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209-426: [REDACTED] Northeastern Army [REDACTED] White guerrilla groups Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army c. 200,000 The Sino-Soviet conflict of 1929 ( Chinese : 中東路事件 , Russian : Конфликт на Китайско-Восточной железной дороге ) was an armed conflict between the Soviet Union and the Chinese warlord Zhang Xueliang of the Republic of China over the Chinese Eastern Railway (also known as

418-561: A synecdoche for all of Zhang's troops. Even observers at the time noticed that this was imprecise: As General He Zhuguo pointed out, the “Fengtian Army” (Fengjun) should be named the “Northeast Army” (dongbeijun) because it was centrally controlled by Zhang Zuolin and his staff; it was called the Fengtian Army only because the people were accustomed to call it the Fengtian Army. Nonetheless, many modern scholars use "Fengtian Army" and "Northeast/Northeastern Army" interchangeably for

627-807: A 24-hour average in January of only −17.3 °C (0.9 °F), although the city sees little precipitation during the winter and is often sunny. Spring and autumn constitute brief transition periods with variable wind directions. Summers can be hot, with a July mean temperature of 23.7 °C (74.7 °F). Summer is also when most of the year's rainfall occurs, and more than half of the annual precipitation, at 539 millimetres (21.2 in), occurs in July and August alone. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 45 percent in December to 60 percent in September,

836-760: A Russian town, with the majority of population coming from the south of the European Russia. The city was intended as a showcase for Russian imperialism in Asia and the American scholar Simon Karlinsky , who was born in Harbin in 1924 into a Russian-Jewish family, wrote that in Harbin "the buildings, boulevards, and parks were planned—well before the October Revolution —by distinguished Russian architects and also by Swiss and Italian town planners", giving

1045-702: A chemical weapons plant was built in Mukden and Zhang Zuolin hired German and Russian experts to produce chlorine, phosgene and mustard gas. Additional Fengtian-controlled arsenals included one built in Heilongjiang in 1924 and two based in Jinan that were acquired after the Second Zhili-Fengtian War. By 1928, the newly constructed arsenals in Manchuria could rival and in some cases exceed

1254-564: A conference could convene. That made all treaties, border relations, and commercial relations dependent on the upcoming conference. That in turn gave the Soviets time to turn to Zhang Xueliang in Manchuria , who was the strongest warlord there. He had control of the Mukden government in the city that is now known as Shenyang . The Soviets were the first to propose joint management of the CER with

1463-510: A conference of Northeastern officers in January 1937 overwhelmingly resolved not to surrender peacefully, the CCP reluctantly decided that they could not abandon their allies and pledged to fight alongside them if the KMT attacked. The situation was again reversed when the five most senior Northeastern generals met separately and decided to surrender. The radical officers were enraged and assassinated one of

1672-588: A decisive role in the Northeastern Army's engagements. The planes, purchased from the French, numbered no more than 100, and even if this estimate is accurate, most were unfit to fly and a shortage of trained pilots kept others grounded. When Zhang Zuolin was appointed commander of the forward and center route armies of Manchuria in 1911, he brought with him the irregulars he already had under his command. His closest associates became senior officers of

1881-620: A detachment was marching through Shanxi to fight the Japanese in Rehe and Hubei. Letting the Red Army through would have broken the encirclement, so Yan Xishan stopped them by force. Although defeated militarily, the Red Army convinced the Shanxi peasantry of their patriotism and gained 8,000 new recruits on their retreat. Zhang Xueliang was likewise impressed. When Mao announced on 14 March that

2090-534: A full-scale assault and took the pass. Over the next two months Zhang Xueliang and the central government scrambled to organize an effective defense of the rest of Rehe. The province was under General Tang Yulin , nominally Zhang's subordinate but independent enough that he could not easily be replaced. Tang was known as both corrupt and militarily incompetent, and had to be bribed by T. V. Soong before agreeing to fight. 70,000 additional Northeastern Army troops and volunteers battalions were transferred to Rehe to bring

2299-525: A legitimate concern. The Western nations were frightened that might mean the Soviet Union might one day be able to beat a Western nation at its own game. The impact of the conflict left the region in a power vacuum, which left the door wide open for the Japanese to take control of the region. After observing how easily Soviet forces had beaten the Chinese, the Japanese used a similar technique to defeat

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2508-603: A major difference with the Russian émigrés who arrived in Harbin was: "Unlike the Russian émigrés who went to Paris or Prague or even to Shanghai, the new residents of Harbin were not a minority surrounded by a foreign population. They found themselves instead in an almost totally Russian city, populated mainly by people with roots in the south of European Russia." The city had a Russian school system, as well as publishers of Russian-language newspapers and journals. The Russian Harbintsy community numbered around 120,000 at its peak in

