Khabarovsk, Russia

Khabarovsk is the largest Russian city east of Lake Baikal, and is the capital of the Khabarovsk Krai Territory.  About 75% of Khabarovsk's inhabitants work in some type of industrial job, and entire sections of the city consist of factories surrounded by Soviet-style apartment blocks.  Because of a steady flow of tourists from Japan, South Korea and China, the city has a bustling, international feel to it. 

     Khabarovsk was founded in the spring of 1858 on a spot where the waters of the Amur River break against a high cliff.  The foundation of the city was laid by workers of Nerchinsk and Cassacks from the Upper Amur and Trans-Baikal regions, all of whom were descendents of the pioneers who explored and settled Siberia.  The city got it's name from a Siberian dealer named Jerofei Khabarov, who in 1649 brought ploughs and seeds of Russian grain to the banks of the Amur River to begin a new life in the Far East.