The Yalu River Observatory
鸭绿江观察
Examining how infrastructure, trade, and everyday life intersect along the Yalu River.
Published in English and Mandarin Chinese.
MISSION
The Yalu Observatory is a bilingual research and cultural initiative centered along the Yalu River region between Dandong, China and the Korean Peninsula.
Using strategic border regions—including the China–North Korea frontier—as an observation point, The Observatory examines how goods, money, and technology move through one of the world’s most geopolitically sensitive regions. In addition to economic analysis, The Observatory explores the cultural and historical context of border regions, with recognition that borders are shaped by people, exchange, and lived experience just as much as they are impacted by policy.
The project treats the border as a lived environment, observing how movement, regulation, and exchange shape daily life over time.
RECENT ENTRIES
Coming February 2026.
AREAS OF FOCUS
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Ports, rail, trucking corridors, customs data, cross-border supply chains.
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WeChat Pay, Alipay, crypto, shadow banking, informal payment networks.
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How international trade rules, sanctions, and regulatory frameworks shape life along the Yalu.
Alongside research, the project includes writing and photography on cultural life along the border, treating dialogue and exchange as central rather than secondary.
THE YALU
The Yalu River is one of the few places where a highly integrated Chinese border economy meets North Korea directly.
Activity along this border shapes North Korea’s access to capital and goods, influences China’s regional leverage, and affects the broader balance of power in East Asia. Monitoring this frontier offers a uniquely clear window into some of the world’s most opaque economic and political systems.
As such, shifts in activity along the river often reflect broader changes in cross-border interaction before they are visible elsewhere.