2717-602: A manifesto to the Chinese government that promised the return of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) to Chinese control at no financial cost. On 26 August, a revised version of the Karakhan Manifesto was published by the Soviet press, but the document mentioned neither the return of CER to the Chinese nor the lack of financial compensation. Along with the original Karakhan telegram, the Chinese had

2926-762: A power vacuum in Beijing. Zhang Zuolin and the Fengtian clique sided with Premier Duan Qirui in the first factional struggles for control of the Beiyang Government . As way of thanks, Duan let Zhang seize 17 million yen worth of Japanese military supplies intended for a different army. In 1918, Zhang sent a contingent of the Fengtian Army to help the Beiyang Government put down Sun Yat-sen 's Constitutional Protection Movement in southern China. They saw some initial success in spring 1918, but by

3135-524: A radical move to try to remove Soviet management. Chinese authorities stormed the Soviet consulate in Harbin and arrested the General Manager of the CER, his assistant, and other Soviet citizens and removed them from power in the CER. The Soviets retaliated by arresting Chinese citizens in the Soviet Union. On July 13, 1929, the Soviets sent their formal demands to the Chinese on what was happening on

3344-845: A report to the Far Eastern Bureau that advised that free migration from China and Korea in the areas bordering the countries should be stopped and that the area should be filled with migrants from Siberia and Europe instead. As the Sino-Soviet conflict over the Chinese Eastern Railway worsened bilateral relations, the Soviet government began to stop Chinese crossing the border since 1931. All Soviet diplomats in China were called back, all Chinese diplomats to Soviet Union were expelled, and trains between both countries were forced out of service. The Soviets forced

3553-716: A result, Harbin is China's base for the production of commodity grain and an ideal location for setting up agricultural businesses. Harbin also has industries such as light industry, textile, medicine, food, aircraft, automobile, metallurgy, electronics, building materials, and chemicals that help to form a fairly comprehensive industrial system. Several major corporations are based in the city. Harbin Electric Company Limited , Harbin Aircraft Industry Group and Northeast Light Alloy Processing Factory are some of key enterprises. Power manufacturing

3762-503: A second-class private. At its height, circa 1926, the Fengtian Army consisted of somewhere between 170,000 and 250,000 men. The Fengtian Army included a number of foreigners in its ranks as soldiers, officers, and advisors. The most important were the Japanese advisors, who not only provided Zhang with military expertise but—because they retained their positions as officers in the Kwantung Army —also served as intermediaries with

3971-478: A smuggling operation through Shandong . Fengtian was also China's single largest arms importer. It purchased weapons from Germany , France , Italy , and especially Japan . Important imports included the Type 3 heavy machine gun from Japan and 14 more Renaults from France. The Fengtian Army also made effective use of other modern weaponry, such as mines, barbed-wire, armored trains, and tanks. Starting in 1925,

4180-774: A standard brigade was therefore around 4,000 men. Brigades were not necessarily subdivisions of divisions. Some were, but most operated as independent mixed brigades in the style of the Japanese Army. In 1923, the senior staff of the Fengtian Army included commander-in-chief Zhang Zuolin, deputy commanders Sun Liechen and Wu Junsheng , and Yang Yuting as chief of staff . The senior staff in 1929 included commander-in-chief Zhang Xueliang, vice-commander (in Jilin) Zhang Zuoxiang , vice-commander (in Heilongjiang) Wan Fulin , and commander of

4389-513: A stipulation that was strictly enforced. On November 17, the Soviets decided to take ten divisions and split their attack into two stages. The first stage was to go past Manzhouli and to attack the region of Chalainor. After capturing the region, Soviet troops set their sights on Manzhouli. When they reached Manzhouli, they found that the Chinese were not prepared for battle and that the Chinese forces were looting houses and stores, stealing civilian clothes, and trying to escape. The Soviet strategy

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4598-789: A truck convoy of supplies and joining the resistance against the Japanese . The Northeastern Army subsequently took up positions in Rehe Province . Although the Kwantung Army paused their advance to consolidate in Manchuria, tensions ran high between the Northeastern Army and the Japanese garrisons stationed in north China as part of the Boxer Protocol . Fighting between the Japanese Shanhai Pass garrison and He Zhuguo 's Ninth Brigade broke out several times in late 1932. On 1 January 1933, The Japanese launched

