This Day, That Year

Item from Oct 9, 1989, in China Daily: A train runs on the newly opened line from Heilongjiang province's Longzhen to Heihe, which borders Siberia.

The 241-kilometer line, the longest run by local government, connects Heihe, Longzhen and Harbin, the provincial capital, and is expected to boost border trade between Northeast China and the Soviet Union.

China is Russia's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching $95.3 billion last year, up 6.8 percent year-on-year, according to the General Administration of Customs.