This Day, That Year

Item from April 3, 1991, in China Daily: Soviet tourists bargain with Chinese peddlers at a fair in northeast Heilongjiang province's Heihe city, the largest port for trade between China and the Soviet Union ... China is strengthening its overseas contractual business with the Soviet Union ...with steps "to broaden economic cooperation with the Soviet Union for mutual benefits".

Russia, which emerged as the largest country of the former Soviet Union following its dissolution in December 1991, is now the ninth-largest trade partner of China. Total trade volume between the two reached $95.3 billion last year.

That figure - aided by increasing exchanges similar to the 2010 Heihe international trade fair, seen in the photo on the right - is forecast to hit $100 billion this year and $200 billion by 2020.