4807-479: A verbal promise that he would end the civil war and resist Japanese aggression. Chiang was released on 26 December and returned to Nanjing with Zhang Xueliang. Although he announced a cease fire in the civil war, he repudiated any promises that he had made in Xi'an. Zhang was imprisoned and charged with treason. Chiang then sent 37 army divisions north to surround the Northeastern Army and force them to stand down. The army

5016-723: A vigorous resistance. Zhang Xueliang resigned on March 10 under intense pressure from the public, and the Northeastern Army was divided up and reorganized into the standard structure used by the NRA. At the top level, it was divided into four new armies: the Fifty-First Army under Yu Xuezhong , the Fifty-Third under Wan Fulin, the Fifty-Seventh under He Zhuguo , and the Sixty-Seventh under Wang Shuchang . Although

5225-703: Is Qiulin Group , which owns Harbin's largest department store . Songbei Economic Development Zone is located in Songbei District of Harbin. The zone has a planned area of 5.53 square kilometers. Electronics assembly & manufacturing, food and beverage processing are the encouraged industries in the zone. Many regional and provincial headquarters of large enterprises such as the China Datang Corporation , China Netcom and China Telecom have joined in this district, preliminary constituting

5434-487: Is China's second-biggest pharmaceutical company by market value . Harbin International Trade and Economic Fair has been held annually since 1990. This investment and trade fair cumulatively attracting more than 1.9 million exhibitors and visitors from more than 80 countries and regions to attend, resulting over US$ 100 billion contract volume concluded according to the statistics of 2013. Harbin

5643-584: Is a main industry in Harbin; hydro and thermal power equipment manufactured here makes up one-third of the total installed capacity in China. According to Platts , in 2009-10 Harbin Electric was the second largest manufacturer of steam turbines by worldwide market share, tying Dongfang Electric and slightly behind Shanghai Electric. Harbin Pharmaceutical Group, which mainly focus on research, development, manufacture and sale of medical products,

5852-778: Is a minor community of Russians . The ethnic composition according to the 2020 census: The Catholic minority is pastorally served by the Apostolic Administration of Harbin , a missionary pre-diocesan jurisdiction. It also has the Eastern Catholic former cathedral of the Russian Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Harbin . The badly damaged Church of the Iver Icon of the Mother of God was previously used by Russian soldiers of

6061-603: Is among major destinations of FDI in Northeast China, with utilized FDI totaling US$ 980 million in 2013. After the 18th regular meeting between Sino-Russian Prime Ministers between Li Keqiang and Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev in October 2013, two sides come to make an agreement that the Harbin International Trade and Economic Fair will be renamed "China-Russia EXPO" and be co-sponsored by

6270-700: Is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in the world for engineering. 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,

6479-583: Is located at the southwestern edge of the Sanjiang Plain . Under the Köppen climate classification , Harbin features a monsoon -influenced humid continental climate ( Dwa ). Due to the Siberian high and its location above 45 degrees north latitude, the city is known for its cold weather and long winter. Its nickname Ice City is well-earned, as winters in the city are dry and freezing cold, with

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6688-475: 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

6897-537: Is one of the 56 national High and New Technology Industry Development Zones of China. The zone was first set up as a provincial level development zone in 1988, and was approved by the State Council as a national development zone in 1991 respectively. It has 23.9 square-kilometers of built-area totally, and subdivided into two parts: Science and Technology Innovation Town and High-tech Industrial Development Zone. The 2020 census revealed total population in Harbin

7106-418: 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 . Several differerent etymologies have been offered for the city's name. The city government says

7315-464: Is the capital of Heilongjiang , China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban population (after Shenyang , Liaoning province ) and largest metropolitan population (urban and rural regions together) in Northeast China . Harbin has direct jurisdiction over nine metropolitan districts, two county-level cities and seven counties, and

7524-661: Is with its Soviet ties deteriorating and the Vietnam War escalating, China became concerned of a possible nuclear attack. Mao Zedong ordered an evacuation of military and other key state enterprises away from the northeastern frontier, with Harbin being the core zone of this region, bordering the Soviet Union . During this Third Front Development Era of China, several major factories of Harbin were relocated to Southwestern Provinces including Gansu , Sichuan , Hunan and Guizhou , where they would be strategically secure in

7733-622: The Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War were given to the Fengtian Army in 1919. Yet after 1919, even these irregular windfalls became less frequent, thanks to an arms embargo on China agreed to by most of the major world powers. The Fengtian Army's defeat in the First Zhili-Fengtian War spurred Zhang Zuolin to launch a campaign of modernization. He poured over 17 million yuan into expanding and improving

