Dandong — the Chinese/North Korean Border City — a Photo Essay
Background
This is a photo-essay of a trip taken to Dandong, a city on the China/North Korean border. I was accompanied by two classmates: a crazy Kazakh guy by the name of Magzhan and Sathish, a witty, sarcastic and downright hilarious Indian. We visited for a weekend in early 2019 while students on a Master’s program at Tsinghua University in Beijing. The story is meant to be an account of my personal experience there, however, I’ve tried to colour the story with some historical background and facts about North Korea and China. Those details have been taken from different resources I’ve come across (books, classes, articles, research papers and conversations) while studying in China and afterwards. I have listed these resources at the end of the essay.
Dandong (丹东市)
We visited Dandong (丹东市) because it is probably the closest a foreigner can get to the hermit kingdom of North Korea, without actually setting foot in it. We travelled to Dandong by train from the beautiful port city of Dalian (formerly Port Arthur). Dalian was the site of Russia’s military defeat to Japan in 1905. This was the first time in modern history an Asian power had defeated a European power in battle.
The area around the train station in Dandong has a very Cold War feel to it. Statues of Mao Zedong are common in most cities in China. In Dandong though, the giant statue of the former Chinese dictator is accompanied by museums such as ‘Memorial of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea’ (抗美援朝纪念馆). You cannot help but get a sense that this region has a violent history.
We dropped our bags off at the hotel and set off for the Yalu river, the separation point between China and North Korea. Dandong is quite a compact city, so it only took us a few minutes to walk a few hundred metres to the banks of the Yalu. The Chinese side of the river was bathed in glowing lights celebrating the upcoming Chinese New Year. 2019 was a year of special significance in the modern Chinese calendar, marking the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
The Yalu River — Light and Darkness
When we got to the Yalu river — we couldn’t believe our eyes. The sheer difference in visible activity between the Chinese and North Korean side was incredible. We should probably have expected this. Every year there are published satellite images circulating freely online showing the huge difference in visible light between North Korea and its neighbours. However, the sheer difference in visible activity between the Chinese and North Korean side was still shocking.
This part of Dandong is situated directly opposite the North Korean city of Sinuiju (신의주시). Despite this, nearly all light essentially stopped at the end of the bridge linking the Chinese and North Korean sides. It was as if someone had pulled a curtain across the entire river, blanketing the opposite side in complete darkness. Activity was everywhere on the Chinese side. Yellow light glowed from the nearby apartments and hotels, as people watched TV and got ready for bed. Headlights of cars shone up and down the bustling street parallel to the river. Huge neon lights celebrated the upcoming New Year and Anniversary.
On the North Korean side, all that was visible was a very dim glow from what we assumed was the border/customs hut on the other end of the bridge. Bear in mind, these photos were taken at 9 o’clock in the evening, long before most people had turned in for the night.
Close to the bridge, there was a border post marking the ‘China Immigration Inspection’ office. It seemed a bit redundant, as it is nearly impossible to legally leave North Korea. Those who have escaped one of the most oppressive regimes in the world generally do so in the cover of darkness across the frozen Yalu river in the winter. They do so under the threat of summary execution if caught. In addition, defectors are heavily burdened with the knowledge that their immediate and extended families suffer grave consequences such as life-imprisonment in a hard-labour camp if they escape.
The contrast in being born just a stone’s throw away, on the Chinese side of the river, couldn’t be more evident. Neon advertisements for KTV, the insanely popular karaoke venues beloved by the Chinese, dot the Blade Runner-esque cityscape. The city boasts modern skyscraper hotels, banks and businesses, even a Gucci store, open late to the public. The roads are chock-a-block with foreign-made cars and domestic brands such as Great Wall Motors and Geely. Market stalls are awash with red bunting, decorations and plush soft pig toys (2019 was the Chinese Year of the Pig. Our hotel, which was one of the cheapest in Dandong (student budget strikes again) had an all-you-can-eat buffet every morning included in the 90 RMB (≈$13) nightly price.
Just 100 metres across the river, life is unremittingly bleak for the vast majority of people. One North Korean defector, Hyok Kang, wrote an account of his escape to freedom through China in the 1990’s. He describes his shock at seeing a bowl of white rice left out for a dog to eat in a village near to Dandong on the Chinese side of the river. He hadn’t eaten or even seen such a basic staple for months as he suffered through one of the multiple famines in the 1990’s which brought North Korea to nearly total collapse.
