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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) 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.
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2 History |
Subdivisions
7 districts:
4 county-level cities:
8 counties:
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 Guardss, with Chinese assistance, took the city: it then became a major centre of White Russian émigrés.
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 prefecture-level city.