Editing Harbin (section)

==History==
===Early history===
Human settlement in the Harbin area dates from at least 2200 BC during the late [[Stone Age]]. [[Wanyan Aguda]], the founder and first emperor (reigned 1115–1123) of the [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] (1115–1234), was born in the [[Jurchen people|Jurchen]] [[Wanyan]] tribes who resided near the [[Ashi River]] in this region.<ref>{{cite book|author1= Su Jinyuan|title=On Wanyan Aguda's Political and Economic Reform|date= February 1982|publisher=[[Collected Papers of History Studies]]}}</ref>  In AD&nbsp;1115 Aguda established Jin's capital Shangjing (Upper Capital) [[Huining Prefecture]] in today's [[Acheng District]] of Harbin.<ref name="chinakindnesstour.com">{{cite web |url= http://www.chinakindnesstour.com/cityguide/Harbin/Attractions/cityguide_2532.shtml |title= The Remains of Huining in Shangjing of Jin Dynasty |publisher= China Kindness Tour |access-date= 2014-10-15 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150923202824/http://www.chinakindnesstour.com/cityguide/Harbin/Attractions/cityguide_2532.shtml |archive-date= 2015-09-23 }}</ref> After Aguda's death, the new emperor [[Emperor Taizong of Jin|Wanyang Sheng]] ordered the construction of a new city on a uniform plan. The planning and construction emulated major Chinese cities, in particular [[Bianjing]] ([[Kaifeng]]), although the Jin capital was smaller than its [[Northern Song]] prototype.<ref name="tao28">Tao (1976). Pages 28-32.</ref> Huining Prefecture served as the first superior capital of the Jin Empire until [[Wanyan Liang]] (the fourth emperor of the Jin Dynasty) moved the capital to Yanjing (now [[Beijing]]) in 1153.<ref name="tao44">Tao, p. 44.</ref> Liang even went to destroy all palaces in his former capital in 1157.<ref name="tao44" /> Wanyan Liang's successor Wanyan Yong ([[Emperor Shizong of Jin|Emperor Shizong]]) restored the city and established it as a secondary capital in 1173.<ref>[http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9003190 "A-ch'eng"]. (2006). In ''Encyclopædia Britannica''.  Retrieved 4 December 2006 from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.</ref> Ruins of the Shangjing Huining Prefecture were discovered and excavated about {{convert|2|km|abbr=on}} from present-day Acheng's central urban area.<ref name="chinakindnesstour.com" /><ref name="bowuguan" /> The site of the old Jin capital ruins is a national historic reserve, and includes the {{ill|Jin Dynasty History Museum|zh|哈尔滨市阿城区金上京历史博物馆|vertical-align=sup}}. The museum, open to the public, was renovated in late 2005.<ref name="bowuguan">{{cite web |url=http://ta.harbin.gov.cn/hrblvyouju/display.php?id=588 |script-title=zh:金上京历史博物馆 |publisher=Harbin People's Government |language=zh-cn}}{{Dead link|date=December 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Mounted statues of Aguda and of his chief commander [[Wanyan Nianhan|Wanyan Zonghan]] (also Nianhan) stand in the grounds of the museum.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://heilongjiang.northeast.cn/system/2005/09/19/050136470.shtml=|script-title= zh:阿骨打、粘罕雕像落成 Aguda's and Nianhan's statues completed|access-date= 15 October 2014|publisher= 东北网| language=zh-hans|title= Funny Games Enjoy Now}}{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
Many of the artifacts found there are on display in nearby Harbin.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

After the [[Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty|Mongol conquest of the Jin Empire]] (1211–1234), Huining Prefecture was abandoned. In the 17th century, the Manchus used building materials from Huining Prefecture to construct their new stronghold in [[Acheng District|Alchuka]]. The region of Harbin remained largely rural until the 19th century, with over ten villages and about 30,000 people in the city's present-day urban districts by the end of the 19th century.<ref name="Historical Evolution">{{cite web |url=http://www.harbin.gov.cn/english/Harbin_Overview/Historical_Evolution.htm |title=Historical Evolution |publisher=Harbin Municipal Government |access-date=2017-01-17 |quote=At the end of the 19th century, there were over ten villages and about 30,000 people in Harbin, and the economic elements such as transportation, trade, and population began to develop, which laid the foundation for formation and development of the city. |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130223146/http://www.harbin.gov.cn/english/Harbin_Overview/Historical_Evolution.htm |archive-date=2013-01-30 }}</ref>

