The Most Westernized City in China Is in the Northeast
Probably because Errenzhuan and Zhao Benshan's sketches are so deeply rooted in people's minds, when it comes to Northeast China, most people envision scenes like snow-covered roofs, corn and garlic hanging on walls, elderly men sitting cross-legged on heated brick beds, and steaming hot dishes like pork stew and dumplings—simple, warm, and rustic.
This impression is not wrong or bad, but it should not be hastily applied to the entire Northeast. It's worth noting that Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang, is a highly "anomalous" presence in this world of stark contrasts and rustic simplicity.
Harbin under the night sky, a bustling metropolis in Northeast Asia.
Although Harbin is one of the most important cities in the three northeastern provinces, its customs and culture are significantly different from other cities in the region. In fact, whether in terms of the city's appearance or the demeanor of its residents, Harbin's "cosmopolitan flair" is enough to dissolve and颠覆 most people's stereotypes of Northeast culture.
A "Russian-Style Metropolis" on the Black Soil
Walking out of Harbin Railway Station, crossing the small square in front, and heading straight toward a road, you'll find Hongjun Street.
Although not as famous as the renowned Central Street, Hongjun Street is where our story of Harbin begins. Because, both temporally and spatially, this road stretching straight from the railway station is the starting point and embryo of Harbin's urban development.
Although the "Upper Capital of Jin" built by the Jurchens is within Harbin's current jurisdiction, as a true city, Harbin's history is actually very young.
In the early 20th century, the Russian Empire attempted to build a railway traversing Northeast China to fully utilize its Pacific ports. As the only intersection point between this "Chinese Eastern Railway" and the Songhua River, Harbin's desolate and flat riverside land was chosen by Russian survey teams as a transit, distribution, and settlement site for the construction workers and managers of this massive project.
The straight Chinese Eastern Railway traversed Northeast China, profoundly influencing the region's modern situation.
With the completion of the railway, amid the sounds of the river and trains, Harbin quickly became the largest city along this lengthy railway line. Because its rise heavily relied on the railway, its early settlement pattern spread from the railway station as a base, differentiated on both sides of the tracks, and extended to the banks of the Songhua River.
Therefore, Hongjun Street, closest to the railway station, preserves Harbin's earliest血脉 and texture. Even today, we can catch glimpses of the city's original风貌 on this street. For example, there is a very unique KFC here.
KFC (Hongjun Street Branch), the most unique KFC in China.
The book "Modern Chinese Cities and Architecture" introduces the building currently leased by this international fast-food giant as follows:
"The office and residence of the Chinese Eastern Railway Council, built in 1908, is a田园-style small house with the building in the center surrounded by a small courtyard full of flowers and trees. The eaves decorations, balcony railings, and rain seam supports are all designed in the Art Nouveau style,模仿 plant forms. The roof is made of curved iron sheets, while the tower is crowned with a Russian-style tent roof, highlighting the compositional center..."
There are over a dozen such buildings on Hongjun Street. As the prototype of Harbin's urban development, these exquisite Western-style houses each boast a string of impressive architectural titles, silently interpreting the city's aesthetic foundation:
As a "railway new town" planned and built by the Russians, during Harbin's early development stages, the most active and daring European artists and architects came to this new adventure playground to showcase their talents. Urban aesthetics from distant Europe were perfectly transplanted onto this fertile black soil.
Expanding the perspective outward from Hongjun Street as the center, you'll find European-style buildings from various historical periods of Harbin dotted throughout the city, collectively revealing the growth rings of Harbin's development.
They vary in form and style, serve diverse functions, and are radiant and colorful. Some have been lost to the passage of time, while others still serve their original purposes. For example, even today, Harbin residents regard the St. Sophia Church, built by the Russians as a military church, as the city's undisputed top landmark.
Interestingly, it wasn't just foreigners who were enthusiastic about building European-style architecture in Harbin. In the "Old Daowai" area, where Chinese residents once gathered, there is a group of buildings known as "Chinese Baroque." These were commercial districts built in the early 20th century by Chinese merchants in Harbin, who hired foreign architects to imitate other European-style buildings in the city while incorporating their own aesthetics.
The urban road planning of Harbin also exhibits a distinct European style.
