At the beginning of the last century, the Tsarist Russian Empire tried to build a railway across the northeast of China in order to truly enable its port in the Pacific Ocean.
As the only intersection of this "Central and East Railway" and the Songhua River , this desolate and flat river beach in Harbin was selected by the Russian expedition team of and became a place for transit, distribution and settlement for the construction and managers in this huge road construction project.
Although the "Jin Shangjing" built by the Jurchens is indeed within the jurisdiction of Harbin today, as a real city, Harbin's history is actually very young.
On July 14, 1903, the entire Middle East Railway was opened to business. Amid the sound of the river and the train, on the black soil in the northeast, the Middle East Railway whistle was mixed with exotic style. With the great industrialization, a new city rose from the ground. This is Harbin.
Harbin soon became the largest city on this long railway line. The Central East Railway Engineering Bureau was changed to Middle East Railway Administration , and moved to Qinjiagang (now Nangang District, Harbin) for office work the following year. It established, clubs, residential areas, and other ancillary facilities in the current Nangang District . The earliest university in Harbin was also established in Nangang District; commercial service and entertainment functional areas were built in , Daoli District .
1898’s construction of the Middle East Railway and the October Revolution of Russia in 1917, a large number of Russian expatriates came to Harbin to settle. Among the people who came to Harbin, a large number of Russian road construction engineers, exploration experts, meteorological experts and a large number of skilled workers. Under the policy of the Russian government encouraging immigration, Russian merchants, farmers, craftsmen, revolutionaries, exiled nobles and adventurers also followed one after another.
By the end of 1903, when the Middle East Railway began operations, the number of Russian expatriates in the affiliated areas along the railway reached 30,000.
In a sense, it was their arrival that enabled Harbin to quickly complete the transition from a small fishing village to a modern big city. Both economy, culture, and urban construction have developed rapidly. Harbin's reputation as " Oriental Moscow " has also come from this, and it can be called China's most fashionable metropolis.
Who gave the name Harbin?
Harbin City The name comes from Russian, or it is the name given by Russian .
Before the construction of the Middle East Railway, the Harbin area, as recorded in the old records, was just "three or five fishermen on the Songhua River, and the boats lived in one place, but it was just a bleak and cold village." Most of the fishing villages were scattered in the remote suburbs of Harbin's current urban area, so there was no way to talk about urban planning.
Initially, the Central and Eastern Railway Engineering Bureau planned to rename Harbin "Songhuajiang City".
Is Harbin originated from Fujia Store?
The answer is no.
Harbin started construction in 1897 and began to be synchronized, and Fujiadian is a Harbin area established by Russia.
In other words, the formation of Fujiadian was because the construction of the East-Central Railway required a large number of workers. When it was established in Harbin, a large number of workers were also needed, and a spontaneous formation of a residential area in Fujiadian.
The Qing government sent a management agency called Binjiang Road, so the name Harbin has nothing to do with Fujiadian.
The word Harbin comes from the Chinese transliteration of the Russian Харбин. In other words, Harbin has the Russian pronunciation name first, and then the Chinese pronunciation name .
Although Harbin is one of the most important cities in , the three northeastern provinces of are significantly different from other northeastern cities. says Zhao Benshan and other 2 people transfer represents the culture of the Northeast, which is purely a kind of dirty blasphemy.
In fact, whether it is the city’s appearance or the style of citizens, Harbin’s “famous style” is enough to dissolve and subvert most people’s stereotypes of Northeast culture .
When you linger in the streets and alleys of Harbin, you often feel like you are a different world. The skyline above the city consists of round domes, tent roofs, spire towers and golden tiles and double eaves seems to be reliving that historical feast.
Byzantine style, Gothic, Tatar and Huangwa Zhuyuan buildings are also wrapped in Baroque style, Japanese style, Turkish style and Chinese Baroque style coats, all seem to be telling the glorious past.
As a "rail new city" planned and built by the Russians, in the early stage of Harbin construction, the most active and bold artists and architects in Europe have come to show their skills in this brand new adventure park. The urban aesthetics from faraway Europe were perfectly transplanted on this fertile black soil.