===International city===
{{See also|Harbin Russians}}

A small village in 1898 grew into the modern city of Harbin.<ref>{{cite book|title=Consul Hosie to Bax-Ironside|date=8 May 1899|series=Correspondence with the United States' Government Respecting Foreign Trade in China|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924023185204|page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924023185204/page/n331 154]|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |script-title=zh:哈尔滨市志 |trans-title=History of Harbin |author=哈尔滨市地方志编纂委员会 |year=1998 |publisher=黑龙江人民出版社 (Heilongjiang People's Press) |isbn=978-7-207-03841-8|language=zh}}</ref> [[Poland|Polish]] engineer [[Adam Szydłowski]] drew plans for the city following the construction of the [[Chinese Eastern Railway]], which the [[Russian Empire]] had financed.<ref name="Polishstudy">{{cite web|title=Polish Studies in China|url=http://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/21997/article|website=The Warsaw Voice|access-date=15 October 2014|date=30 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006092304/http://www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/21997/article|archive-date=6 October 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> The Russians selected Harbin as the base of their administration over this railway and the [[Chinese Eastern Railway Zone]]. The railways were largely constructed by Russian engineers and indentured workers. The Chinese Eastern Railway extended the [[Trans-Siberian Railway]], substantially reducing the distance from [[Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai|Chita]] to [[Vladivostok]] and also linking the new port city of Dalny ([[Dalian]]) and the Russian naval base of Port Arthur ([[Lüshun]]). The settlement founded by the Russian-owned Chinese Eastern Railway quickly turned into a [[boomtown]], growing into a city within five years. The Russian-speaking settlers in Harbin came from all over the Russian Empire, including  Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, Georgians, and [[Tatar people|Tatars]], in addition to Russians, eventually  making Harbin a Russian town, with the majority of population coming from the south of the European Russia.{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=311}}

The city was intended as a showcase for Russian imperialism in Asia and the American scholar [[Simon Karlinsky]], who was born in Harbin in 1924 into a Russian-Jewish family, wrote that in Harbin "the buildings, boulevards, and parks were planned—well before the [[October Revolution]]—by distinguished Russian architects and also by Swiss and Italian town planners", giving the city a very European appearance.{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=311}} Starting in the late 19th century, a mass influx of Han Chinese arrived in Manchuria, and taking advantage of the rich soils, founded farms that soon turned Manchuria into the "breadbasket of China" while others went to work in the mines and factories of Manchuria, which become one of the first regions of China to industrialize.  Harbin became one of the main points through which food and industrial products were shipped out of Manchuria.  A sign of Harbin's wealth was that a theater had established during its first decade and in 1907 the play ''[[K zvezdam]]'' by [[Leonid Andreyev]] had its premiere there.{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|pp=312–313}}

During the [[Russo-Japanese War]] (1904–05), Russia used Harbin as its base for military operations in Manchuria. Following Russia's defeat, its influence declined. Several thousand nationals from 33 countries, including the United States, Germany, and France, moved to Harbin. Sixteen countries established consulates to serve their nationals, who established several hundred industrial, commercial and banking companies. Churches were rebuilt for [[Saint Sophia Cathedral in Harbin|Russian Orthodox]], [[Harbin Nangang Christian Church|Lutheran/German Protestant]], and [[Sacred Heart Cathedral of Harbin|Polish Catholic]] Christians. Chinese capitalists also established businesses, especially in brewing, food, and textiles. Harbin became the economic hub of northeastern China and an international metropolis.<ref name="Historical Evolution"/>

The rapid growth of the city challenged the public healthcare system. The worst-ever recorded outbreak of [[pneumonic plague]] spread to Harbin through the Trans-Manchurian railway from the border trade port of [[Manzhouli]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Jing-tao|first1=Wang|script-title=zh:试析二十世纪初东北鼠疫与延边地区防疫卫生状况 |title=Analysis of the Rat Plague of Northeast China and the Sanitary and Antiepidemic Condition of Yanbian in the Early 20th Century|url=http://www.fabiao.net/content-41-56742-1.html|access-date=15 October 2014|language=zh|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030170717/http://www.fabiao.net/content-41-56742-1.html|archive-date=30 October 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> The plague lasted from late autumn of 1910 to spring 1911 and killed 1,500 Harbin residents (mostly ethnic Chinese), or about five percent of its population at the time.<ref name=JSTOR>{{cite journal|last1=Gamsa|first1=M.|title=The Epidemic of Pneumonic Plague in Manchuria 1910-1911|journal=Past & Present|date=1 February 2006|issue=190|pages=147–183|doi=10.1093/pastj/gtj001|s2cid=161797143}}</ref> This turned out to be the beginning of the large so-called [[Manchurian plague]] [[pandemic]], which ultimately claimed 60,000 victims. In the winter of 1910, Dr. [[Wu Lien-teh]] (later the founder of [[Harbin Medical University]]) was given instructions from the Foreign Office, Peking, to travel to Harbin to investigate the plague. Dr. Wu asked for imperial sanction to cremate plague victims, as cremation of these infected victims turned out to be the turning point of the epidemic. The suppression of this plague pandemic changed medical progress in China. Bronze statues of Dr. Wu Lien-teh were built in [[Harbin Medical University]] to remember his contributions in promoting public health, preventive medicine, and medical education.<ref>{{cite web|last=Article in Chinese|title=130th memorial of Dr. Wu Lien-teh|url=http://website.hrbmu.edu.cn/view/xywh/article/000543.html|access-date=15 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324201916/http://website.hrbmu.edu.cn/view/xywh/article/000543.html|archive-date=24 March 2012}}</ref>

