each trip, the russians can return home with up to 400 us dollars in goods duty free. p xu guangqian (pronounced shoo gwan chee-en), a former farmer from 900 km away, took a gamble and started selling sportswear here eight years ago. he's profited well from heihe's russia-friendly policies. p >>guanqian: sportswear trader, heihe (in chinese) with good preferential policies and government support, i've made the decision to do business here, bought an apartment here and decided to move all the family here. p >>reporter: at the highly visible consumer level - whether here in heihe or in the markets of russia's far east - much of the money flows into china's purse. p but this is not a zero sum game. p at the macro level, russia's 21 billion dollars in exports to china - including oil, metals and ores- nearly match its imports. and these are strategic supplies - that also represent a form of insurance to preserve the region's political status quo. p >>reporter: the nuclear crisis in japan this year took a heavy toll, not just on local residents, but on nuclearprogrammes around the world.