It is evident that the aesthetic DNA of Russian architecture runs through the entire growth of Harbin's urban life. Even today, it continues to profoundly influence the city's appearance, as well as the vision and taste of its citizens.
For example, the official color palette of Harbin today is beige. This color, derived from traditional Russian buildings, has extended from the initial Western-style houses and churches to factories and dormitories of the industrial era, and further to modern facilities. It lends this high-latitude river city, known for its long sunsets, a warm and profound atmosphere in every season.
The Yangmingtan Bridge, which incorporates Gothic architectural elements.
Many public buildings in Harbin still use European elements such as Greek columns, pediments, and Byzantine domes. Although in the context of contemporary China, these elements are often seen as symbols of poor taste or "nouveau riche extravagance," in Harbin alone, their presence feels natural, appropriate, and dignified.
It can be said that, in terms of urban appearance, no other Chinese city blends such authentic European charm as Harbin does. This is Harbin's most notable "Western flair." However, this flair is not limited to its exterior.
Harbin's old city stops growing at the banks of the Songhua River. The Songhua River is exceptionally abundant in water volume, making it a rare broad river in northern China. For Harbin residents, it serves both as a naturally superior waterway and an excellent backdrop for leisure and recreation. Of course, given the city's highly developed railway transportation, the latter significance is naturally more important.
Sun Island, a wetland island adjacent to the northern bank of the Songhua River, is perhaps one of Harbin's most famous tourist attractions. However, when out-of-town tourists hum the tune of "On Sun Island" and eagerly step onto the island, they often leave disappointed soon after. Frankly speaking, in terms of scenery alone, the island has little to offer.
It is not that Harbin residents have low standards or overvalue their own possessions. In fact, Sun Island's true vitality has never lain in its scenery but in its deep integration with the daily lives of Harbin's citizens.
Sun Island, the "back garden" of Harbin residents.
Today, "glamping" seems to have become a trend exclusive to the middle class in first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Little do people know that, deeply influenced by Russian lifestyle concepts, picnic and outing culture has been extremely popular among the broad masses of Harbin residents for a century.
Sun Island is an ideal spot for Harbin residents to picnic and enjoy outings. It is not far from the city center but is separated by a broad, calm river. On weekends, families row small sampans leisurely across the river, find a patch of grass or a shaded spot under trees, spread out a picnic blanket, and sit on the ground. Gazing at the high-rises on the opposite bank while bathing in the cool river breeze—this is the essence of life in Harbin.
Harbin residents relaxing on the embankments of the Songhua River.
For such picnics to work, what lies beneath the white cloth in the small bamboo basket cannot be braised pork knuckles or stir-fried fatty intestines. In fact, the popularity of Russian culinary culture, especially Russian cold dishes, among Harbin residents is a key reason why picnic culture is so widely embraced.
If you ask someone from Northeast China what specialty to buy when traveling to Harbin, the answer will undoubtedly be red sausage. This processed meat product, suitable for cold consumption, is deeply embedded in the lives of Harbin residents. So much so that most people have long forgotten its origins in Eastern European countries like Russia and the Czech Republic.
Qiulin Company is Harbin's oldest commercial group.
The red sausage, kvass, and large bread (dalieba) they sell are still highly regarded by citizens.
Similar examples are countless in Harbin's food culture. For instance, the once most popular staple food, "dalieba," is actually a phonetic translation of the Russian word for "bread." Of course, the coarse and hearty dalieba is not as popular in modern Harbin, but the Russian-style fermented beverage "kvass," derived from its fermentation process, is undoubtedly Harbin residents' favorite soft drink. Not only is the kvass produced by Qiulin Company sold nationwide, but many restaurants in Harbin also brew their own kvass to serve customers.
The most popular types of Russian-style food in Harbin.
Spread jam on dalieba, slice red sausage into small pieces, break off two smoked tofu rolls, and tear into a halal roasted chicken. With bright sunshine and drifting white clouds, if there is anything that could make this delightful Sun Island picnic even more enjoyable, it would be music.
Indeed, at an old-school Harbin-style picnic, someone would invariably bring a guitar or an accordion. The latter, a unique instrument widely popular in Eastern Europe, holds profound significance for Harbin.
