Tumen (simplified Chinese: 图们; traditional Chinese: 圖們; pinyin: Túmén; Chosŏn'gŭl: 도문; Hangul: 투먼) is a county-level city in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, eastern Jilin province, Northeast China. Of its 136,000 inhabitants, approximately 78,000 (or 57%) are of Korean descent.[citation needed] The two official languages are Chinese and Korean. Tumen is separated from Namyang of North Hamgyong province of North Korea by the Tumen River. Due to this proximity, many North Koreans escaping North Korea pass through Tumen. Tumen is also the location of a large detention center for captured North Koreans awaiting deportation. Tumen has two major food markets, the South Market and the North Market, where most of the residents purchase their food. Packaged foods and meats are usually sold inside the building, and vegetables are sold outside. There are six elementary schools, with three Korean schools, and three Chinese schools.
A riverfront promenade in the city has restaurants where patrons can gaze across the river into North Korea.[2]
^[1] Onishi, Norimitsu, "Tension, Desperation: The China-North Korean Border", October 22, 2006. Information here comes from a one-paragraph caption ("The View from Prosperity") in the article's extensive illustration.
