evidence: Located near the city of Khabarovsk, at the confluence of the Ussuri and Amur rivers, Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island has long held strategic importance for Russia. In 2004, Moscow reached an agreement with Beijing to share the island (known as Heixiazi Island to the Chinese), dividing it roughly in half. Four years later, the new arrangement was fully in effect, and each country was free to do with its piece of the island what it liked. China transformed its side of the island into a nature reserve, attracting more than 600,000 tourists every year. On the Russian side, there are about 100 people trying to survive in ramshackle homes, and all development plans have failed to secure the necessary funding. Journalist Ekaterina Vasyukova traveled to Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island to learn more about life in a land shared with China. Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island on the Amur river is essentially part of Khabarovsk and the Khabarovsk region. Once upon a time, it was home to houses, summer cottages, and agricultural and ship-repair enterprises. Russia and China quarreled over Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island for more than 150 years, after drawing the border along the Amur river. (The river itself belonged to neither country, and the status of its islands remained undetermined.)