Many Chinese migrants have crossed the river to do business

BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents was broadcast on Thursday, 18 December 2003 at 1100 GMT.

The programme will be repeated on Monday, 22 December, at 2030 GMT.

Listen to the programme

It is the fault line where two continents meet: the Amur River Valley in Eastern Siberia, a pivotal frontier between two empires.

On one side of the river is China: densely populated, thriving and assertive.

On the other side is Russia, where there is poverty, a shrinking population, resentment, and the old fears of "the yellow peril".

AMUR RIVER VALLEY A glimpse into life on the border between Russia and China In pictures

Once the Amur River kept the two enemies apart, but today thousands of Chinese migrants - many illegal - cross the river to trade, and to work in catering and construction.

Officially they are welcomed - and needed - by the Russians, but in the markets and on the river banks the old rivalries live on.

Rosie Goldsmith profiles this remote region and asks whether these new tensions between China and Russia on the Amur River can be bridged or whether the river is a symbol of a permanent divide.

Presenter: Rosie Goldsmith
Producer: Oleg Boldyrev
Editor: Hugh Levinson