Millionka was the old Chinese quarter of Vladivostok, Russia. Located north of the city's railway station and next to the port of Vladivostok, Millionka was a neighbourhood densely occupied by three-story buildings with secret courtyards. Once known as Vladivostok's Chinatown, the neighbourhood accommodated up to 50,000 Chinese residents, until Joseph Stalin demanded the neighbourhood be cleared in 1936.: 166 Today, as a major cultural heritage site of the city, it is being transformed into the centre of fashion and cafe life in Vladivostok.: 166
History
Early Chinese settlement
Before the Russian colonisation of the Far East, the Chinese had established a frontier garrison, known as Haisenwai. The Manchu people, who ruled China during the Qing dynasty, claimed much of the region as their ancestral homeland, until the land was conceded to Russia in 1860. The first Russian settlement of the city was established in 1860 by Tsarist soldiers...