The first generation of Harbin Russians were mostly the builders and employees of the Chinese Eastern Railway. They moved to Harbin in order to work on the railroad. At the time Harbin was not an established city. The city was almost built from scratch by the builders and early settlers. Houses were constructed, furniture and personal items were brought in from Russia. After the [[Manchurian plague]] epidemic, Harbin's population continued to increase sharply, especially inside the Chinese Eastern Railway Zone. In 1913 the Chinese Eastern Railway census showed its ethnic composition as: [[Russians]]&nbsp;– 34,313, Chinese (that is, including [[Han Chinese|Hans]], [[Manchus]] etc.)&nbsp;– 23,537, Jews&nbsp;– 5,032, [[Polish people|Poles]]&nbsp;– 2556, Japanese&nbsp;– 696, [[Germans]]&nbsp;– 564, [[Tatars]]&nbsp;– 234, [[Latvians]]&nbsp;– 218, [[Georgians]]&nbsp;– 183, [[Estonians]]&nbsp;– 172, [[Lithuanians]]&nbsp;– 142, [[Armenians]]&nbsp;– 124; there were also [[Crimean Karaites|Karaims]], [[Ukrainians]], [[Bashkirs]], and some Western Europeans. In total, 68,549 citizens of 53 nationalities, speaking 45 languages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sinoforum.pl/historia/harbin-najbardziej-polskie-z-chinskich-miast/ |title=Sinoforum&nbsp;– Harbin |publisher=Sinoforum.pl |access-date=2011-03-16 |language=pl |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100203161843/http://sinoforum.pl/historia/harbin-najbardziej-polskie-z-chinskich-miast/ |archive-date=2010-02-03 }}</ref> Research shows that only 11.5 percent of all residents were born in Harbin.<ref>Bakich, Olga Mikhailovna, "Emigre Identity: The Case of Harbin", ''The South Atlantic Quarterly'', Vol.99, No.1 (2000): 51–73.</ref> By 1917, Harbin's population exceeded 100,000, with over 40,000 of them being ethnic Russians.<ref name="эхо" />

Immediately after the [[February Revolution]] of 1917 [[Harbin Soviet]] was organized.<ref name="Lee1983">{{cite book|author=Chong-Sik Lee|title=Revolutionary Struggle in Manchuria: Chinese Communism and Soviet Interest, 1922-1945|url=https://archive.org/details/revolutionarystr00leec|url-access=registration|year=1983|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-04375-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/revolutionarystr00leec/page/27 27]}}</ref> It sought to seize control over the [[Chinese Eastern Railway]] and to defend Russian citizens in [[Manchuria]].<ref name="SladkovskiÄ1966">{{cite book|author=Mikhail Iosifovich Sladkovski|title=History of Economic Relations Between Russia and China &#91;by&#93; M.I. Sladkovskii|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VAk8RqPYfPgC&pg=PA145|date=1 January 1966|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-4128-2519-1|page=145}}</ref> The [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevik]] [[Martemyan Ryutin]] was the chairman of the Harbin Soviet.<ref name="Bisher2006"/>

After Russia's [[Great October Socialist Revolution]] in November 1917, the new Soviet government in Russia recognized the Harbin Soviet as its representation in Manchuria and placed Russian citizens in Manchuria under its protection.<ref name="SladkovskiÄ1966"/> Subsequently, the Harbin Soviet requested recognition of the local ''[[taotai]]''.<ref name="SladkovskiÄ1966"/> On 12 December 1917,<!-- old or new style?? --> Bolsheviks seized control over the Harbin Soviet, pressuring Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries to leave the body.<ref name="Bisher2006">{{cite book|author=Jamie Bisher|title=White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mg6RAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA42|date=16 January 2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=1-135-76595-2|page=42}}</ref> Through ''Golos Truda'' the Harbin Soviet declared itself as the government of the area.<ref name="Lee1983"/><ref name="Bisher2006"/> On 18 December 1917, the Harbin Soviet declared the Chinese Eastern Railway administrator [[Dmitry Horvat]] dismissed and directed its militia to seize control of the railway installations.<ref name="Lee1983"/><ref name="Bisher2006"/> The Bolshevik militia was soon confronted by Chinese troops and Horvat loyalists, who disarmed and deported some 1,560 Bolshevik fighters.<ref name="Lee1983"/><ref name="Bisher2006"/> Ryutin went underground.<ref name="Bisher2006"/>

