In pre-revolutionary times, as now, the Far East was considered a promising region. Local merchants and entrepreneurs played a significant role in its development, among whom Mikhail Ivanovich Yankovsky stood out. He began his career by mining gold in the placers and later became the manager of a mine. From the 1870s, he became interested in breeding spotted deer, which eventually grew into a successful business. Mikhail Ivanovich gathered a large herd and engaged in antler deer farming, and Chinese merchants eagerly bought the antlers for use in traditional medicine. However, deer breeding was fraught with risks: Yankovsky's farms were often attacked by poachers and bandits.

Agriculture also became an important part of Yankovsky's life. He noticed that local Koreans grew soybeans and black rice instead of wheat and rye, as the Russians did. Adopting their experience, Mikhail Ivanovich created a vast plantation in the Far East, where his black rice turned out to be cheaper and better than the Korean one. Yankovsky did not stop there and became the first in Russia to grow ginseng on an industrial scale. His plantation had about 60,000 plants, and the 30-year-old roots were highly valued by Chinese merchants, who compared them to those from the taiga. Unfortunately, his farm did not survive: in winter, during the Bolshevik inventory, the plantation was covered in snow and was not accounted for, leading to the loss of all the plants.

Mikhail Ivanovich cared not only for his business but also for the preservation of the natural wealth of the Far East. He drew the authorities' attention to the predatory logging, warning that it would lead to climate deterioration. Yankovsky died in 1912, but his name continues to live on in the Far East.