Ulan-Ude

Ulan-Ude (English) Улан-Удэ (Russian) Улаан Үдэ (Buryat)
-  City  -
Ulan-Ude City Center
Ulan-Ude Location of Ulan-Ude in the Republic of Buryatia
Coordinates: 51°50′N 107°36′E / 51.833°N 107.600°ECoordinates: 51°50′N 107°36′E / 51.833°N 107.600°E
Coat of Arms	Flag
City Day	September's first Saturday
Administrative status (as of May 2010)
Country	Russia
Federal subject	Republic of Buryatia
Administratively subordinated to	city of republic significance of Ulan-Ude[1]
Capital of	Republic of Buryatia
Administrative center of	city of republic significance of Ulan-Ude[1]
Municipal status (as of October 2011)
Urban okrug	Ulan-Ude Urban Okrug[2]
Administrative center of	Ulan-Ude Urban Okrug[2]
Mayor[3]	Alexander Golkov[3]
Representative body	City Council of Deputies[3]
Statistics
Area	347.6 km^2 (134.2 sq mi)
Population (2010 Census)	404,426 inhabitants[4]
- Rank in 2010	45th
Density	1,163/km^2 (3,010/sq mi)[5]
Time zone	IRKT (UTC+08:00)[6]
Founded	1666
City status since	1775
Previous names	Udinsk (until 1783), Verkhneudinsk (until July 27, 1934)
Postal code(s)[7]	6700xx
Dialing code(s)	+7 3012
Official website
Ulan-Ude on Wikimedia Commons

Ulan-Ude (Russian: Улан-Удэ; IPA: [ʊˈlan ʊˈdɛ]; Buryat: Улаан Үдэ, Ulaan Üde) is the capital city of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia; it is located about 100 kilometers (62 mi) southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence with the Selenga. According to the 2010 Census, 404,426 people lived in Ulan-Ude;^[4] up from 359,391 recorded in the 2002 Census,^[8] making the city the third largest in eastern Siberia by population.

Names

Ulan-Ude was first called Udinskoye (У́динское) for its location on the Uda River. From around 1735, the settlement was called Udinsk (У́динск) and was granted town status under that name in 1775.

The name was changed to Verkhneudinsk, literally "Upper Udinsk" (Верхнеу́динск), in 1783 to differentiate it from Nizhneudinsk ("Lower Udinsk") lying on a different Uda River near Irkutsk which was granted town status that year. The "upper" and "lower" refer to positions of the two cities relative to each other, not the location of the cities on their respective Uda rivers. Verkhneudinsk lies at the mouth of its Uda, i.e. the lower end, while Nizhneudinsk is along the middle stretch of its Uda.

The current name was given to the city in 1934 and means "red Uda" in Buryat, reflecting the Soviet Union's Communist ideology.

Geography

Ulan-Ude lies 5,640 kilometers (3,500 mi) east of Moscow and 100 kilometers (62 mi) southeast of Lake Baikal. It is 600 meters (2,000 ft) above sea level at the foot of the Khamar-Daban and Khrebet Ulan-Burgasy mountain ranges, next to the confluence of the Selenga River and its tributary, the Uda, which divides the city.

Ulan-Ude is one of only eight pairs of cities in the world that has a near-exact antipodal city — with Puerto Natales, Chile.

Hydrography

There are two rivers that flows across Ulan-Ude — Selenga and Uda.

Selenga is the biggest inflow of Baikal Lake, supplying 50% of all rivers in its basin. Selenga brings into the lake about 30 cubic kilometres (7 cubic miles) of water per year, exerting a major influence on the formation of the lake water and its sanitary condition. Selenga is the habitat of the most valuable fish species such as Omul, Siberian sturgeon, Siberian taimen, Thymallus and Coregonus.

Uda is the right inflow of the Selenga river. The length of the watercourse is 467 kilometres (290 miles).

History

Coat of arms of Verkhneudinsk in 1790

The first occupants of the area where Ulan-Ude now stands were the Evenks and, later, the Buryat Mongols. Ulan-Ude was settled in 1666 by the Russian Cossacks as the fortress of Udinskoye. Due to its favorable geographical position, it grew rapidly and became a large trade center which connected Russia with China and Mongolia and, from 1690, was the administrative center of the Transbaikal region. By 1775, it was known as Udinsk, and in 1783 it was granted city status and renamed Verkhneudinsk. After a large fire in 1878, the city was almost completely rebuilt. The Trans-Siberian Railway reached the city in 1900 causing an explosion in growth. The population which was 3,500 in 1880 reached 126,000 in 1939.