Disperspectively spread outward with the Red Army Street as the center. You will find that European-style buildings built in various historical periods of Harbin stand in the city of today's Harbin, jointly revealing the annual rings of the city's growth.
They have different shapes and styles; they have diverse functions and are full of brilliance. Some have been destroyed in the evolution of history, while others still assume corresponding functions. For example, to this day, Harbin citizens still regard the Hagia Sophia Church, which was built by the Russians, as the unquestionable number one landmark of the city.
Interestingly, it is not only foreigners who are keen on building European-style buildings in Harbin. In the " Laodaowai ", where Chinese people lived in that year, there was a building complex called "Chinese Baroque", which was a commercial area built by Chinese businessmen in Harbin at the beginning of the last century. They hired foreign architects to imitate other European buildings in the city and combine their own aesthetics.
It can be seen that the aesthetic genes of Russian architecture have permeated the growth of life in the entire Harbin city. Even to this day, it still deeply affects the city's appearance, the vision and taste of the citizens in the city.
Harbin's official city tone is beige. This color from traditional Russian buildings extends from the original bungalows and churches to factories and dormitories in the industrial era, and then to various modern facilities today, making this high-latitude river city with long sunsets appear warm and deep in any season.
It can be said that just in terms of the appearance of the city, there is no Chinese city like Harbin, which has melted such a pure European style. This is the most prominent "famous" feature in Harbin. However, its "style" does not stop at the appearance.
"Trendy" Harbin citizens' lives
The Songhua River has extremely abundant water, and is a rare broad river in the north. For Harbin citizens, it is both a natural and superior waterway and an excellent background for leisure and entertainment. Of course, given the extremely developed railway transportation in this city, the latter's significance is naturally more important.
next to the wetland island Sun Island on the north bank of the Songhua River, and may be one of the most prestigious tourist attractions in Harbin. But when tourists from other places hummed "On the Sun Island" and landed on the island with anticipation, they often returned soon disappointed. Frankly speaking, the island is really unremarkable in terms of scenery alone.
is not really a person with a shallow eyelid and a clean broom is cherished. In fact, the true vitality of Sun Island has never lies in its scenery, but in its close integration with the lives of Harbin citizens.
Sun Island, the "back garden" of Harbin citizens.
Nowadays, "exquisite camping" is by no means exclusive to the middle-class fashion of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.Influenced by the Russians' concept of life, the culture of picnics and outings has been extremely popular among the general public in Harbin for a hundred years.
Sun Island is an excellent place for Harbin citizens to have an outing and picnic. Every weekend, the family paddled a small sampan , slowly crossing the river, looking for a grass, a piece of trees, spreading the dining cloth and sitting on the ground, watching the tall buildings on the other side, bathing in the cool river breeze, this is the essence of life in Harbin.
The sun is shining and the white clouds are lingering. If there is anything else that can make this pleasant Sun Island picnic more pleasant, then there is only music.
In an old-school "Har-style" picnic party, someone will definitely carry a guitar or accordion . As a unique instrument widely popular in Eastern Europe, the latter is of great significance to Harbin.
At the beginning of the last century, Eastern European expatriates living in Harbin brought pure European music enlightenment to this young city with their accordion. Whether it is a picnic on Sun Island, a party in a school factory or a mine, or an impromptu performance on Central Street , the accordion is everywhere. The young man with a spring breeze on his face sat around the grass by the river, singing Soviet songs with the sound of the accordion, which is also the childhood memories of countless Harbin people.
Harbin's temperament is very unique, charming and romantic, full of foreign flavor, and is known as the Oriental Moscow and Little Paris in the Far East. The truth is that from the moment of his birth, foreign blood flowed in his blood.
This is a city full of European style and many Chinese Baroque buildings. Walking on Renaissance buildings on both sides of Central Street, Katyusha music comes from your ears. Sophia Church , a fairy tale world like snow, is the Little Paris in the East.
river water sometimes ripples in blue waves, sometimes winds surging, leaving behind a large number of shallows and River Island , which is the ocean in the hearts of Harbin people.
Harbin's future has countless possibilities, but that elegant and romantic citizen spirit will always be the most precious asset of the city.