Remnants of the Korean War
The next day, we visited Jinjiangshan Park (锦江山公园), one of Dandong’s main attractions for its lakes, pagodas and beautiful scenery. Nestled on one of the side paths in the park we made a fascinating discovery. Just past a group of old Chinese ladies doing their morning tai-chi was a large concrete bunker, dug into the hillside and blocked by an imposing metal door. Above the locked door was a centered star, found on the hats and uniforms of China’s People’s Liberation Army. Given its proximity to the Yalu river, and the slits in the concrete for observation and weapons, it was clear we’d found a relic from the Korean War.
Despite the door being locked, there was a little cubby hole through which we managed to squeeze our way in. It was clear the bunker had been unused for some time and it was entirely empty. There were ladders with metal rungs on the side walls, giving access to observation holes dug into the hills. The bunker extended deep into the hillside. Armed with only the light from our mobile phones, it was difficult to explore fully. However, the cavern had multiple side passages with rooms, probably used to house soldiers, supplies and weapons in the past.
The Korean War (1950–1953)
To give some background, Korea is of huge strategic and historic importance to China. The division of Korea along the 38th Parallel came about upon its liberation from Japan at the end of the Second World War. This cut the country in half, with a US-backed South Korea and a Soviet-backed Communist North. North Korea’s leader, Kim Il-Sung, who was installed with Stalin’s blessing, ordered the invasion of the South in 1950 to join the two countries and create a Communist-run peninsula.
In a move that would be replicated in proxy battles throughout the Cold War, UN forces intervened and pushed the North Korean army back though the South and further into the North towards China.
China’s revolutionary leader, Chairman Mao, decided to assist his Communist ally. He sent millions of troops, many unarmed, into Korea to peg back the Western forces. Mao’s own son, Mao Anying (毛岸英), was killed in the fighting. The war, killed almost 5 million people (the population of Ireland today) and lasted till 1953. It eventually ended in a bitter stalemate roughly along the same point as the original dividing line, the 38th Parallel.
Chinese leaders do not want to see a united peninsula under South Korean rule. This would almost certainly entail US troops being stationed across North Korea, on China’s doorstep. Successive Chinese leaders have publicly supported the North Korean regime and have sent enough food and oil aid to just about keep the regime afloat. This support increased in importance after North Korea’s main benefactor, the Soviet Union, collapsed in 1991 and stopped sending aid. When we returned to the bridge during daytime, there was a convoy of container lorries travelling from the Chinese side to the Korean side. There was zero traffic in the other direction.
Observing the Hermit Kingdom
In Jinjiangshan Park there is a large pagoda you can climb that gives a great view of the city and of the opposite side of the river. The view from the top confirmed what we had seen in the dark the night before. In Dandong, as far as the eye could see, were skyscrapers, roads, industry and activity. On the North Korean side, in Sinuiju, the most visible structure was a weird, round and seemingly unfinished apartment complex. According to the Seoul-based NGO, Daily NK News, this building is going to be used to house North Korean government officials and their families. Aside from a couple of smokestacks and a few houses dotted along the banks, there was very little sign of any activity.
Back on the banks of the Yalu during the daylight, it was again evident just how much these two countries had diverged in the last 50 years.
Through the binoculars, we could see North Koreans hand-washing their clothes in the river on their side of the bank. On our side, Dandong residents strolled down the neatly paved riverside road overshadowed by skyscrapers built on every spare piece of land. Elderly Chinese decked out in their swim gear braved the freezing late-January waters of the Yalu in a scene that wouldn’t have looked out of place at home in Dublin.
In a fairly ironic twist, the ‘Communist’ Chinese side of the river had private boat and speedboat operators. These opportunist entrepreneurs offered to take passengers on ‘up close and personal’ river tours, bringing you right up onto the bank on the North Korean side. We spoke to one who, after telling us about his tour offer, asked us if we were American, British, South Korean or Japanese. He didn’t elaborate on the question, but it was safe to assume he wouldn’t have taken us if we were.
We declined the offer on account of the massive risk. Foreigners caught trespassing into North Korea can face imprisonment in a hard-labour camp, or execution as a spy. The death of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was detained for a year and a half after visiting North Korea as part of a tour group, was a reminder of the risks foreigners take entering the hermit kingdom.
There were also constant reminders to anyone who would look of China’s role in the war. Statues of soldiers dotted the banks, paying tribute to PLA soldiers who fought and died in the war. A plaque commemorating the broken bridge, bombed by the US during the war, is remembered as the ‘classic revolutionary scenic spot and key cultural relic under the State-level protection’. Unexploded bombs from US warplanes are in full display on the bridge, surrounded by Chinese flags.