In 1920 more than 100,000 defeated [[Russian White Guard]]s and refugees retreated to Harbin, which became a major center of [[White movement|White Russian]] [[émigré]]s and the largest Russian enclave outside the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="эхо" /> Karlinsky noted that a major difference with the Russian émigrés who arrived in Harbin was: "Unlike the Russian émigrés who went to Paris or Prague or even to Shanghai, the new residents of Harbin were not a minority surrounded by a foreign population. They found themselves instead in an almost totally Russian city, populated mainly by people with roots in the south of European Russia."{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=311}} The city had a Russian school system, as well as publishers of Russian-language newspapers and journals. The Russian ''Harbintsy''{{efn|"Harbintsy" is the Russian word for "people of Harbin", cf. Berliners, New Yorkers, Muscovites. It applies to any nationality, not just Russians. While the paper focuses on Russian Harbintsy, many of their experiences were shared by Russians living elsewhere in "Russian Manchuria".}} community numbered around 120,000 at its peak in the early 1920s.<ref name="maramoustafine">
{{cite web
|url=http://maramoustafine.com/wp-content/uploads/the-harbin-connection-anu-2004.pdf
|title=The Harbin Connection: Russians from China
|publisher=from Shen Yuanfang and Penny Edwards (eds) Beyond China: Migrating Identities, Centre for the Study of the Southern Chinese Diaspora, Australian National University, Canberra, 2002, pp7587
|access-date=23 April 2014
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191753/http://maramoustafine.com/wp-content/uploads/the-harbin-connection-anu-2004.pdf
|archive-date=3 March 2016
|url-status=live
}}
</ref> Many of Harbin's Russians were wealthy, which sometimes confused foreign visitors who expected them to be poor, with for instance the American writer [[Harry A. Franck]] in his 1923 book ''Wanderings in North China'' writing the Russian "ladies as well gowned as at the Paris races [who] strolled with men faultlessly garbed by European standards", leading him to wonder how they had achieved this "deceptive appearance".{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=312}}

The [[Harbin Institute of Technology]] was established in 1920 as the Harbin Sino-Russian School for Industry to educate railway engineers via a Russian method of instruction. Students could select from two majors at the time: Railway Construction or Electric Mechanic Engineering. On 2 April 1922, the school was renamed the Sino-Russian Industrial University. The original two majors eventually developed into two major departments: the Railway Construction Department and the Electric Engineering Department.  Between 1925 and 1928 the university's Rector was [[Leonid Ustrugov]], the Russian Deputy Minister of Railways under [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]] before the [[Russian Revolution]], Minister of Railways under [[Admiral Kolchak]]'s government and a key figure in the development of the [[Chinese Eastern Railway]].

The Russian community in Harbin made it their mission to preserve the pre-revolutionary culture of Russia. The city had numerous Russian language newspapers, journals, libraries, theaters, and two opera companies.{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=313–314}} One of the famous Russian poets in Harbin was [[Valery Pereleshin]], who started publishing his intensely [[Homosexuality|homoerotic]] poetry in 1937 and was also one of the few Russian writers in Harbin who learned Mandarin.{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=315–316}} The subject of Pereleshin's poetry caused problems with the [[Russian Fascist Party]], and led Pereleshin to leave Harbin for Shanghai, and ultimately to the United States.{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=315–316}} Not all of the Russian newspapers were of high quality, with Karlinsky calling ''[[Nash Put' (newspaper)|Nash put'<nowiki/>]]'', the newspaper of the [[Russian Fascist Party]] "the lowest example of gutter journalism that Harbin had ever seen".{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=315}} [[Nikolai Baikov]], a Russian writer in Harbin was known for his novels of exile life in that city together with his accounts of his travels across Manchuria and the folklore of its Manchu and Chinese population.{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=315}} [[Boris Yulsky]], a young Russian writer who published his short stories in the newspaper ''[[Rubezh (newspaper)|Rubezh]]'' was considered to be a promising writer whose career was cut short when he gave up literature for activism in the Russian Fascist Party and cocaine addiction.{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=315}} [[Kyakhta Russian–Chinese Pidgin|Moya-tvoya]] (mine – yours), a [[pidgin]] language that was a combination of Russian and [[Mandarin Chinese]] that had developed in the 19th century when Chinese went to work in Siberia, was considered essential by the Chinese businesspeople of Harbin.{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=313}}

In the early 1920s, according to Chinese scholars' recent studies, over 20,000 Jews lived in Harbin.<ref>Patrick Fuliang Shan, "'A Proud and Creative Jewish Community:' The Harbin Diaspora, Jewish Memory and Sino-Israeli Relations", American Review of China Studies, Fall 2008, pp. 15–29.</ref> After 1919, Dr. [[Abraham Kaufman]] played a leading role in Harbin's large Russian Jewish community.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC|title=Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World. Volume I: Overviews and Topics; Volume II: Diaspora Communities|first1=Melvin|last1=Ember|first2=Carol R.|last2=Ember|first3=Ian|last3=Skoggard|date=30 November 2004|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-0-306-48321-9|access-date=27 August 2016|via=Google Books|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508113750/https://books.google.com/books?id=7QEjPVyd9YMC|archive-date=8 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]] discontinued diplomatic relations with the [[Russian Republic]] in 1920, leaving many Russians stateless.{{Explain|date=October 2022}} When the Chinese Eastern Railway and government in Beijing announced in 1924 that they agreed the railroad would employ only Russian or Chinese nationals, the émigrés  were forced to announce their ethnic and political allegiance. Most accepted Soviet citizenship.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}

