Harbin

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The city of Harbin  哈尔滨    or Hā'ěrbīn in Pinyin, is the largest city in the north east of China and the capital city of Heilongjiang province. It was my first home in China having worked there from August 2007 until February 2008. Winter in Harbin is extremely cold and that was among the reasons why I chose to move further south for my next destination.

 

Harbin is a great city, heavily influenced by its past and current connections to Russia with its long and cold winters it is known as the ‘Ice City.’ As well as being the largest city in the north east of China, it is also the 8th largest city in the country with more than 10.6 million residents at the time of the last census taken in 2010.

 

The name Harbin, means ‘a place for drying fishing nets’ and it grew from a small settlement of around 30,000 in the late 19th century to the large modern city of today with the arrival of the Chinese Eastern Railway in 1898. Mostly built as an extension of the Trans-Siberian Railway from the Russian Empire, its rapid expansion housed many immigrants fleeing from persecution of that empires regime. In the early 20th century there were people living in Harbin from 33 countries, and 16 countries had opened consulates in the city. By 1917 the population had risen to over 100,000 with over 40,000 of those being ethnic Russians. One of the main shopping areas in Harbin today is called Zhongyang, meaning central in Chinese. Prior to 1945 the same street had a Russian name (Kitayskaya) or Chinese Street. The Socialist Revolution in 1917 saw a great increase in Russian refugees to Harbin, with a Russian community of 120,000 in the early 1920’s.

Harbin fell to the Japanese after Manchuria was invaded in September 1931. The city became a base for medical experiments of Unit 731, an infamous group responsible for the killing of people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. Up to 12,000 people were systematically tortured, the majority Chinese, although Russians and later allied prisoners of war were held at the facility.

 

Harbin was recaptured by the Soviet Army in August 1945 and control handed over to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in April 1946. During this period of Soviet control, thousands of Russians were forcibly repatriated back to Russia as being members of the Russian Fascist Party, by 1964 there were just 450 Russians in Harbin. Most other European residents of Harbin emigrated elsewhere during the period 1950-1954. The Russians living in Harbin today have moved there since the 1990’s.

 

A Climate of Extremes

Harbin is well known for its having the coldest and longest winters among all of China’s major cities. The name ‘The Ice City’ is very apt, the winters in general are dry and cold with an average January temperature of -18.4C, during the winter there is very little precipitation, so snow is in fact quite a rare event, there are lots of sunny days, just extremely cold. Summers in Harbin are hot, with an average July temperature of 23C. During the months of July and August it is very wet with more than half the annual rainfall occurring during these two months. The coldest recorded temperature during winter was -42.6C, with the hottest summer day reaching 39.2C.

 

European Influenced Cuisine

Harbin’s cuisine centre’s around a combination of European and Northern Chinese, typically heavy sauces and deep frying. One of Harbin’s most famous dishes is Guo Bao Rou, (similar to sweet and sour pork), it is bite sized pieces of pork in a potato starch batter and deep fried until crispy and light brown in colour. The sauce is made from syrup, rice vinegar, ginger, sugar, garlic, cilantro and carrot slices. Other areas of China make a similar product but use tomato ketchup and orange juice.

Russia has a strong influence in Harbin’s culinary style and flavor with several Russian style restaurants, particularly in the area of Zhongyang Street. Harbin is famous for its style of smoked savoury red sausage; they are similar to mild sausages available in Germany or Lithuania. A Russian merchant began selling imported clothes in Harbin in 1900; he then began importing canned foods as well as other goods for the growing European population in the city. In 1909 he founded his own sausage factory with staff from Lithuania; these sausages became a local specialty.

 

Winter in Harbin

Every winter, hundreds of ice sculptors descend on the city and every year from December until March the city is decorated with ice and snow sculptures. The temperature is regularly below      -35C in winter, with winter averages being just above -20C. The annual Harbin Ice and Snow Festival began in 1985 and is held every year from early in January. There are two main areas to view the ice festival, enormous snow sculptures can be found at Sun Island (across the Songhua River from the city) and the more famous illuminated ‘Ice and Snow World,’ it operates every evening of the festival  and the best time to go is just as it is getting dark. It is extremely cold but an enjoyable experience if well wrapped up against the cold. 15,000 workers are employed for the 16 days prior to the festival’s opening to prepare the buildings, sculptures and ice slides needed for the festival. You can also try skiing, snow mobile driving, take a horse drawn sled across the frozen river or even try winter swimming in the river.

 

European Architecture

Many of Harbin’s historical buildings built in Russian or other European styles are protected by the Chinese government. Zhongyang Street was first built in 1898 and the 1.4 km long street is like a living museum of differing architectural styles. Russian bakeries are next to French fashion houses, Japanese restaurants and American fast food outlets.

Saint Sophia Cathedral was built in 1907 and was restored after being damaged during the Cultural Revolution; it has been a museum since 1997. In 1949 there were 15 Russian Orthodox churches and 2 cemeteries in the city, ten churches remain today, but services are only held at one.

I left Harbin in February 2008 and moved to Sichuan province, swapping thermal clothing for much lighter thinner clothes, I liked the city but would not want to return to those cold winters.