Travelog laced with history along the Heilongjiang

Dominic Ziegler says it was the love of wild places that led him on a journey along the Heilongjiang or Black Dragon River.

The 4,500-kilometer river, which largely divides China and Russia, is the subject of his new book, Black Dragon River, which combines history and travelog.

"For a time it was the longest river I had never heard of. When I was living in China in the 1990s I was constantly in search of wild places but never got there, although I had been up to Harbin, just out of reach of it," Ziegler says.