The Chinese warlord [[Zhang Xueliang]], the "Young Marshal" seized the Chinese Eastern Railway in 1929. The Soviet military force quickly put an end to the crisis and forced the [[Kuomintang|Nationalist Chinese]] to accept the restoration of joint Soviet-Chinese administration of the railway.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/stalin/lectures/CollectSec.html|title=Collective security|access-date=27 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705195940/http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/stalin/lectures/CollectSec.html|archive-date=5 July 2008}}</ref>

===Japanese invasion period===
{{See also|Defense of Harbin|Unit 731}}
[[File:Unit 731 - Complex.jpg|thumb|left|Headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Army's covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit (Unit 731)]]

Japan invaded [[Manchuria]] outright after the [[Mukden Incident]] in September 1931. After the Japanese captured [[Qiqihar]] in the [[Jiangqiao Campaign]], the [[4th Mixed Brigade (Imperial Japanese Army)|Japanese 4th Mixed Brigade]] moved toward Harbin, closing in from the west and south. Bombing and strafing by Japanese aircraft forced the Chinese army to retreat from Harbin. Within a few hours, the Japanese occupation of Harbin was complete.<ref>Matsuzaka, ''The Making of Japanese Manchuria'', 1904–1932.</ref>

With the establishment of the [[puppet state]] of [[Manchukuo]], the so-called "[[pacification of Manchukuo]]" began, as volunteer armies continued to fight the Japanese. Harbin became a major operations base for the infamous medical experimenters of [[Unit 731]], who killed people of all ages and ethnicities. All these units were known collectively as the ''Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army''.<ref>Yuki Tanaka, ''Hidden Horrors'', 1996, p. 136.</ref> The main facility of the Unit 731 was built in 1935 at [[Pingfang District]], approximately {{convert|24|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of Harbin urban area at that time.<ref name="SHK1">{{cite book| last=Harris|first=Sheldon H.| title=Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932–45 and the American Cover-Up| year=1994| publisher=Routledge |location=California State University, Northridge |isbn=0-415-93214-9| pages=26–33|quote=Page 26: Zhong Ma Prison Camp's creation; Page 33: Pingfang site's creation.}}</ref>
Between 3,000 and 12,000 citizens, including men, women, and children,<ref name="dcr">David C. Rapoport. "Terrorism and Weapons of the Apocalypse". In James M. Ludes, Henry Sokolski (eds.), ''Twenty-First Century Weapons Proliferation: Are We Ready?'' Routledge, 2001. pp. 19, 29.</ref><ref>[[Khabarovsk War Crime Trials]]. ''Materials on the Trial of Former Servicemen of the Japanese Army Charged with Manufacturing and Employing Biological Weapons'', Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1950. p. 117.</ref>—from which around 600 every year were provided by the ''[[Kempeitai]]''<ref>Yuki Tanaka, ''Hidden Horrors'', Westviewpress, 1996, p. 138.</ref>—died during the human experimentation conducted by Unit 731 at the camp based in [[Pingfang]] alone, which does not include victims from other medical experimentation sites.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lit.osaka-cu.ac.jp/user/tsuchiya/gyoseki/presentation/IAB8.html|title=[IAB8] Imperial Japanese Medical Atrocities|access-date=27 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304043000/http://www.lit.osaka-cu.ac.jp/user/tsuchiya/gyoseki/presentation/IAB8.html|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> Almost 70 percent of the victims who died in the [[Pingfang]] camp were [[Chinese people|Chinese]], including both civilian and military.<ref>{{cite web |script-title=ja:旧日本軍の７３１部隊（細菌部隊）人体実験に朝鮮人 日本の公文書で初確認 |trans-title=AII The War Crime "Unit 731" and Chinese, Korean Civilian. ci|url=http://www1.korea-np.co.jp/sinboj/sinboj2002/8/0826/81.htm|website=Korea-np.co.jp|publisher=조선신보|language=ja|access-date=15 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150813034434/http://www1.korea-np.co.jp/sinboj/sinboj2002/8/0826/81.htm|archive-date=13 August 2015}}</ref> Close to 30 percent of the victims were Russian.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.x-libri.ru/elib/morim000/00000036.htm|trans-title=Seiichi Morimura, The Devil's Gluttony|script-title=ru:Моримура Сэйити Кухня Дьявола-доставка В Живом Виде По Первому Требованию|year=1981|language=ru|access-date=15 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140906073729/http://www.x-libri.ru/elib/morim000/00000036.htm|archive-date=6 September 2014}}</ref> The Russian Fascist Party had the task of capturing "unreliable" Russians living in Harbin to hand over to Unit 731 to serve as the unwilling subjects of the gruesome experiments.<ref>Bisher, Jamie ''White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian'', London: Routledge, 2005 p.305.</ref>

