Former physical-education teacher Yu Jicheng born in Jiamusi in 1951, devised the Happy Steps routine after watching street dancers on the Songhua river bank, and in 2012 the national sports administration ran its first national training course in it.
于继承是一九五一年出生在佳木斯的前体育教师,他在松花江畔看到跳街舞的人之后,创编了”快乐舞步”;二零一二年,国家体育总局举办了第一期”佳木斯快乐舞步健身操”全国培训班。
Jiamusi began as a post-station village, its name being Manchu for a station master. In 1888 the Qing’s Yilan banner office set up a trading town called Dongxing beside it, and in 1930 the two merged under the name Jiamusi.
佳木斯起初是一个驿站村屯,”佳木斯”在满语里的意思是驿丞。一八八八年,清朝依兰旗署在它旁边设立了商贸集镇东兴镇;一九三零年,两者合并,定名佳木斯。
Manchukuo made it the capital of Sanjiang Province in 1934 and a city in 1937.
一九三四年,伪满洲国把佳木斯定为三江省省会,一九三七年设市。
A Dance from the Riverbank
江畔诞生的舞
According to the General Administration of Sport, Yu changed careers in 1987 to become an office director at a district court, put on weight and fell ill, and then spent three years walking along the Songhua in the morning and dancing the yangge in the evening before he saw the street dancers who inspired the routine. It became popular in Jiamusi in 2008, the Heilongjiang sports bureau trained instructors in 2010, and the 2012 national course drew 60 trainees from 30 provinces, according to 36Kr.
据国家体育总局报道,于继承一九八七年改行去区法院任办公室主任,体重猛增、疾病缠身,后来在松花江畔早晨沿江走步、晚上扭大秧歌,坚持了三年,才看到启发他的街舞。据36氪报道,这套舞步二零零八年在佳木斯流行起来,二零一零年黑龙江省体育局组织培训,二零一二年的全国培训班吸引了来自三十个省份的六十名学员。
Rice, Rails and a Bridge to Siberia
稻米、铁路与通往西伯利亚的桥
Jiamusi calls itself the place where China’s sun rises first, and it has 382 kilometres of border with Russia and seven first-class national ports plus a temporary one, the most of any Chinese prefecture, according to Baidu Baike. A passenger route from Fuyuan to Khabarovsk has opened, according to Xinhua.
佳木斯自称是祖国最早迎接太阳升起的地方;据百度百科介绍,它与俄罗斯接壤的边境线长三百八十二公里,拥有七个国家一类口岸和一个临时开放口岸,是中国对俄开放口岸最多的地区。据新华社报道,抚远至哈巴罗夫斯克的客运航线已经开通。
The 2.2-kilometre Tongjiang rail bridge over the Amur, opened on 16 November 2022, links Tongjiang to Nizhneleninskoye in Russia’s Jewish Autonomous Oblast and the Trans-Siberian network. It cuts the route to Europe by 800 kilometres and 10 hours against Suifenhe, and had handled 8.25 million tonnes of cargo by November 2024, according to Xinhua; freight at the port passed 6 million tonnes in 2025, according to Baidu Baike.
全长约二点二公里的同江中俄黑龙江铁路大桥于二零二二年十一月十六日通车,把同江与俄罗斯犹太自治州的下列宁斯阔耶和西伯利亚大铁路连接起来。据新华社报道,这条通道比绥芬河口岸始发的线路缩短八百公里、节省十小时,截至二零二四年十一月已累计过货八百二十五万吨;据百度百科介绍,二零二五年同江口岸货物运输量突破六百万吨。
According to Jiamusi’s 2025 statistical communiqué, GDP reached ¥105.23 billion, up 4.7 percent, with the primary sector accounting for 40.4 percent, the secondary sector for 9.0 percent and services for 50.6 percent. Grain output was 23.73 billion jin, or about 11.87 million tonnes, of which 12.66 billion jin was rice.
据佳木斯市二零二五年统计公报,全年GDP达一千零五十二点三亿元,同比增长百分之四点七,第一产业占百分之四十点四,第二产业占百分之九点零,第三产业占百分之五十点六。全年粮食产量二百三十七点三亿斤,约合一千一百八十七万吨,其中水稻一百二十六点六亿斤。
The registered population was 2.159 million at the end of 2025, down 54,000, with 6,700 births and 52,843 deaths, up from 14,786 deaths in 2024, according to the same communiqué.
据同一份公报,二零二五年末全市户籍总人口二百一十五点九万人,比上年减少五点四万人;全年出生六千七百人,死亡五万二千八百四十三人,而二零二四年死亡人数为一万四千七百八十六人。
The Harbin–Jiamusi railway opened on 30 September 2018, and the fastest train between the two now takes 1 hour 58 minutes, according to China Radio.
据央广网报道,哈佳铁路于二零一八年九月三十日开通,如今哈尔滨至佳木斯最快一小时五十八分钟可达。
Before Happy Steps reached training courses across China, Yu Jicheng spent three years walking beside the Songhua and dancing the yangge in Jiamusi, according to the General Administration of Sport.
据国家体育总局报道,在”快乐舞步”通过培训班走向全国之前,于继承曾在佳木斯坚持三年沿松花江晨练、晚上扭秧歌。