From April 6 to October 1920 Verkhneudinsk was the capital of the Far Eastern Republic (Дальневосточная Республика), sometimes called Chita Republic.^[9] It was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East.

On July 27, 1934, the city was renamed Ulan-Ude.

Administrative and municipal status

Ulan-Ude is the capital of the republic. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as the city of republic significance of Ulan-Ude—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts.^[1] As a municipal division, the city of republic significance of Ulan-Ude is incorporated as Ulan-Ude Urban Okrug.^[2]

Ulan-Ude

Demographics

According to the 2010 Census, 404,426 people lived in Ulan-Ude;^[4] up from 359,391 recorded in the 2002 Census.^[8] In terms of population, it is the third largest city in eastern Siberia.

Historical population figures for Ulan-Ude^[10]

Year	1923	1926	1939	1959	1970	1979	1989
Population	21,600	28,900	125,700	174,300	253,600	299,800	352,530[11]

The ethnic makeup of the city's population in 2002:

• Russians: 73.1%
• Buryats: 21.4%
• Ukrainians: 2.6%
• Tatars: 0.8%
• Others: 2.1%

The city is the center of Tibetan Buddhism in Russia and the important Ivolginsky datsan is located 23 km (14 mi) from the city.

Transportation

Ulan-Ude railway station on the Trans-Siberian Railway

Ulan-Ude is located on the main line (Trans-Siberian line) of the Trans-Siberian Railway between Irkutsk and Chita^[12] at the junction of the Trans-Mongolian line (the Trans-Mongolian Railway) which begins at Ulan Ude and continues south through Mongolia to Beijing in China. The city also lies on the M55 section of the Baikal Highway (part of the Trans-Siberian Highway), the main federal road to Vladivostok. Air traffic is served by the Ulan-Ude Airport (Baikal), as well as the smaller Ulan-Ude Vostochny Airport. Intracity transport includes tram, bus, and marshrutka (share taxi) lines.

Culture

Gate of the Ulan-Ude Ethnographic Museum

A Russian Old Believer church moved to the ethnographic museum in Ulan-Ude

Until 1991, Ulan-Ude was closed to foreigners. There are old merchants' mansions richly decorated with wood and stone carving in the historical center of Ulan-Ude, along the river banks which are exceptional examples of Russian classicism. The city has a large ethnographic museum which recalls the history of the peoples of the region.

There is a large and highly unusual statue of the head of Vladimir Lenin in the central square: the largest in the world. Built in 1970 for the centennial of Lenin's birth, it towers over the main plaza at 7.7 meters (25 ft) and weighs 42 tons.^[13] The head has avoided the patina associated with bronze by a special coating and is a common meeting place.

Other attractions are Geser, a monument, and the King's Gate arch.

Sights

The largest head of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin ever built is in Ulan-Ude

Odigitrievsky Cathedral

The Ethnographic Museum of the peoples of Transbaikal is one of Russia's largest open-air museums. The museum contains historical finds from the era of the Slab Grave Culture and the Xiongnu until the mid 20th century, including a unique collection of samples of wooden architecture of Siberia - more than forty architectural monuments.

Odigitrievsky Cathedral - Orthodox Church Diocese of the Buryat, was the first stone building in the city and is a Siberian baroque architectural monument. The cathedral is considered unique because it is built in a zone of high seismic activity in the heart of the city on the banks of the River Uda River where it flows into the Selenga.

One of the attractions of Ulan-Ude is a monument in the town square — the square of the Soviets — in the form of the head of Lenin (sculptors G.V. Neroda, J.G. Neroda, architects Dushkin, P.G. Zilberman). The monument, weighing 42 tons and with a height of 7.7 meters (25 ft), was opened in 1971 in honor of the centenary of Lenin's birth.^[13]

Climate

Ulan Ude has a steppe climate (Köppen climate classification BSk) with long, dry, frigid winters and short but very warm summers. Precipitation is heavily concentrated in the warmer months.