Some others were [[Southeast Asians]] and [[Pacific Islanders]] from the colonies of the [[Empire of Japan]], and a small number of the [[prisoners of war]] from the [[Allies of World War II]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp/~tamura/731butai.htm |trans-title=The devil unit, Unit 731 |script-title=ja:７３１部隊について|language=ja|access-date=15 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923171112/http://www.cc.matsuyama-u.ac.jp/~tamura/731butai.htm|archive-date=23 September 2010}}</ref> (although many more Allied POWs were victims of Unit 731 at other sites). Prisoners of war were subjected to [[vivisection]] without anesthesia, after being infected with various diseases.<ref name="dissect">{{cite news |title=Dissect them alive: order not to be disobeyed |author=Richard Lloyd Parry |newspaper=Times Online |date=25 February 2007 |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1438491.ece |location=London |access-date=14 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070228095300/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1438491.ece |archive-date=28 February 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Prisoners were injected with inoculations of disease, disguised as vaccinations, to study their effects. Unit 731 and its affiliated units (Unit 1644 and Unit 100 among others) were involved in research, development, and experimental deployment of epidemic-creating biowarfare weapons in assaults against the Chinese populace (both civilian and military) throughout World War II. Human targets were also used to test [[grenades]] positioned at various distances and in different positions. [[Flame throwers]] were tested on humans. Humans were tied to stakes and used as targets to test [[germ warfare|germ-releasing bombs]], [[chemical weapons]], and explosive [[bomb]]s.<ref>Monchinski, Tony (2008). ''Critical Pedagogy and the Everyday Classroom''. Volumen 3 de Explorations of Educational Purpose. Springer, p. 57. {{ISBN|1-4020-8462-5}}.</ref><ref>Neuman, William Lawrence (2008). ''Understanding Research''. Pearson/Allyn and Bacon, p. 65. {{ISBN|0-205-47153-6}}.</ref>

Twelve Unit 731 members were found guilty in the [[Khabarovsk War Crime Trials]] but later repatriated. Others received secret immunity by the [[Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers]], [[Douglas MacArthur]], before the [[Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal]] in exchange for their [[biological warfare]] work in the [[Cold War]] for the American Forces.<ref name="Gold109">Hal Gold, ''Unit 731 Testimony'', 2003, p. 109.</ref>

[[File:Three different nationalities on Kitaiskaia Street.JPG|thumb|Three different nationalities – Chinese, Japanese and Russian – on Kitaiskaia Street]]
Chinese revolutionaries including [[Zhao Shangzhi]], [[Yang Jingyu]], [[Li Zhaolin]], [[Zhao Yiman]] continued to struggle against the Japanese in Harbin and its administrative area, commanding the main anti-Japanese guerrilla army-[[Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army]]—which was originally organized by the Manchurian branch of the [[Chinese Communist Party]] (CCP). The army was supported by the [[Comintern]] after the CCP Manchurian Provincial Committee was dissolved in 1936.

[[File:Russian fascists at Harbin 1934.jpg|thumb|left|Anti–communist [[Russian Fascist Party]] [[Blackshirts]], inspired by [[Italian Fascism]], at [[Harbin Railway Station]], 1934, waiting for arrival of their leader [[Konstantin Rodzaevsky]]]]
Under the Manchukuo régime and Japanese occupation, Harbin Russians had a difficult time. In 1935, the Soviet Union sold the Chinese Eastern Railway (KVZhD) to the Japanese, and many Russian emigres left Harbin (48,133 of them were arrested during the Soviet [[Great Purge]] between 1936 and 1938 as "Japanese spies"<ref>These statistics, based on research work by A. B. Roginsky and O. A. Gorlanov of Memorial's Research and Information Centre, were provided to the author in May 2002.</ref>).<ref name="эхо">{{cite book |script-title=ru:Эхо планеты № 42 |trans-title=Echo of the Planet No.42|publisher=ИТАР-ТАСС (Russian News Agency "TASS")|page=30|language=ru}}</ref> Most departing Russians returned to the Soviet Union, but a substantial number moved south to Shanghai or emigrated to the United States and Australia. By the end of the 1930s, the Russian population of Harbin had dropped to around 30,000.<ref name="Clausen"/>

Many of Harbin's Jews (13,000 in 1929) fled after the Japanese occupation as the Japanese associated closely with militant anti-Soviet [[Russian Fascist Party|Russian Fascists]], whose ideology of anti-Bolshevism and nationalism was laced with virulent anti-Semitism.<ref name="RFP">Stephan, John J. 1978. The Russian Fascists: Tragedy and Farce in Exile 192545. London: Hamish Hamilton.</ref> The Kwantung Army-sponsored and financed the Russian Fascist Party, which after 1932 started to play an over-sized role in the Harbin's Russian community as its thugs began to harass and sometimes kill those opposed to it. Most Jews left for [[Shanghai]], [[Tianjin]], and the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Huang|title=Shanghai Jews as seen by Chinese Jewish People in Shanghai for 138 years|url=http://www.dangoor.com/71page18.html|website=The Scribe|access-date=15 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823074407/http://www.dangoor.com/71page18.html|archive-date=23 August 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> In the late 1930s, some German Jews fleeing the Nazis moved to Harbin. Japanese officials later facilitated Jewish emigration to several cities in western Japan, notably [[Kobe]], which came to have Japan's largest synagogue.

