12/16/2006 ~ Harbin

On the Rio: Allman Brothers ~ Soul Seranade


Harbin first came into being with the settlement, in 1097, of the Nazhen nationality. The place then was a natural, and cold, fishing area, situated right on the Songhua River. By the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368AD) the area was renamed Haerbin, literally meaning "where the fishing nets are dried".


It was later in the nineteenth century, however, that the city really began to thrive, and when the Russian influence, that was to remain and heavily dominate Harbin's history, began to take a hold. By 1898, the city had become a Russian concession, with its own powerful Tsarist police force, as the Tsar continued to enforce his colonial plans for Manchuria. The Japanese took control in 1932 as a part of their Manchukuo invasion. But the Soviets retook the city in 1945 and remained dominant for almost ten years.


It was not until after the Cultural Revolution (when factional fighting made it almost impossible for anything to get done) that the city returned to its forte of rapid economic growth. Presently the population, about 3 million in the urban area, are concentrating on tourism, trading, heavy industry and some of the heaviest drinking in China. The local Harbin beer is quite good.



Eating here is a very different experience from dining elsewhere in China. For starters, the exterior of the restaurants is pretty unique. Lanterns hang outside each restaurant, each denoting different characteristics about the food and facilities available. Red lanterns denote a typical Chinese place and blue lanterns indicate that the restaurant serves Muslim food (no pork). What's more, the greater the number of lanterns hanging outside, the higher the standard of cooking.

Also, foods are served on much larger plates. The actual dishes available in many places is also unusual. Exotic animals such as deer, bear and tiger were once an integral part of the diet here. Fortunately Beijing have made their disapproval of this kind of thing clear in recent years, and Bear Paw and Siberian Tiger Testicles are no longer as popular as they once were.

This is the meal we ate. Starting with the front right: sweet & sour pork, fried pork & cabbage eggrolls, warm lettuce with soy sauce, some sweet fruit ball, bean curd, and in the black cauldron is spicy lamb.

This is the Flood Control Monument (Fanghong jinian tang) located on the bank of Songhua River at the northern end of Zhongyang Street (Zhongyang dajie). The Monument is the centerpiece of the popular Stalin Park, built in 1958 to commemorate the tremendous feat of the Harbin people in controlling the massive flood of 1957. The flood was the biggest flood ever recorded in Harbin until the summer 1998 disaster, when many more people lost their lives.

And in the background you can see the beginnings of an ice sculpture on the river.

Among the many Orthodox churches and Russian style facades in this region, the St. Sophia Orthodox Church (Shengsuo feiya dajiaotang) is the most impressive, and imposing, structure.

It is the largest Orthodox Church in the far east, completed in 1907.