Harbin

Port and capital of Heilongjiang province, northeast China, on the Songhua River; population (2000) 3,627,100. It is a major rail junction. Industries include metallurgy, food-processing, and sugar-refining; the manufacture of machinery, ball bearings, chemicals, cement, and paper; and tourism. Harbin was developed by Russian settlers after Russia was granted trading rights here in 1896, and more Russians arrived as refugees after the October Revolution (1917). In World War II, it was the key objective of the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in August 1945.