Mudanjiang (Chinese: 牡丹江, pinyin: Mǔdānjiāng) is an urban district in Heilongjiang Province, China, on the Mudanjiang River. Located 381 km from Vladivostok.
The name of the city district is a translation into Chinese of the Manchu phrase “Mudan ula”. The Manchu word “mudan” means “curvy, winding”, and “ula” is “river”, thus the name of the urban district means “Wriggling River”.

History
Various tribes (ancestors of the modern Manchus) have long lived on the territory that is now part of the Mudanjiang urban district. During the existence of the Tang Empire in China, there was the state of Bohai, which was conquered by the Khitans in 926. After the formation of the Ming Empire, various Chinese administrative-territorial units began to be established on these lands.
In the Qing era, one of the most important centers of Manchuria was Ninguta, located on the territory of the current urban district of Mudanjiang (modern urban county of Ning’an). After the conquest of China by the Manchus, from 1662, a jiangjun with a residence in Ningut was appointed to control the northeastern lands. Since 1757, the Jiangjun fortress became the headquarters of the Jiangjun, and the fudutun subordinate to him was located in Ningut.
The impetus for the economic development of the territory was given by the construction of the CER at the beginning of the 20th century. Since 1907, Manchuria began to be transferred from the system of military administration to the system of civil administration: the jiangjuns became provincial governors, fudutundoms were liquidated, councils and counties began to be established.
In 1931, Manchuria was occupied by Japanese troops, and in 1932 the puppet state of Manchukuo was formed. On July 1, 1937, Mudanjiang Province was established in Manchukuo, consisting of the counties of Ning’an, Mulin, Dongning, Mishan and Hulin. On December 1, 1937, the city of Mudanjiang was officially established, becoming another administrative unit of Mudanjiang Province.
In 1945, Manchuria was liberated by the Red Army. After the war, the government of the Republic of China adopted a program for a new administrative division of the Northeast, but it was never implemented due to the resumption of the civil war. After the surrender of Japan, the territory of Mudanjiang became one of the strongholds of the Communist Party of China. In April 1946, by decision of the CPC Suining Province (绥宁省) was formed here, which in October 1946 was transformed into the Mudanjiang Special Region (牡丹江专区). In August 1947, the special regions of Mudanjiang and Dong’an were merged into Mudanjiang Province (牡丹江省). In July 1948, the decision to create Mudanjiang province was canceled, and these lands became part of Songjiang province. In 1954, Songjiang Province was annexed to Heilongjiang Province.
In February 1956, the Heilongjiang government formed the Mudanjiang Special Region (牡丹江专区), but in 1968, after the start of the Cultural Revolution, the special region was merged with the city and placed under the authority of the Mudanjiang Revolutionary Committee. In 1973, at the end of the Cultural Revolution, the management structures of the city and the special district were divided again. In October 1983, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China established the Mudanjiang City District, which combined the former Mudanjiang City and the Mudanjiang Special Region.
In 1992, Mishan City County was transferred to Jixi City, and Hulin County was transferred to Jixi City in 1993.

Sights
– On the territory of the urban district of Mudanjiang there is a lake of volcanic origin Jingbo and an underground forest growing in a former crater.
– Memorial of the eight martyrs who died in the river (Chinese 八女投江).
– Monument to Soviet soldiers who died in the battles for the liberation of China from the Japanese invaders during the Second World War. Opened in 2016 in Chongyingyuan Park.