7942-699: The Empire of Japan , and a small number of the prisoners of war from the Allies of World War II (although many more Allied POWs were victims of Unit 731 at other sites). Prisoners of war were subjected to vivisection without anesthesia, after being infected with various diseases. Prisoners were injected with inoculations of disease, disguised as vaccinations, to study their effects. Unit 731 and its affiliated units (Unit 1644 and Unit 100 among others) were involved in research, development, and experimental deployment of epidemic-creating biowarfare weapons in assaults against

8151-742: The February Revolution of 1917 Harbin Soviet was organized. It sought to seize control over the Chinese Eastern Railway and to defend Russian citizens in Manchuria . The Bolshevik Martemyan Ryutin was the chairman of the Harbin Soviet. After Russia's Great October Socialist Revolution in November 1917, the new Soviet government in Russia recognized the Harbin Soviet as its representation in Manchuria and placed Russian citizens in Manchuria under its protection. Subsequently,

8360-851: The Long March . The Northeastern Army was tasked with finishing off the Communists with the help of the forces of local Warlord Yang Hucheng , forming the Northwest Bandit Suppression Force. Promised an easy victory, the Bandit Suppression Force was surprised and dismayed when the Red Army defeated it in two engagements in September and October. The men, already frustrated by this diversion from fighting Japan, began to lose their will to fight when POWs returned with stories of good treatment and

8569-712: The Luan River . Hostilities only concluded with the Tanggu Truce , signed on 31 May. In the second half of 1933, the majority of the Northeastern Army was transferred to Shaanxi and took up headquarters at Xi'an . The 30,000 troops of the Fifty-First Army remained in Hebei until the Japanese demanded their withdrawal . In October 1935, the Chinese Communists (CCP) arrived in Gansu and Ningxia following

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8778-399: The Mukden Arsenal . Meanwhile, petty warlords began to assert their control over parts of Manchuria and Zhang came under intense pressure from Soviet and Japanese imperialism. He allowed himself to be convinced by Chiang Kai-shek to seize sole control of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) by force, which for the last few years had been under joint Soviet and Chinese management. This led to

8987-443: The Russian Civil War . Mercenary service was attractive for White émigrés due to the fact that many of them had problems finding stable employment, and the warlords at least offered a regular income. Led by Konstantin Petrovich Nechaev , the Russians earned a reputation as an extremely capable fighting force, but were also feared due to their high indiscipline and extreme brutality against civilians and prisoners of war. In 1926,

9196-458: The Second Army 's dogged resistance. Now that Guo had been defeated, Fengtian began to retake territory. They allied themselves with Wu Peifu, who was leading an army allied with the Red Spears . A general offensive forced the Guominjun to retreat from Beijing in March, although with its army intact. In a major show of its logistical sophistication and proficiency with modern tactics, the Fengtian Army employed concentrated heavy artillery to overcome

9405-416: The Shanghai -based newspaper Shen Bao on 24 July 1929, which said that "around a thousand Chinese who lived in Vladivostok were detained by the Soviet authorities. They were all said to be bourgeoisie ." On 12 August, the newspaper stated that there were still 1,600-1,700 Chinese in jail in Vladivostok, who were supplied with a piece of rye bread daily and suffered various forms of torture. On 26 August,

9614-406: The Sino-Soviet Conflict throughout the second half of 1929. The Northeastern Army was outmaneuvered and outfought by the Red Army . Chinese soldiers alienated the local population by killing civilians and forcefully requisitioning supplies. Several thousand were killed or captured and Zhang had to accept a return to the status quo ante bellum . In 1929, the Central Plains War began between

9823-467: The Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers , Douglas MacArthur , before the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal in exchange for their biological warfare work in the Cold War for the American Forces. Chinese revolutionaries including Zhao Shangzhi , Yang Jingyu , Li Zhaolin , Zhao Yiman continued to struggle against the Japanese in Harbin and its administrative area, commanding the main anti-Japanese guerrilla army- Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army —which

10032-403: The Wuhan government 's troops in May. However, negotiations ultimately went nowhere and the Fengtian Army was unable to eradicate the Guominjun during the respite they had been granted. In August, Sun Chuanfang launched an offensive into Jiangsu that seized Xuzhou and briefly put the NRA on the defensive, but by the end of the month he was in retreat and lost 50,000 men in September. Likewise,

10241-438: The Zhili-Anhui War of that year. Although the Fengtian Army did not engage in any fighting until after the outcome of the war was already clear, it emerged in a very strong postwar position. It captured high-quality equipment, added a new division and four new brigades, and left a 30,000-man garrison south of the Great Wall in a position where it could exert influence on the government in Beijing. Nonetheless, by 1922 Zhang

