Harbin

     The city of Harbin plays a very important part in THE MANCHURIAN TALES.  Most people today know of Harbin as one of those very cold Chinese cities whose claim to fame appears to be the annual ice sculpture festival.  Anthony Bourdain, the traveling writer/chef went to Harbin not too long ago on one of his TV shows, and besides sampling local food, he experienced the bitter cold of Manchurian winter.  Today, Harbin is a Chinese city, although there are still some remains of the old Russian influence in the form of crumbling old Russian buildings and onion domed orthodox churches.  The Russian population in Harbin is miniscule, compared to what it was prior to mid 20th Century.  It is mostly made up of old folks who somehow managed to avoid Soviet deportation after World War Two, and some new younger people who came for business opportunity.
     The name Harbin is supposedly either of Manchu or Mongol origin.  The Manchu name, which sounds somewhat the same, means "drying fish nets," no doubt in reference to the Sungari River that flows right by the city.  The Mongol name, also sounding somewhat the same "Harbun," means "arrow," referring to the fact that the village, before it became a city, was a center of trade from where goods were shipped to other locations via land and river.  I rather like the Mongol name, as do most people, especially since the early village was supposedly a Mongol village.  Whatever the case may be, Harbin was a small trading village until 1898 when Russians moved in to build a city for the purpose of supporting the construction of a railway system in Manchuria.  By early 1900s, it was a most modern Russian city with a population of about 35,000 Russians and about 25,000 Chinese and Manchus.  It was, perhaps, the most modern city in Asia at the time. 
     When the Russian Revolution forced many to flee Russia, the population of Harbin exploded.  By 1920s, there were anywhere between 150,000 to 200,000 Russians in Harbin.  Harbin had the highest population of Russians outside of Russia itself.  The 1920s saw Harbin grow and become the fashion capital of Asia!  Latest Paris fashions would arrive in Harbin before they reached Shanghai or Hong Kong.  Harbin had more than 55 different nationalities with 22 consulates, including the U.S. Consulate.  However, everything wasn't great for the Russians.  There were those who chose to side with the new Soviet Union and became Soviet citizens, but vast majority who had escaped Russia earlier, had become instantly stateless.  The Russian Koreans, the "uhl mao zeh" too became stateless since they were Tsarist Russians before.  So, Harbin ended up with a huge population of  "Harbinites" who had no citizenship.
     In 1931 the Japanese took over Manchuria and formed a puppet government of Manchukuo.  For travel purposes, some used the identity of new Manchukuo citizenship.  But since the legality of the Manchukuo government was in question, its citizenship was also questionable, although people with Manchukuo passports were permitted to travel around.  The early 20th Century years of Manchuria are often referred to as the time of  "Russian Manchuria," just as the title of one my chapters is named.  The "Russian Manchuria" and "Russian Harbin," of course, disappeared with the Japanese take over and by the end of World War Two, most Russians left Harbin, and those who remained were either killed, imprisoned, or moved by the Soviets when they occupied Manchuria after World War Two.