This article discusses the city of Harbin in Manchuria. For other meanings of "Harbin", see Harbin.

Harbin (Simplified: 哈尔滨, Traditional: 哈爾濱, Pinyin: Hā'ĕrbīn, Wade-Giles: Ha-erh-pin, Russian Харби́н Kharbin) is a sub-provincial city in north-east China and the capital of the Heilongjiang Province. It lies on the southern bank of Songhua River. Harbin is a thriving industrial city .It is also the political, economic, scientific, cultural and communications mecca of Northeast China. Harbin is known as one of the major cities in China and Northeast Asia.

• City seat: Daoli District
• Population: 9,410,000 (as of 2001)
• Area: 53775 km², 1637 km² urban
• Geographic coordinates: 125°42′-130°10′ east, 44°04′-46°40′ N
• GDP: ¥141.48 billion (ca. US$17.149 billion) in 2004, ranked no.17 on total GDP and no.29 on GDP per capital among Chinese cities
• Competitive Ability: Ranked no.10 in <2004 Chinese City Competitive Ability Reports>
• Mayor: Shi Zhongxin (石忠信): since 2002

Harbin bears the nickname 'The Pearl on the swan's neck' because the shape of Heilongjiang resembles a swan. 'Oriental Moscow' or 'Oriental Paris' for the architecture in the city. Also is known as 'Ice City' for its long and cold winter.

Contents

1 Subdivisions 2 History 3 City Architecture 4 Winter Culture and Activities 5 Sister Cities 5.1 Domestic 5.2 International 6 Colleges and Universities 7 See also 8 External links and resources 8.1 External links 8.2 Further reading

Subdivisions

8 districts:

• Daoli (道里区)
• Nangang (南岗区)
• Dongli (动力区)
• Pingfang (平房区)
• Xiangfang (香坊区)
• Daowai (道外区)
• Songbei (松北区)
• Hulan (呼兰区)

4 county-level cities:

• Acheng (阿城市)
• Shangzhi (尚志市)
• Shuangcheng (双城市)
• Wuchang (五常市)

7 counties:

• Fangzheng (方正县)
• Bin (宾县)
• Yilan (依兰县)
• Bayan County (巴彦县)
• Tonghe (通河县)
• Mulan (木兰县)
• Yanshou (延寿县)

History

Human settlement in the Harbin area dates from at least 2200 BC (late Stone Age). It is formerly Pinkiang.

The modern city of Harbin originated in 1898 with the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway by Russia. In December 1918, during the Russian Civil War, Russian White Guards, with Chinese assistance, took the city: it then became a major centre of a large Jewish Community, White Russian émigré s.

Following the Russian defeat in the Russian-Japanese War (1904-5), Russia's influence declined, and 160,000 nationals from 33 countries including the United States, Germany, and France moved to Harbin. Sixteen countries established consulates and set up several thousand industrial, commercial and banking companies in Harbin. The Chinese also established their own businesses in brewing, foodstuffs and the textile industry. Harbin had established its status as the center of northeastern China and as an international metropolis.

Japanese troops occupied Harbin from February 4, 1932. The Soviet Army took the city on 20 August 1945. After a period under the control of the Kuomintang, the city came into the hands of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in April 1946.

The eight Harbin counties originally formed part of Songhuajiang Prefecture (松花江地区), and became incorporated into Harbin on August 11, 1999, making Harbin a sub-provincial city.

City Architecture

Called the Oriental Moscow, Harbin is one of China's more beautiful cities. The city is well-known for its unique, Russian-influenced architecture.

Zhong Yang Street (Central Street), one of the main business streets in Harbin, is a perfect remnant of the bustling international business activities at the turn of the 20th century. The 1.4km long street is a veritable museum of European architectural styles, including Baroque and Byzantine facades, Jewish architectulal wonders, little Russian bakeries, French fashion houses, American snack food outlets, Japanese restaurants, and a Eastern Orthodox church: Saint Sophia Church. Many citizens believe that the Orthdox church damaged the local feng shui, so they donated money to build a Chinese monastery in 1921, the Ji Le Temple. Actually there're more than 50 churches in harbin in history, ranging all the main religions,till 1949, about 20 churches were still there, unfortunately, several were destroyed later.

Winter Culture and Activities

Harbin is one of the sources of ice and snow culture in the world. Geographically, it is located in Northeast China under the direct influence of the cold winter wind from Siberia. The average temperature in summer is 21.2 degrees Celsius, -16.8 degrees Celsius in winter. It can be as cold as - 38.1 degrees Celsius in winter.

The annual "Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival" has been held since 1985. It starts from January 5th and will last for one month. There will be ice lantern park touring activities held in many parks in the city. Winter activities in the fastival includes Yabuli Alpine Skiing, winter-swimming in Songhua River, ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden, ect. Snow carving and ice and snow recreations are world famous.

The "Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival" is one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals, along with Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec Winter Carnival, and Norway's Ski Festival.

Sister Cities

Domestic

• Chengdu, Sichuan
• Dalian, Liaoning
• Guangzhou, Guangdong
• Hangzhou, Zhejiang
• Wenzhou, Zhejiang
• Xiamen, Fujian
• Xining, Qinghai

International

• Niigata, Japan
• Aarhus, Denmark
• Edmonton, Canada
• Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia
• Minneapolis, United States
• Ekhurunleni , South Africa
• Daugavpils, Latvia
• Khabarovsk, Russia
• Ploiesti, Romania
• Asahikawa,Japan
• Bucheon, South Korea
• Salvador, Brazil, Brazil
• Givatayim, Israel

Colleges and Universities

• Harbin Institute of Technology
• Harbin University of Science and Technology

See also

• Qiqihar
• Shenyang
• Dalian
• Changchun

External links and resources

External links

• Government website http://www.harbin.gov.cn/english/index.php (English)
• Government website http://www.harbin.gov.cn (Chinese)

Further reading

Thomas Lahusen. Harbin and Manchuria: Place, Space, and Identity. November 15, 2001. ISBN 0822364751.