Climate data for Ulan-Ude
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	−0.4 (31.3)	8.4 (47.1)	18.4 (65.1)	28.7 (83.7)	34.5 (94.1)	40.0 (104)	39.5 (103.1)	39.7 (103.5)	32.2 (90)	24.7 (76.5)	10.4 (50.7)	5.2 (41.4)	40.0 (104)
Average high °C (°F)	−17.9 (−0.2)	−10.9 (12.4)	−0.3 (31.5)	9.8 (49.6)	18.7 (65.7)	24.5 (76.1)	26.6 (79.9)	23.6 (74.5)	16.5 (61.7)	6.9 (44.4)	−5 (23)	−14.5 (5.9)	6.5 (43.7)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−23.3 (−9.9)	−18 (0)	−7.4 (18.7)	2.4 (36.3)	10.6 (51.1)	16.9 (62.4)	19.8 (67.6)	17.1 (62.8)	9.6 (49.3)	0.7 (33.3)	−10.1 (13.8)	−19.3 (−2.7)	−0.1 (31.8)
Average low °C (°F)	−27.6 (−17.7)	−23.9 (−11)	−13.7 (7.3)	−3.7 (25.3)	3.6 (38.5)	10.5 (50.9)	14.2 (57.6)	11.8 (53.2)	4.3 (39.7)	−4 (25)	−14.2 (6.4)	−23.2 (−9.8)	−5.5 (22.1)
Record low °C (°F)	−54.4 (−65.9)	−44.9 (−48.8)	−40.4 (−40.7)	−28 (−18)	−15.1 (4.8)	−3.9 (25)	1.2 (34.2)	−4 (25)	−11.4 (11.5)	−27.9 (−18.2)	−38 (−36)	−48.8 (−55.8)	−54.4 (−65.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	5 (0.2)	3 (0.12)	3 (0.12)	6 (0.24)	18 (0.71)	43 (1.69)	65 (2.56)	68 (2.68)	28 (1.1)	7 (0.28)	10 (0.39)	9 (0.35)	265 (10.43)
Average rainy days	0	0.04	1	6	10	14	16	15	13	7	1	0	83
Average snowy days	15	11	9	8	2	0.03	0	0	1	8	17	18	89
Average relative humidity (%)	77	75	66	53	49	57	64	69	68	68	76	78	67
Mean monthly sunshine hours	115	155	225	248	287	288	270	247	211	167	113	92	2,418
Source #1: Pogoda.ru.net[14]
Source #2: NOAA (sun, 1961–1990)[15]

Notable people

• Irina Pantaeva, Sports Illustrated model
• Oksana Omelianchik, artistic gymnast
• Valentina Zelyaeva, Top Model

International relations

Twin towns and sister cities

Ulan-Ude is twinned with:

Anyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea (1997) Berkeley, California, United States[16] Changchun, Jilin, China[17] Darkhan, Mongolia Erdenet, Mongolia Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China[18] Kazan, Russia[19]

Manzhouli, Inner Mongolia, China[20] Rumoi, Hokkaido, Japan[21] Taipei, Taiwan[22] Ulan Bator, Mongolia[23] Yalta, Crimea, Russia/Ukraine (disputed) [24] Yamagata, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan[25]