It is obvious that the Chinese Communist Party’s pride in their country’s role pushing back the West and defending their ally remains undimmed to this day. Informational posters in Chinese parrot North Korean propaganda. One image shows a robust-looking Kim Jong-Il (son of the first leader Kim Il-Sung) inspecting North Korean goods surrounded by his adoring disciples.
Pyongyang Restaurant (평양관)
We had been told of a North Korean run restaurant open for business in Dandong and decided to pay a visit. Although it was lunchtime, it seemed that the restaurant did not get much custom. When we walked in, the staff were all asleep on chairs laid out around the restaurant. Startled, they rushed over to greet us and to offer us a table. So began one of the strangest dining experiences I’ll probably ever have.
North Korean State Television, showing a full military parade, was blaring on a wall-mounted TV beside a stage. The North Korean and Chinese flags stood side-by-side and the entire wait staff were young, female and good looking. Our waitress spoke fluent Chinese and told us she was from North Korea, but lived and worked here in Dandong.
These state-run restaurants are dotted around various cities in Asia. According to some reports, they are used to acquire and launder foreign currency for the cash-strapped North Korean regime (operated by a shadowy North Korean government department called ‘Room 39’). They also supposedly act as a means of soft power to project North Korean culture across the world. For a regime that frequently uses the threat of nuclear weapons to extract concessions from allies and foes alike, it is unclear to me how effective this culinary diplomacy can be.
Standing in the corner of the restaurant was an unsmiling Korean man, who didn’t move for the entire time we were there. Presumably he was either the security guard, manager, supervisor or all three. Our interactions with the waitress were a bit stilted and we did not want to get her into any trouble by asking any sensitive questions.
During our meal, Sathish was asked by another waitress if he was single and if so, would he be interested in marrying a North Korean girl? He graciously declined the offer, having a long-term girlfriend back in Hong Kong. The food was delicious and we were well looked after, being the only customers in the restaurant the entire meal. We had a couple more beers, paid the bill (cash only) and went on our way.
Well fed and tired after a long day of exploring, we turned in for the night and got the early train back to our college in Beijing. Despite it being nearly 2 years since we visited as I’m writing this, the memories of the trip are still very vivid. Looking at the pictures has brought back a lot of small details I would’ve otherwise forgotten.
It’s impossible to visit Dandong without feeling both luck and pity. An economic miracle has transformed China from something closely resembling North Korea to the powerhouse it is today. However, modern China is also a gross human rights abuser and a deeply flawed country. President Xi’s regime has locked millions of Uyghur Muslims in internment camps in Xinjiang and the security organs apply suppression through violent means of any organised dissent against the state.
In an indication of just how desperate their situation is, hundreds, possibly thousands of North Koreans try to escape into China every year. Defectors caught in China by the police are usually forcibly repatriated to North Korea, which means almost certain death. Some miraculously escape China’s surveillance state and manage to cross the border into South East Asia so they can defect to South Korea. Others stay, hoping for a better life working anonymously on farms in North-Eastern China. They come from a near-failed state whose leaders seemingly have no regard for their citizens. You leave Dandong feeling pity for those born on the wrong side of the river and to be honest, luck that you can.
All images with the exception of the photo of Mao Anying are my own. Please do not re-use these images or the content of this article without prior permission. If you would like to use or re-publish any aspect of this essay, please contact me via email at callanph@tcd.ie *
Resources:
The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future — Victor Cha, 2013
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea — Barbara Derrick, 2004
Kashgar Coerced: Forced Reconstruction, Exploitation, and Surveillance in the Cradle of Uyghur Culture — William Drexel, Uyghur Human Rights Project, 2020
The Clash between Interest and Responsibility: China’s Policy toward North Korean Escapees- Dong-ho Han, 2013
The Korean War — Max Hastings, 1987
‘Some owners of new Sinuiju apartments avoid moving in’ — Mun Dong Hui, Daily NK News, 2020
This is Paradise! My North Korean Childhood — Hyok Kang, 2004
The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers — Richard McGregor, 2012
Author Conversation with Alex Sigley ‘The only Australian living in North Korea’, Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, Beijing, late 2019
Otto Warmbier, American Student Released From North Korea, Dies — Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times, 2014
Kingdom Kim’s Culinary Outposts — Sebastian Strango, Slate, 2010
