The Ussuri River (Chinese: 乌苏里江), or Wusuli River, runs in Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais, Russia and in the southeast of Northeast China. It rises in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, flowing north and forming part of the Sino-Russian border which is based on the Sino-Russian Convention of Peking of 1860, until it joins the Amur River as a tributary to it at Khabarovsk (48°26′N 134°59′E / 48.433°N 134.983°E / 48.433; 134.983). It is approximately 897 kilometers (557 mi) long. The Ussuri River drains to the Ussuri basin, which covers 193,000 square kilometers (75,000 sq mi). Its waters come from rain (60%), snow (30-35%) and subterranean springs. The average discharge is 1,150 m³/s and the average elevation is 1,682 m.
The Ussuri River is known for its catastrophic floods. It freezes up in November and stays under the ice until April. The river teems with different kinds of fish: grayling, sturgeon, humpback salmon (gorbusha), chum salmon (keta) and others.
During World War II, the river was one of the regions where Soviet forces crossed into Manchuria in Operation August Storm in 1945.
The Sino-Soviet border conflict of 1969 took place at the Soviet island of Damansky on the Usuri River.
Ussuri River | |||||||
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Chinese name | |||||||
Traditional Chinese | 烏蘇里江 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 乌苏里江 | ||||||
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Manchu name | |||||||
Manchu | Usuri ula |
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Russian name | |||||||
Russian | река Уссури reka Ussuri |
Major tributaries of the Ussuri River are:
- Muling River (left)
- Naoli River (left)
- Songacha River (left)
- Arsenyevka River (left)
- Bikin River (right)
- Khor River (right)
- Bolshaya Ussurka River (right)
Famous quotes containing the word river:
“This spirit it was which so early carried the French to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi on the north, and the Spaniard to the same river on the south. It was long before our frontiers reached their settlements in the West, and a voyageur or coureur de bois is still our conductor there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)