Sipai stands on the western bank of the middle Ussuri, facing Russia across the river. Its recent history includes a major change in work. After river fish resources declined, fishers moved ashore in 1998 and developed farmland with policy support. Rice, maize and soybeans became important crops. In a 2024 report, village secretary You Junpeng said only two households still worked as professional fishing households. That dated snapshot captures how much the village economy had changed.
From the journal
Sipai beside the Ussuri: fishing and new livelihoods
A 2024 report records how fishing became a minority livelihood as the village developed farming and service work.
In the same city · Shuangyashan ↗Moving ashore and turning toward fields
River food and new kinds of work
Fishing knowledge also found new uses. Yu Chunwen, a local inheritor of Hezhen fish-eating customs, ran a restaurant and homestay with his wife. The 2024 account described ten restaurants and nineteen homestays operating in the village, alongside rice production and processing. Cultural work formed another strand: Lu Yanhua led Imakan presentations, while You Juntao carried birch-bark craft. The river remained central to local identity as residents built livelihoods through farming, food, hospitality and skilled making.