the Old and the New, and Buryats from the Lake Baikal area moved to the Xinihe region in the early twentieth century, according to Sohu. Daur is a Mongolic language with no script of its own, according to Zhihu. Ewenki has three dialects and no script, and about 21,300 of the 32,600 Ewenki in China spoke it in the 2000 census, according to the Inner Mongolia local-history site. About 200 Aoluguya Ewenki still herd reindeer in the forest, according to the same source.

蒙古族内部也说不同的方言。据搜狐介绍,巴尔虎人一七三二至一七三四年分两批到来,先到的称陈巴尔虎,后到的称新巴尔虎,布里亚特人二十世纪初从贝加尔湖一带迁入锡尼河地区。据知乎介绍,达斡尔语属蒙古语系,没有本民族文字。据内蒙古党史方志网介绍,鄂温克语有三个方言,没有文字,二零零零年普查中国三万二千六百名鄂温克人里约二万一千三百人使用本民族语言;同一来源介绍,约二百名敖鲁古雅鄂温克人仍在山林里饲养驯鹿。

In Enhe, China’s only Russian ethnic township, 1,071 of the 2,443 residents are Russian or of mixed Russian-Chinese descent, according to People’s Daily. Older residents speak Russian among themselves, but most people under 60 speak Chinese with a north-eastern accent, according to Economic Information Daily.

据人民网介绍,中国唯一的俄罗斯族民族乡恩和,总人口二千四百四十三人,其中俄罗斯族和华俄后裔一千零七十一人。据《经济参考报》介绍,年长的居民之间还用俄语交谈,但六十岁以下的人大多说一口东北腔的汉语。

In January 1912 Mongol nobles backed by the Russian consul seized Hulun, today’s Hailar, and declared independence, according to NetEase. Under the agreement of 6 November 1915 Hulunbuir became a special region directly under Beijing, with Russia holding priority economic rights, according to a Renmin University study of Beijing’s handling of Russian treaty rights. Russia also controlled the Jilalin gold mine and the Chaganaola coal field, according to NetEase.

据网易介绍,一九一二年一月,在俄国领事支持下,蒙古王公占领呼伦城,即今海拉尔,宣布”独立”。据中国人民大学一项关于北京政府清理旧俄条约权益的研究介绍,一九一五年十一月六日的协定把呼伦贝尔划为特别区域,直隶北京,俄国享有经济优先权利。据网易介绍,吉拉林的金矿和察罕敖拉的煤矿也由俄国掌控开采。

On 21 December 1919 the acting deputy lieutenant-general telegraphed Beijing asking it to scrap the agreement, and in January 1920 the special region was abolished, according to the Inner Mongolia local-history site.

据内蒙古党史方志网介绍,一九一九年十二月二十一日呼伦贝尔代理副都统致电北京政府要求废除该协定,一九二零年一月撤销了特别区域。

Hailar International Airport, 13 kilometres from the city centre, handled 3.239 million passengers in 2025, and planned 62 routes to 46 destinations for summer 2026, including Chita, Ulaanbaatar, Seoul and Hong Kong, according to Baidu Baike and Inner Mongolia News. By rail, Hailar is about 10 hours from Harbin and 2 hours from Manzhouli, according to Qunar.

据百度百科和内蒙古新闻网介绍,距市区十三公里的呼伦贝尔海拉尔国际机场二零二五年旅客吞吐量三百二十三点九万人次,二零二六年暑运计划运营航线六十二条、通航点四十六个,包括赤塔、乌兰巴托、首尔和香港。据去哪儿网介绍,乘火车,海拉尔距哈尔滨约十小时,距满洲里约两小时。

According to Qunar, the Suiman railway, formerly the Chinese Eastern Railway, runs west across the Nen plain, the Greater Khingan forest and the Hulunbuir grassland to Manzhouli.

据去哪儿网介绍,绥满铁路原为中东铁路,一路向西,穿过嫩江平原、大兴安岭林区和呼伦贝尔草原,抵达满洲里。