- published: 13 Sep 2012
- views: 317100
Vladivostok (Russian: Владивосто́к; IPA: [vlədʲɪvɐˈstok], literally ruler of the East) is a city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia, located at the head of the Golden Horn Bay, not far from Russia's borders with China and North Korea. The population of the city as of the 2010 Census was 592,034, down from 594,701 recorded in the 2002 Census. The city is the home port of the Russian Pacific Fleet and the largest Russian port on the Pacific Ocean.
The name Vladivostok loosely translates from Russian as "the ruler of the East"—a name similar to Vladikavkaz which means "the ruler of the Caucasus". In Chinese, the place where the city is situated nowadays was known since the Qing Dynasty as Haishenwai (海參崴, Hǎishēnwǎi), from the Manchu "Haišenwei" or "small seaside village"; the Chinese name can also be interpreted as "sea cucumber bay". In modern-day China, it is officially known by the transliteration Fuladiwosituoke (符拉迪沃斯托克, Fúlādíwòsītuōkè), although the historical Chinese name Haishenwai is still often used in common parlance and outside mainland China to refer to the city. The Japanese name of the city is Urajiosutoku (ウラジオストク; a rough transliteration of the Russian originally written in Kanji as 浦塩斯徳 and often shortened to Urajio; ウラジオ; 浦塩). In Korean, the name is transliterated as Beulladiboseutok (블라디보스토크) in South Korea, Ullajibosŭttokhŭ (울라지보스또크) in North Korea, and Beullajiboseu-ttokeu (블라지보스또크) by Koreans in China.
Pulled into Vladivostok
Must have been a hundred degrees below
And I can't remember ever being that cold
Then they shackled us like criminals
And put us on a train
And we waited in the darkness and the snow
We awakened in the morning
As the train began to roll
And the freezing Russian winter
Had already claimed its toll
From mountains ever northward
Seemed like six or seven days
Till we finally found the place we were to go
Hey Hey Vladivostok...What's it gonna be?
I'm so lonely, you're the only place thats left for me
Hey Hey Vladivostok, you got me on my knees
It's been so long since I went wrong
Someone help me, won't you please
I wish that I could see you
Hold you near just one more time
And hear you say the things you used to do
Well, lo and behold, I see before my eyes
A vision...apparition of you
You know I'd go a thousand miles
And I'd walk most all the way
Just to see you smile the way you do