In the early 20th century, Eastern European expatriates in Harbin introduced pure European musical enlightenment to the young city through the accordion. Their students, and their students' students, later spread across government institutions, factories, and neighborhoods, making Harbin residents' musical literacy and taste unparalleled.
An accordion performer on Central Street and the Harbin International Hotel, which resembles an accordion.
If we return to the aforementioned Hongjun Street, you will even find a "Art Nouveau" building constructed in 1937, now known as the "Harbin International Hotel." Its design inspiration is precisely a giant accordion, showcasing Harbin people's fervent love for this instrument.
Whether at picnics on Sun Island, gatherings in schools and factories, or impromptu performances on Central Street, the accordion is everywhere. Cheerful young people sitting on the grassy riverbank, singing Soviet songs along with the accordion, is a childhood memory for countless Harbin residents.
A young boy playing the accordion on the streets of Harbin.
In such a rich musical atmosphere, Harbin has nurtured a vast number of musical talents for New China. The Russian-style music played on the accordion, often composed in melancholic minor keys, profoundly influenced the aesthetics of these Harbin-born musicians.
The Russian music teachers who once taught accordion in Harbin would never have imagined that "Lake Baikal," a minor-key pop song by Li Jian, a descendant of this city, would become the most well-known artwork about the vast Russian lake. This is indeed a dramatic twist of fate.
Harbin Grand Theatre, a new landmark of the "City of Music."
Whether it's playing the accordion, enjoying cold dishes, going on outings, or ice skating, these "Western" customs have long been integrated into the fabric of urban life, blending seamlessly with the local "Northeastern culture":
Listening to Errenzhuan (a local folk performance) and then attending a concert feels perfectly natural; having a铸铁锅炖菜 (iron pot stew) for lunch and dining at a Russian restaurant for dinner offers effortless versatility. Just as Harbin homemakers cook borscht at home, using standard Russian red soup to stew beef and ribs, or stir-frying Eastern European-style red sausage with green peppers... they firmly believe they are preparing authentic Northeastern dishes.
Whether it's the city's "cosmopolitan" aesthetic or the "petty bourgeois" lifestyle of its residents, these intangible spiritual elements undoubtedly rely on the silent support of a modern urban economic system.
If the Songhua River embodies Harbin's romantic charm, the railway intersecting it reflects the city's profound strength as a major Northeastern hub.
Harbin remains the most critical railway hub city in Northeast China.
In the city's early days, to continuously train engineers for the Chinese Eastern Railway, the Russians established higher education institutions in Harbin. This academic lineage evolved step by step, culminating in today's Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT). Without a doubt, this C9 League university is the best science and engineering institution in the entire Northeast, bar none.
Intensive international exchanges and a long, robust history of higher education have made Harbin a city with formidable scientific research capabilities. In this chilly river city, there are numerous universities, research institutes, and factories, home to a large number of scientists. Many of the nation's core technologies, especially in aerospace and military industries, are intricately linked to Harbin.
Ultimately, all of this is thanks to the railway. Harbin people take immense pride in their railway culture. For example, at the present-day Harbin Children's Park, you can still see a two-kilometer-long circular amusement railway equipped with many "stations."
It is hard to imagine that for fifty years, starting from the 1950s, this railway and the "Young Pioneers' Train" that loops around the park every eight minutes were entirely managed and operated by the children of Harbin.
The miniature train at Children's Park today.
From station masters, attendants, and railway police to drivers, broadcasters, ticket sellers, ticket checkers, and track inspectors... all roles were filled by Harbin elementary school students assigned by their teachers to "work shifts." They cheerfully hosted wave after wave of foreign guests and envious children from other places, showcasing the city's romance and prosperity.
This uniquely "hardcore" game, unparalleled anywhere in the world, could only have been born in Harbin. One can imagine how happy and dignified the lives of these children on the train and the residents from all walks of life in this city must have been back then.
Today, with the increase in its subordinate counties, Harbin has become the provincial capital with the largest area in China.
More and more bridges have been built over the Songhua River, and Harbin's urban area is rapidly expanding toward the north bank of the great river. As a quintessential industrial city and an increasingly mature ice and snow tourism destination, Harbin's future holds countless possibilities. However, its elegant and romantic civic spirit will always remain the city's most precious treasure.
A sweet potato roasting stall in front of St. Sophia Church.
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