Harbin

Harbin is the capital of the Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China. It lies on the southern bank of the Songhua River. With a population of over 9 million, Harbin is ranked as the tenth largest city in China, serving as a key political, economic, scientific, cultural and communications center of Northeastern China. Harbin is originally a Manchu word meaning "a place for drying fishing nets". Harbin bears the nicknames "The Pearl on the swan's neck" because the shape of Heilongjiang resembles a swan and “Ice City for its long and cold winter. This city is most famous for its beautiful display of ice sculptures in winter and is known as China’s gateway to trade with Russia. In the 1920s, Harbin was considered to be the fashion capital of China as new designs from Paris and Moscow reached here first before arriving in Shanghai.

Climate

Harbin is infamous for its very cold winters — it is at the same latitude as Montreal, and winter temperatures as low as -38.1°C have been recorded. Bring more clothes than you will think you will need so that you can layer. Average daytime summer temperatures are in the mid 20s(°C) with a few weeks reaching low 30s, while the coldest part of winter averages a chilly -17°C.

The winter can become dreary if you are a longterm resident, as the entire city uses coal for heat the air quality rapidly decreases during these months.

Harbin can be a great place to visit in the summer. The weather is cool and it seems to be perpetually breezy, and most of Harbin's streets are lined with trees. Because the city is so cold all winter, life almost explodes and people crowd the streets until late at night eating kababs, playing poker, and drinking Hapi (Harbin Beer). This is a great escape from the heat of Beijing. A trip up to the border regions this time of year would be nice as well.

Winter culture

Harbin celebrates its bitterly cold winters every year with the annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals. The festival officially starts on January 5th each year and lasts for one month, but many of the sculptures can be seen before. While there are ice sculptures throughout the city, there are two main exhibition areas: Enormous snow sculptures at Sun Island (a recreational area on the opposite side of the Songhua River from the city) and the separate "Ice and Snow World" that operates each night. Ice and Snow World features illuminated full size buildings made from blocks of ice. Winter activities in the festival include Yabuli Alpine Skiing, winter-swimming in Songhua River, and the ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden. Snow carving and ice and snow recreations are world famous.

Every November, the city of Harbin sends teams of ice artisans to the United States to promote their unique art form. It takes more than 100 artisans to create ICE!, the annual display of indoor Christmas-themed ice carvings in Nashville, Tennessee; Kissimmee, Florida; and Grapevine, Texas.

Harbin is also famed as an excellent location for winter sports and hosted the third Winter Asian Games in 1996 and the 2009 Winter Universiade. 

Economy

While Dalian is considered the region’s shipping center and Shenyang its financial hub, Harbin is striving hard towards becoming the key trade and shopping center of the region. Already, stores in the city include Missoni, Etro, Salvatore Ferragamo, Versace, Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton, Armani Collezioni, Emporio Armani, and Christian Dior.The city is located in one of the fastest growing regions in the world and can boast a number of advantages such as an abundance of natural resources, good transport system and plenty of human resources.

In 2008, Harbin's GDP reached RMB286.82 billion, an increase of 13.2 percent over the previous year. Tertiary industry output remained the largest component of GDP reaching RMB140.04 billion, an increase of 13.9 percent from the previous year. The total value for imports and exports by the end of 2008 was US$3.64 billion.

The soil in Harbin, called “black earth” is one the most nutrient rich in all of China, making it valuable for cultivating food and textile-related crops. As a result, Harbin is China’s base for the production of commodity grain and an ideal location for setting up agricultural businesses. Harbin also has industries such as light industry, textile, medicine, foodstuff, automobile, metallurgy, electronics, building materials, and chemicals which help to form a fairly comprehensive industrial system. Harbin Power Equipment Group Company and Northeast Light Alloy Processing Factory are two key enterprises. Harbin is also known as the capital of “power manufacturing”; hydro and thermal power equipment manufactured here makes up one-third of the total installed capacity in China.

Foreign investors are upbeat about the city. The Harbin Trade and Economic fair, has been held for 17 years annually, cumulatively attracting more than 1.3 million exhibitors and visitors and resulting in contracts of over US$90 billion. Japanese, Russian and Eastern European nations are increasingly looking to North China and Harbin for investment. Foreign direct investment remains low, but is growing as a result of government efforts, with utilized FDI totaling US$570 million, up 28.1 percent, in 2008. 

Harbin is also home to Harbin Institute of Technology, one of China’s most prestigious universities. Founded in 1920, the university has developed into an important research university focusing on engineering, with supporting faculties in the sciences, management, humanities and social sciences. The institute's faculty and students contributed to and invented China's first analog computer, the first intelligent chess computer, and the first arc-welding robot. Last year, research funding from the government, industry, and business sectors surpassed RMB1.13 billion, the second highest of any university in China.