===After World War II===
[[File:Pamyatnik sovetskim voinam.jpg|thumb|left|[[Soviet Red Army Monument, Harbin|Monument to Soviet soldier]]s in Harbin's Nangang District, built by Soviet Red Army in 1945]]
The [[Red Army|Soviet Army]] [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|took the city]] on 20 August 1945<ref name="Glantz">LTC David M. Glantz, [http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/cgsc/carl/download/csipubs/LP7_AugustStormTheSoviet1945StrategicOffensiveInManchuria.pdf "August Storm: The Soviet 1945 Strategic Offensive in Manchuria"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723082515/http://www.cgsc.edu/carl/resources/csi/glantz3/glantz3.asp|date=2011-07-23}}. Leavenworth Papers No. 7, Combat Studies Institute, February 1983, [[Fort Leavenworth]] [[Kansas]].<!-- Mirrored at, or redirected from/to, http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/glantz3/glantz3.asp --></ref> and Harbin never came under the control of the [[Nationalist Government]], whose troops stopped {{convert|60|km|abbr=on}} short of the city.<ref name="USSR1991">{{cite web|script-title=ru:Освобождение городов КИТАЙ(Liberation of Cities-China)|url=http://www.soldat.ru/spravka/freedom/6-china.html|website=Soldat.ru|access-date=15 October 2014|language=ru|date=9 May 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140702175103/http://soldat.ru/spravka/freedom/6-china.html|archive-date=2 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> The city's administration was transferred by the departing Soviet Army to the Chinese [[People's Liberation Army]] in April 1946. On 28 April 1946, the [[Soviet occupation of Harbin|communist government of Harbin]] was established, making the 700,000-citizen-city the first large city governed by the communists.<ref name="Historical Evolution"/> During the short occupation of Harbin by the Soviet Army (August 1945 to April 1946), thousands of Russian emigres who had been identified as members of the [[Russian Fascist Party]] and fled communism after the Russian October Revolution,<ref name="maramoustafine"/> were forcibly deported to the Soviet Union. After 1952 the Soviet Union launched a second wave of immigration back to Russia.<ref name="maramoustafine"/> By 1964, the Russian population in Harbin had been reduced to 450.<ref name="Clausen">Hal Gold, Clausen, Søren and Stig Thøgersen (eds). 1995. The Making of a Chinese City:History and Historiography in Harbin. New York: M. E. Sharpe.</ref> The rest of the European community (Russians, Germans, Poles, Greeks, etc.) emigrated from 1950 to 1954 to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, and the US, or were repatriated to their home countries.<ref name="maramoustafine"/> By 1988 the original Russian community numbered just thirty, all of them elderly. Modern Russians living in Harbin mostly moved there in the 1990s and 2000s, and have no relation to the first wave of emigration.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Harbin was one of the key construction cities of China during the First Five-Year Plan period from 1951 to 1956. 13 of the 156 key construction projects were aid-constructed by the Soviet Union in Harbin. This project made Harbin an important industrial base of China. During the [[Great Leap Forward]] from 1958 to 1961, Harbin experienced a very tortuous development course as several Sino-Soviet contracts were cancelled by the Soviet Union.<ref>Chinese Government's Official Web Portal (English). [http://english.gov.cn/2005-08/06/content_20912.htm China: a country with 5,000-year-long civilization] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601053642/http://english.gov.cn/2005-08/06/content_20912.htm |date=2012-06-01 }}. retrieved 2011-09-03.</ref> During the [[Cultural Revolution]] many foreign and Christian things were uprooted. On 23 August 1966, [[Red Guards (People's Republic of China)|Red Guards]] stormed into St. Nicholas Cathedral, burned its icons on the streets while chanting xenophobic slogans before destroying the church.{{sfn|Karlinsky|2013|p=314}} As the normal economic and social order was seriously disrupted, Harbin's economy also suffered from serious setbacks. One of the main reasons of this setback is with its Soviet ties deteriorating and the [[Vietnam War]] escalating, China became concerned of a possible nuclear attack. [[Mao Zedong]] ordered an evacuation of military and other key state enterprises away from the northeastern frontier, with Harbin being the core zone of this region, bordering the [[Soviet Union]]. During this [[Third Front (China)|Third Front Development]] Era of China, several major factories of Harbin were relocated to Southwestern Provinces including [[Gansu]], [[Sichuan]], [[Hunan]] and [[Guizhou]], where they would be strategically secure in the event of a possible war. Some major universities of China were also moved out of Harbin, including Harbin Military Academy of Engineering (predecessor of Changsha's [[National University of Defense Technology]]) and Harbin Institute of Technology (Moved to [[Chongqing]] in 1969 and relocated to Harbin in 1973).<ref>{{cite web|title=Japan-China Relations in the 21st Century|url=http://www.keidanren.or.jp/english/policy/2001/006.html|website=Kendairen.or.jp|publisher=Japan Federation of Economic Organizations|access-date=15 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150323225647/http://www.keidanren.or.jp/english/policy/2001/006.html|archive-date=23 March 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Harbin Jewish Cemetery1.jpg|thumb|left|Huang Shan Jewish Cemetery of Harbin]]
National economy and social service have obtained significant achievements since the [[Chinese economic reform]] first introduced in 1979. Harbin holds the China Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair each year since 1990.<ref name="Historical Evolution"/> Harbin once housed one of the largest Jewish communities in the Far East before World War II. It reached its peak in the mid-1920s when 25,000 [[European Jews]] lived in the city. Among them were the parents of [[Ehud Olmert]], the former [[Prime Minister of Israel]]. In 2004, Olmert came to Harbin with an Israeli trade delegation to visit the grave of his grandfather in Huang Shan Jewish Cemetery,<ref name="Olmert">
{{cite news
|url=http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200603/30/eng20060330_254474.html
|title=Harbin people congratulate Olmert on Israeli election success
|newspaper=People's Daily
|date=30 March 2006
|access-date=15 October 2014
}}</ref> which had over 500 Jewish graves identified.<ref name="maramoustafine"/>

