Harbin is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest city by metropolitan population (urban and rural together) in Northeast China. Harbin has direct jurisdiction over nine metropolitan districts, two county-level cities and seven counties, and is the eighth most populous Chinese city according to the 2020 census. The built-up area of Harbin (which consists of all districts except Shuangcheng and Acheng) had 5,841,929 inhabitants, while the total metropolitan population was up to 10,009,854, making it one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world.
Harbin, whose name was originally a Manchu word meaning "a place for drying fishing nets", grew from a small rural settlement on the Songhua River to become one of the largest cities in Northeast China. Founded in 1898 with the coming of the Chinese Eastern Railway, the city first prospered as a region inhabited by an overwhelming majority of immigrants from the Russian Empire. In the 1920s, the city was considered China's fashion capital since new designs from Paris and Moscow reached here first before arriving in Shanghai. From 1932 until 1945, Harbin was the largest city in the Imperial Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo.
Known for its bitterly cold winters, Harbin is heralded as the Ice City () for its winter tourism and recreations. Harbin is notable for its ice sculpture festival in the winter. Being well known for its historical Russian legacy and architecture—the city is famed for its European influence, and serves as an important gateway in Sino-Russian trade today. Harbin serves as a key political, economic, scientific, cultural and communications hub in Northeast China, as well as an important industrial base of the nation. The city was voted "China Top Tourist City" by the China National Tourism Administration in 2004.
Harbin is one of the top 100 cities and metropolitan areas in the world by scientific research output as tracked by the Nature Index. The city hosts several major universities in Northeast China, including Harbin Engineering, Harbin Medical, Northeast Agricultural, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin Normal, Northeast Forestry, and Heilongjiang. Notably, Harbin Institute of Technology is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in the world for engineering.
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), was born in the Jurchen Wanyan tribes who resided near the Ashi River in this region. In AD 1115 Aguda established Jin's capital Shangjing (Upper Capital) Huining Prefecture in today's Acheng District of Harbin. After Aguda's death, the new emperor 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. 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. Liang even went to destroy all palaces in his former capital in 1157. Wanyan Liang's successor Wanyan Yong (Emperor Shizong) restored the city and established it as a secondary capital in 1173. Ruins of the Shangjing Huining Prefecture were discovered and excavated about from present-day Acheng's central urban area. The site of the old Jin capital ruins is a national historic reserve, and includes the . The museum, open to the public, was renovated in late 2005. Mounted statues of Aguda and of his chief commander Wanyan Zonghan (also Nianhan) stand in the grounds of the museum. Many of the artifacts found there are on display in nearby Harbin.
After the 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 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.