A panorama view of Ulan-Ude

References

Notes

1. Resolution #431
2. Law #985-III
3. "Baikal24".
4. Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). "Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1" [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (2010 All-Russia Population Census) (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved June 29, 2012.
5. The value of density was calculated automatically by dividing the 2010 Census population by the area specified in the infobox. Please note that this value may not be accurate as the area specified in the infobox does not necessarily correspond to the area of the entity proper or is reported for the same year as the population.
6. Правительство Российской Федерации. Федеральный закон №107-ФЗ от 3 июня 2011 г. «Об исчислении времени», в ред. Федерального закона №248-ФЗ от 21 июля 2014 г. «О внесении изменений в Федеральный закон "Об исчислении времени"». Вступил в силу по истечении шестидесяти дней после дня официального опубликования (6 августа 2011 г.). Опубликован: "Российская газета", №120, 6 июня 2011 г. (Government of the Russian Federation. Federal Law #107-FZ of June 31, 2011 On Calculating Time, as amended by the Federal Law #248-FZ of July 21, 2014 On Amending Federal Law "On Calculating Time". Effective as of after sixty days following the day of the official publication.).
7. Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (Russian)
8. Russian Federal State Statistics Service (May 21, 2004). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек" [Population of Russia, Its Federal Districts, Federal Subjects, Districts, Urban Localities, Rural Localities—Administrative Centers, and Rural Localities with Population of Over 3,000] (XLS). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года [All-Russia Population Census of 2002] (in Russian). Retrieved August 9, 2014.
9. Bisher, Jamie (June 2005). White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian. pp. 302–303. ISBN 9781135765958.
10. "Исторические предпосылки формирования современной этнической структуры г.Улан-Удэ". Ethonet.ru. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
11. Demoscope Weekly (1989). "Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров" [All Union Population Census of 1989: Present Population of Union and Autonomous Republics, Autonomous Oblasts and Okrugs, Krais, Oblasts, Districts, Urban Settlements, and Villages Serving as District Administrative Centers]. Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года [All-Union Population Census of 1989] (in Russian). Институт демографии Национального исследовательского университета: Высшая школа экономики [Institute of Demography at the National Research University: Higher School of Economics]. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
12. Train Ulan Ude - Irkutsk
13. Памятник В. И. Ленину (in Russian). Monulent.ru. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
14. "Weather and Climate-The Climate of Ulan–ude" (in Russian). Weather and Climate (Погода и климат). Retrieved 30 November 2015.
15. "Ulan–Ude/Muhino Climate Normals 1961–1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
16. "Online Directory: Russian Federation, Eurasia". Sister Cities International. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
17. "Official English website of Changchun, China". 2007.changchun.gov.cn. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
18. "Sister cities-英文网". Eng.nmgnews.com.cn. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
19. "Kazan celebrates its 1000 year anniversary". Kazan1000.ru. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
20. "Мэры Маньчжурии и Улан-Удэ обменялись подарками". Baikal-media.ru. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
21. "The Russian presence in Japan" (PDF). webcache.googleusercontent.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 7, 2005. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
22. "Sister cities list". Edunet.taipei.gov.tw. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
23. "Ulan Ude looking for sister cities". Infpol.ru. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
24. "Yalta and Ulan Ude become sister cities". Regnum.ru. Retrieved 2012-10-31.
25. 山形市の友好姉妹都市 [Yamagata City Twin Cities] (in Japanese). Japan: Yamagata City. Retrieved 12 October 2011.

Sources

• Правительство Республики Бурятия. Постановление №431 от 18 ноября 2009 г. «О реестре административно-территориальных единиц и населённых пунктов Республики Бурятия», в ред. Постановления №573 от 13 ноября 2015 г. «О внесении изменений в Постановление Правительства Республики Бурятия от 18.11.2009 №431 "О реестре административно-территориальных единиц и населённых пунктов Республики Бурятия"». Вступил в силу 18 ноября 2009 г. Опубликован: "Бурятия", №216, Официальный вестник №120, 21 ноября 2009 г. (Government of the Republic of Buryatia. Resolution #431 of November 18, 2009 On the Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Units and the Inhabited Localities of the Republic of Buryatia, as amended by the Resolution #573 of November 13, 2015 On Amending Resolution #431 of November 18, 2009 of the Government of the Republic of Buryatia "On the Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Units and the Inhabited Localities of the Republic of Buryatia". Effective as of November 18, 2009.).
• Народный Хурал Республики Бурятия. Закон №985-III от 31 декабря 2004 г. «Об установлении границ, образовании и наделении статусом муниципальных образований в Республике Бурятия», в ред. Закона №1411-V от 14 октября 2015 г. «О внесении изменений в Закон Республики Бурятия "Об установлении границ, образовании и наделении статусом муниципальных образований в Республике Бурятия"». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Бурятия", №1, Официальный вестник №1, 12 января 2005 г. (People's Khural of the Republic of Buryatia. Law #985-III of December 31, 2004 On Establishing the Borders, Creating, and Granting a Status to the Municipal Formations in the Republic of Buryatia, as amended by the Law #1411-V of October 14, 2015 On Amending the Law of the Republic of Buryatia "On Establishing the Borders, Creating, and Granting a Status to the Municipal Formations in the Republic of Buryatia". Effective as of the day of the official publication.).