harbin is the capital of heilongjiang province, with a population of 5.3 million and covering an area of 18,000 square kilometers.
located in eastern songnen plain, it\'s a rolling land with low hills, and shallow valleys and crossed by the songhua river. it has a semi-humid temperate climate with an annual average temperature of 3.5 degree celsius, rainfall of 530 millimeters and a frost-free period of 140 days. its mineral resources are coal, quartzite, marble, copper, lead and zinc etc.
harbin is one of china\'s key industrial bases, with machine building industry as its main stay. foodstuff, petroleum, chemicals and textiles are its important prop-ups. the output value of its pharmaceutical industry ranks first in china. the main agricultural products are wheat, soybean, beet, flax, tobacco, poultry, etc. it\'s among china\'s major beet growing areas.
harbin is the commercial center of heilongjiang province as well as the communication hub in the northern part of north-east china, with a well-developed railway and highway network. it has regular air links with over 30 cities at home and abroad. the songhua river is an important waterway for shipping.
harbin is a sub-provincial city and the capital of the heilongjiang province in northeast china. it lies on the southern bank of the songhua river. harbin is the tenth largest city in china (pop. 9.87 million), serving as a key political, economic, scientific, cultural and communications hub in northeastern china. now ,i mainly focuses on two aspects,architecture and culture. harbin is considered one of china's most beautiful cities. the city is well-known for its unique, russian and european-influenced architecture. zhong yang street (central street, also known as kitaiskaya st.), one of the main business streets in harbin, is a perfect remnant of the bustling international business activities at the turn of the 20th century. the long street is a veritable museum of european architectural styles: baroque and byzantine façades, the russian orthodox church, saint sophia cathedral, is also located in this central district of daoli. st. sophia took nine years to build and was completed in 1932. it has now been made into a museum as a showcase of the multi-cultural architecture of harbin.
harbin today is still very much influenced by its russian past.the local cuisine in harbin is also russian-influenced. harbin's bakeries are famous for their bread (lie-ba in local dialect, derived from the russian word khleb for "bread"). harbin's sausages (qiu-lin hong-chang) are another notable product, in that they tend to be of a much more european flavour than other chinese sausages. the annual harbin international ice and snow sculpture festival has been held since 1985.the "harbin international ice and snow festival" is one of the world's four largest ice and snow festivals harbin summer music concert ('concert' for short) is a national concert festival during the concert, multiple evenings, concert, race and activities are held. the artists come from all over the world.
