Tsurukhaitu was a trading post along the Russo-Chinese border north of Peking during the eighteenth century. For background see Kyakhta trade. It was never successful because the Kyakhta route was easier than the long trek east from Lake Baikal. The trade route ran from Irkutsk east to Tsurukhaitu (about 7 weeks) and southeast through Tsitsihar and the Shanhai Pass to Peking, over 650 miles longer than the Kyakhta route. By the Treaty of Kyakhta (1727) all official trade was to be conducted through border posts near the future Kyakhta and Tsurukhaitu. Once the Treaty was completed Sava Vladislavich made elaborate plans for the two new posts, Tsurukhaitu being somewhat smaller. Previously trade in the area was from Nerchinsk to Tsitsihar. The site was chosen in 1728 by Temofei Burtsov, a co