Importing 1.5 Million Units Annually, How Did the Small City of Hunchun Become the “Capital of King Crab”?

Exhibit of King Crab Specimens at the King Crab Exhibition Hall within the Northeast Asia Cross-border E-commerce Industrial Park in Hunchun City. Photo by Gao Yuting, The Paper.

After the “Xiaoxue” solar term, a significant amount of rain fell in Hunchun City, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province.
On November 26th, The Paper participated in the “Happiness Is Here” themed visit organized by the Human Rights Development and Exchange Center of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee to Hunchun City. This small border town in southeastern Jilin Province is connected by land to North Korea and Russia, and by water to North Korea, Russia, Korea, and Japan, boasting obvious geographical advantages. Surprisingly, the small city of Hunchun is also known as the “King Crab Capital”.
King crabs are mainly distributed in the North Pacific and Arctic oceans, living in waters with an average temperature of 2-5°C throughout the year. Due to their large size and delicate, tasty meat, they are also known as the “King of Crabs”. The king crabs in Hunchun mostly come from the depths of the Bering Strait. After fishermen complete the catch near the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia, they are transported to the Zarubino Port in Russia and then transferred by land to Hunchun City in China.
Wang Hai has been doing the import seafood business in Hunchun for many years, and his company’s king crab sales have significantly increased in the last two years. Every week, a ship loaded with 50 tons of king crabs docks at Zarubino Port, which is about 70 kilometers away from Hunchun City in a straight line. After the 50 tons of king crabs arrive at Zarubino Port, they are unloaded, pass through customs, and can reach Wang Hai’s company via land route in 24 hours at the fastest.
Overall, in 2023, the sales of Wang Hai’s company’s seafood products amounted to 380 million yuan, and up to now this year, the sales have nearly reached 500 million yuan. “There’s still one month left, we will definitely reach 500 million yuan this year,” Wang Hai said.
In Wang Hai’s view, there are two reasons for the good sales of king crabs. Firstly, nowadays, southern customers often place a king crab on the banquet table, as the king crab symbolizes good fortune and “wealth from all directions”. Moreover, after cooking, the king crab turns red, which is a color favored by Chinese people during festivals and celebrations. The second reason is the traffic flow effect brought by the internet-famous city of Yanji (the capital of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture).
Wang Hai recalled that around the end of 2022, Yanji suddenly became popular on the internet, and the number of tourists to Yanji significantly increased in 2023. Tourists tasted Russian king crabs in Yanji and found them delicious, which led to increased sales through word-of-mouth promotion. The number of tourists to Hunchun has also increased, particularly evident during the National Day holiday this year.
There are many live king crabs in the pool of the King Crab Exhibition Hall. Photo by Gao Yuting, The Paper.

Hunchun is over 100 kilometers away from Yanji City. Wang Hai mentioned that during the National Day holiday this year, about 10,000 tourists visited the King Crab Exhibition Hall in Hunchun City, which he operates, every day. “As you can see, the pool at the entrance of the exhibition hall can hold 4 tons of goods, which is equivalent to 8,000 jin or about 1,500 king crabs. During the National Day holiday, they can all be sold out in one day,” Wang Hai said. During the peak period last year, 200 to 300 king crabs could be sold in one day.
By reviewing public reports, one can understand how Hunchun gradually became the “King Crab Capital” behind Wang Hai’s thriving king crab business: In 2016, the Hunchun port was officially approved as a designated port for importing chilled seafood and edible aquatic animals, becoming the main channel for Russian king crabs to enter China. In September 2017, the “Kamchatka-Zarubino-Hunchun” aquatic product route was established. In 2018, Hunchun’s trade volume with Russia was 4.6 billion yuan, an increase of 90% year-on-year, with coal and seafood imports increasing by 32% and 160% respectively. By 2023, Hunchun’s total import and export volume reached 20 billion yuan, an increase of 30%. Up to now, over 1.5 million king crabs enter China through the Hunchun port every year, and tasting king crabs has become an important hallmark of tourism in Hunchun.