Many territorial disputes in today's world are often the legacy of former colonists or invaders. Some countries have inherited the territorial policies of the former colonizers and cling to them when they take advantage. Some countries lost large areas of land because of the defeat of the invading forces. The village of Fangchuan, where China borders Russia and North Korea, belongs to the latter.
The village of Fangchuan is the only territory in China with a far-reaching view of the Sea of Japan, only fifteen kilometers from the sea. As early as the signing of the Beijing Treaty between China and Russia, the village clearly belonged to China. Originally, it was a quiet and peaceful scene here, and after the Japanese occupied the northeast, they almost lost this territory to China.
On the edge of the village is a mountain called Janggufeng, which is under the control of the Japanese Korean occupation forces. At that time, the Japanese Army was preparing to use northeast China as a base to launch an offensive against the Soviet Union, cooperating with Nazi Germany in attacking the Soviet Union.
Since In 1904, Japan won the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese Army had a certain psychological advantage over the Russian Army, trying to reproduce the victory of that year, seize the Russian Far East, and relieve the worries of the Kwantung Army.
The Japanese government was hesitant to go to war with the Soviet Union, so the Japanese Army provoked a war in the Zhanggufeng area to test the strength of the Soviet army. This is a phenomenon that Japan often appeared alone in the military before World War II, and the country's major political policies were led by the noses of middle- and lower-ranking officers to a dangerous situation.
Zhang Gufeng and Fangchuan Village were both Chinese territory, and Wu Dayi, the superintendent of border affairs in the late Qing Dynasty, set up boundary monuments here and won China the right to go to sea in the Sea of Japan. After the Japanese occupation of the northeast, the situation in the Janggufeng area suddenly became tense, the Soviet army and the Japanese army began to build fortifications nearby, and the Otaka Division of the Korean occupation army was ready to fight here.
In July 1938, reconnaissance personnel of the Soviet and Japanese armies clashed, and the Japanese were killed twice. On the night of the 31st, the Japanese army launched an offensive and occupied Zhanggufeng, provoking a full-scale conflict.
The Soviets soon launched a counter-offensive, sending mechanized forces to retake Zhanggufeng on August 6. The commander-in-chief of the Soviet army was the famous general Blücher, who had served as an adviser to Sun Yat-sen. The Japanese army invested more troops, and the two sides engaged in a tug-of-war.
The Soviets had an advantage in heavy artillery and tanks, and the Japanese were good at hand-to-hand combat and night raids. During the day the Soviets occupied the positions, and at night the Japanese army took them back, and the losses on both sides were very heavy. However, the Soviets had control over the sea, and the Japanese Army did not receive support from the Navy.
Although the Japanese army occupied Zhanggufeng many times, the Tumen River was blocked by the Soviet army, the railway was cut off, the reinforcements could not be mobilized, and the front-line troops suffered great losses. On August 10, the two sides signed an armistice agreement, and the Ogao Division was unable to hold on and had to admit defeat. The Soviets also had no intention of expanding the fighting and ended the fighting in time.
According to figures released by the Japanese army, the Japanese lost only more than 1400 people, of which 526 were killed. However, the Japanese army has always concealed its own casualties, and the Odaka Division has almost 20,000 people, and with the arrogance and tenacity of the Japanese army before World War II, if it is not seriously weakened by combat effectiveness, it will not easily concede defeat. As a result, the true casualties of the Japanese may have been several times the public figure.
The Japanese army did not learn the lesson of Zhang Gufeng's defeat, believing that the low combat effectiveness of the Korean occupation army led to defeat, and secretly actively prepared for the next conflict, until it lost more miserably in the Battle of Nomonkan. Recognizing that the Soviet Army was far superior to Japan, the northward expansion plan simply did not work.
The Japanese suffered a crushing defeat, but Chinese followed the bad luck. Chinese villagers in places such as Fangchuan Village were forcibly relocated, and the sea outlet to the Sea of Japan was cut off. The Soviets seized the opportunity to control the road from Fangchuan Village to Hunchun County, leaving only a river embankment connecting Fangchuan Village.
After liberation, China resettled 18 families in Fangchuan Village, restoring the territory. However, a flood in 1957 washed away the embankment, and the village of Fangchuan became a real enclave, which could only be returned to China through Soviet territory. This awkward situation continued until the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Relations between China and Russia have improved, and the handling of border issues has become more flexible. In 1983, the only passage of Fangchuan Road, Yangguan Pingdi Road, was renovated into a wide highway, which completely solved the traffic problem of Fangchuan Road. China regained access to the Tumen River. But slightly larger boats are no longer able to sail on the Tumen River, and only small fishing boats can sail into the Sea of Japan.
At present, the tourism resources of Hocheon Village have been fully developed, overlooking the Sea of Japan, as well as adjacent to Russia and Korea, which are unique scenery in the country, and are known as the "first village in the East".
[References: "Fangchuan Village", "Yangguan Pingdi Road"]