On 5 October 1984, Harbin was designated a [[sub-provincial city]] by the [[Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party|Organization Department of the CCP Central Committee]]. The eight counties of Harbin originally formed part of Songhuajiang Prefecture whose seat was practically located inside the urban area of Harbin since 1972. The prefecture was officially merged into Harbin city on 11 August 1996, increasing Harbin's total population to 9.47&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite web|script-title=zh:哈尔滨市历史沿革|url=http://www.xzqh.org/html/show/hl/32696.html|website=Xzqh.org|access-date=15 October 2014|language=zh-hans|date=2014-05-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141107051755/http://www.xzqh.org/html/show/hl/32696.html|archive-date=7 November 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

Harbin hosted [[1996 Asian Winter Games|the third Asian Winter Games]] in 1996.<ref>[http://www.cpi.com.cn/cpi-e/stamp/1996/1996-2.asp World of Chinese Stamps and Philatelic Items] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061213112051/http://www.cpi.com.cn/cpi-e/stamp/1996/1996-2.asp |date=2006-12-13 }}</ref> In 2009, Harbin held the [[2009 Winter Universiade|XXIV Winter Universiade]].

A memorial hall honoring [[Koreans|Korean]] [[Korean nationalism|nationalist]] and [[Korean independence movement|independence activist]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/content.cfm/hero |title=What Defines a Hero? |publisher=Japan Society |access-date=2008-01-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071004183049/http://aboutjapan.japansociety.org/content.cfm/hero |archive-date=2007-10-04 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Ahn Jung-geun]] was unveiled at Harbin Railway Station on 19 January 2014.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Peng|first1=Fu|title=Korean patriot Ahn Jung Geun's memorial held in Harbin|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2014-01/20/c_133057726.htm|access-date=15 October 2014|agency=Xinhuanet English|date=20 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020171356/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2014-01/20/c_133057726.htm|archive-date=20 October 2014}}</ref> Ahn assassinated four-time [[Prime Minister of Japan]] and former [[Resident-General of Korea]] [[Itō Hirobumi]] at No.1 platform of Harbin Railway Station on 26 October 1909, as Korea on the verge of annexation by Japan after the signing of the [[Eulsa Treaty]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Description of Ito, Hirobumi (1841 - 1909), Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures|url=http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/12.html|publisher=National Diet Library of Japan|access-date=15 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080129085624/http://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/12.html|archive-date=29 January 2008}}</ref> [[President of South Korea|South Korean President]] [[Park Geun-Hye]] raised an idea of erecting a monument for Ahn while meeting with [[General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party|Chinese Communist Party general secretary]] [[Xi Jinping]] during a visit to China in June 2013.<ref>{{cite news|title=Memorial hall for Korean nationalist Ahn Jung Geun opens in China|url=http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/140119/memorial-hall-korean-nationalist-ahn-jung-geun-opens-c|access-date=15 October 2014|agency=Kyodo News International|date=1 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020225125/http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/140119/memorial-hall-korean-nationalist-ahn-jung-geun-opens-c|archive-date=20 October 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> After that China began to build a memorial hall honoring Ahn at Harbin Railway Station. As the hall was unveiled on 19 January 2014, the Japanese side soon lodged protest with China over the construction of Ahn's memorial hall.<ref>{{cite news|title=Japan protest over Korean assassin Ahn Jung-geun memorial in China|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25808437|access-date=15 October 2014|agency=BBC News|date=20 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140922185328/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25808437|archive-date=22 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>