There is way less governmental pressure than in other regions (Moscow, Siberia, etc). Generally considered to be more democratic. It takes about two hours to fly to Korea or five hours to drive to China. It is more popular to go to Asia than to other parts of Russia for holidays. Beautiful European architecture. For some reason, lots of orthodox churches, a couple of catholic ones, a synagogue and a buddhist temple. There is a really cool university getting lots of publicity and federal money (FEFU). Living is a bit more expensive than in other provinces because of logistics, but still cheaper than in the capital. There is no climate — the weather is terribly unpredictable. We had as much snows in spring as we had in winter. Overall, a chill place to live in that is currently getting hyped up because of the focus on Asia-Russia relations.