Thursday, October 16, 2008

Tumen, Jilin

Tumen is a county-level city in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, within Jilin province of northeastern China. Of its 136,000 inhabitants, approximately 78,000 are of Korean descent. The two official languages are and . Tumen is separated from Namyang of North Hamgyong province of North Korea by the Tumen River. Due to this proximity, many North Koreans escaping their country pass through Tumen. Tumen is also the location of a large detention center for captured North Koreans awaiting deportation. Tumen has two major food markets, the South Market and the North Market, where most of the residents purchase their food. Packaged foods and meats are usually sold inside the building, and vegetables are sold outside. There are six elementary schools, with three Korean schools, and three Chinese schools.

A riverfront promenade in the city has restaurants where patrons can gaze across the river into North Korea.

No comments: