He’erbin’s 1913 census, taken by the railway administration fifteen years after the railway camp that became the city was founded, counted 68,549 people of 53 nationalities speaking 45 languages, among them 34,313 Russians, 23,537 Chinese and 5,032 Jews.
哈尔滨一九一三年的人口普查由中东铁路管理局主持,距这座铁路营地成为城市只有十五年;普查共统计六万八千五百四十九人,来自五十三个民族,使用四十五种语言,其中俄国人三万四千三百一十三人,中国人二万三千五百三十七人,犹太人五千零三十二人,三者在统计中分列。
Before the railway, the site chosen for its headquarters on the Songhua was described as rolling hills with a handful of thatched huts. The Chinese Eastern Railway’s engineering bureau moved there in June 1898, fewer than 100 Russians lived there that year and more than 3,000 by 1899, and when the line opened right through in July 1903 there were 12,000, twice the number of local Chinese.
在铁路到来之前,松花江畔被选作铁路工程局驻地的这块地方,被描述为丘陵起伏、仅有三五间茅舍。一八九八年六月,中东铁路工程局迁来此地,当年这里的俄国人不足百人,到一八九九年就超过三千人;一九零三年七月铁路全线通车时,俄国人达到一万两千人,是当地中国居民的两倍。
According to the Heilongjiang provincial archives, quoted by Sina, foreigners made up more than 60 percent of He’erbin’s population before 1912 and 52 percent in 1922, and did not fall below 22 percent until after 1931.
据黑龙江省档案馆提供、新浪新闻引述的资料,一九一二年以前,外侨占哈尔滨总人口的百分之六十以上,一九二二年占百分之五十二,直到一九三一年之后才降到百分之二十二以下。
Refugees, Jews and a Cobbled Street
难民、犹太人与一条石块铺成的街
The Russian Revolution and the civil war that followed brought another wave of arrivals. He’erbin’s Russian residents grew from 34,115 in 1916 to 155,402 in 1922, according to local historians writing for the city’s history society, and then fell to about 54,600 by 1926 as many returned or moved on, according to Guancha. The city’s Jews, almost all Russian subjects, numbered about 20,000 at their peak in the early 1920s.
随后的俄国革命及内战,又带来了一波新的移民潮。据哈尔滨历史文化研究会的本地史学者介绍,哈尔滨的俄侨从一九一六年的三万四千一百一十五人增至一九二二年的十五万五千四百零二人;据观察者网报道,到一九二六年,不少人回国或迁往他处,人数降至约五万四千六百人。哈尔滨的犹太人几乎都是俄国籍,二十世纪二十年代初达到顶峰,约有两万人。
In 1924 the Russian-run municipal council paved Central Street with granite blocks shaped like loaves of bread. By the mid-1920s the street had 75 European or European-style buildings, with shops selling Russian furs and French perfume alongside cinemas and ballrooms, according to Xinhua.
一九二四年,由俄国人掌控的市自治公议会用形如面包的花岗岩石块铺砌了中央大街。据新华社报道,到二十世纪二十年代中期,街两侧已有七十五栋欧式或仿欧式建筑,既有出售俄国毛皮和法国香水的商铺,也有电影院和舞厅。
The writer Zhu Ziqing noted that foreigners here mixed with Chinese without the hierarchy he knew in Shanghai, and a Sohu history says Parisian dress and dancing reached He’erbin directly or through its Russians.
作家朱自清注意到,这里的外国人与中国人混杂相处,没有他在上海见到的那种等级隔阂;据搜狐一篇历史文章介绍,巴黎的服饰和舞风,或是直接传入,或经俄国人转手传入哈尔滨。
An Assassination and Unit 731
一场刺杀与七三一部队
At 9.30am on 26 October 1909, An Jung-geun shot the Japanese statesman Ito Hirobumi dead on the platform of He’erbin station. An Jung-geun Memorial Hall opened at the station on 19 January 2014, funded by the city government and the railway, with more than 100 square metres of displays and markers on the platform at the spot, according to Xinhua; Seoul welcomed it, and Japan protested.
一九零九年十月二十六日上午九时三十分,安重根在哈尔滨火车站站台上击毙日本政治家伊藤博文。据新华社报道,安重根义士纪念馆于二零一四年一月十九日在该站开馆,由哈尔滨市政府和铁路部门出资,面积一百多平方米,站台上标出了事发地点;韩国对此表示欢迎,日本则提出抗议。
Japan ruled the city from 1932 as part of Manchukuo, and it set up Unit 731 in He’erbin in 1933, according to People’s Daily; the unit later operated from a compound at Pingfang. At least 3,000 people were used as human experimental subjects between 1940 and 1945, according to former members’ confessions cited by Guangming Daily, and the museum has identified 1,549 victims of the experiments and 1,256 victims of germ attacks in southern China. The site is on China’s tentative World Heritage list, according to Xinhua.
据《人民日报》报道,日本自一九三二年起将哈尔滨纳入伪满洲国统治,一九三三年在哈尔滨设立七三一部队,该部队后来以平房的营区为基地。据《光明日报》引述原队员供述,一九四零年至一九四五年间,至少有三千人被用作人体实验对象;陈列馆已确认实验受害者一千五百四十九人、南方细菌战受害者一千二百五十六人。据新华社报道,该遗址已列入《中国世界文化遗产预备名单》。
An Ice City Hosting Asia
迎接亚洲的冰雪之城
He’erbin hosted the Asian Winter Games from 7 to 14 February 2025, its second time after 1996, with more than 1,200 athletes from 34 countries and regions, the largest field in the games’ history, according to the General Administration of Sport. The city received 200 million visitors in 2025, up 12.7 percent, who spent ¥281.84 billion, up 21.8 percent, according to the city government.
二零二五年二月七日至十四日,哈尔滨第二次举办亚洲冬季运动会,上一次是一九九六年;据国家体育总局介绍,共有来自三十四个国家和地区的一千二百多名运动员参赛,为亚冬会历史上规模最大的一届。据哈尔滨市政府介绍,二零二五年全市接待游客两亿人次,增长百分之十二点七,旅游花费二千八百一十八点四亿元,增长百分之二十一点八。
According to the city government, GDP reached ¥618.85 billion in 2025, up 4.6 percent, and its 2025 statistical communiqué puts the permanent population at 9.887 million.
据哈尔滨市政府介绍,二零二五年全市GDP达六千一百八十八点五亿元,增长百分之四点六;据其二零二五年统计公报,年末常住人口九百八十八点七万人。
Getting to He’erbin means Beijing–He’erbin high-speed trains that, since July 2025, take as little as 4 hours 33 minutes, according to Science and Technology Daily. Taiping Airport handled a record 24.651 million passengers in 2025, including 588,000 international passengers, up 22.7 percent, according to the airport.
前往哈尔滨,可乘坐京哈高铁;据《科技日报》报道,自二零二五年七月起,北京至哈尔滨最快仅需四小时三十三分。据机场介绍,太平国际机场二零二五年旅客吞吐量二千四百六十五点一万人次,创历史新高,其中国际旅客五十八点八万人次,增长百分之二十二点七。
The Russians no longer outnumber the Chinese in He’erbin. But on Central Street, the bread-shaped granite blocks laid in 1924 remain underfoot, according to Xinhua.
如今,俄国人在哈尔滨早已不再多于中国人。但据新华社报道,中央大街上,一九二四年铺设的面包形花岗岩石块,至今仍在人们脚下。