10450-596: The 28th division (whose commander had been dismissed for supporting the Manchu Restoration ) and the newly created 29th division. In theory, these units remained part of the national Beiyang Army , but in reality they answered to Zhang Zuolin alone. After the army reorganization program undertaken following the First Zhili-Fengtian War, the basic unit became the brigade. Although not strictly observed in practice, brigades were in theory divided into three regiments, each regiment into three battalions, and each battalion into three companies of 150 men each. The total manpower of

10659-400: The 8 and 9 September and that there were more than 7,000 Chinese in prison in the city. On 21 September, the newspaper said that "the government in Russian Far East cheated the arrested Chinese, and forced them to construct the railway between Heihe and Khabarovsk. The forced workers had only two pieces of rye bread to eat daily. If they work with any delay, they will be whipped, making them at

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10868-480: The Beijing-Tianjin area, taking control of the local railroads and customs revenue. Although this won the war for the Nationalists, it left North China outside central administrative control. Chiang tacitly accepted warlord autonomy in return for their official subservience to Nanjing. Zhang began to play host to political dissents in Hubei, including Communist sympathizers. Chinese unification threatened Japanese economic and military interests in Manchuria, and forced

11077-507: The Beiyang government's War Department sponsored the creation of the Military Academy of the Three Eastern Provinces , which Zhang enthusiastically supported. Graduates of the Baoding Military Academy , including artillery officer Guo Songling , were recruited to the faculty. This academy trained 7,971 officers from 1919 to 1930, forming the backbone of the Fengtian's lower- and mid-level officers. Zhang also sent many of his ex-bandit officers, who rarely had formal military training, to study at

11286-417: The CCP and hoped to convince Chiang Kai-shek to endorse a united front against Japan. After Chiang refused, the Northeastern Army kidnapped him and forced him to negotiate with the Communists. Although Chiang eventually agreed to end the civil war and work with the Communists against Japan, Zhang was placed under house arrest and the Northeastern Army was divided and reassigned to other commands. Because of

11495-409: The CER). The conflict was the first major combat test of the reformed Soviet Red Army , which was organized along the latest professional lines, and ended with the mobilization and deployment of 156,000 troops to the Manchurian border. Combining the active-duty strength of the Red Army and border guards with the call-up of the Far East reserves, approximately one in five Soviet soldiers was sent to

11704-460: The CER. On July 19, the Soviets discontinued their diplomatic relations with the Chinese, suspended railway communication, and demanded for all Chinese diplomats to leave Soviet territory. By July 20, the Soviets were transferring their funds to New York. In the cities of Suifenhe and Lahususa, the Soviets were terrorizing the Chinese civilians by having their warships' guns pointed at the city and by having their planes make flybys. Many members of

11913-413: The China Harbin International Economic and Trade Fair each year since 1990. Harbin once housed one of the largest Jewish communities in the Far East before World War II. It reached its peak in the mid-1920s when 25,000 European Jews lived in the city. Among them were the parents of Ehud Olmert , the former Prime Minister of Israel . In 2004, Olmert came to Harbin with an Israeli trade delegation to visit

12122-431: The Chinese Army by using radio and leaflets. They did so by deceiving the Chinese command on the town that was the Soviets' next target: "Its military forces combined carefully measured use of depth and variety, coordinated in the fashion of a swift action design to achieve the precise goal of annihilating offensive under complex conditions' against enemy forces." Stalin boasted to Vyacheslav Molotov that "our fellows from

12331-411: The Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Heilongjiang Provincial government, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Russia's Ministry of Trade and Industry. In the financial sector, Longjiang Bank and Harbin Bank are some of the largest banks in Northeast China, with headquarters in Harbin. The latter ranks fourth by competitiveness among Chinese city commercial banks in 2011. In commerce, there

12540-529: The Chinese and occupied Manchuria after the Mukden Incident in 1931. When Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and occupied the Soviet sphere of influence , the Soviet Union was still not strong enough in the East to oppose the Japanese. Stalin adopted a policy of strict neutrality , and the Soviet Union sold its rights to the Chinese Eastern Railway to the Manchukuo government on 23 March 1935. In 1928, Arsenyev Mikhail Mikhailovich ( Арсеньев Михаил Михайлович ), Staff Colonel of Red Army Headquarter, submitted

12749-485: The Chinese populace (both civilian and military) throughout World War II. Human targets were also used to test grenades positioned at various distances and in different positions. Flame throwers were tested on humans. Humans were tied to stakes and used as targets to test germ-releasing bombs , chemical weapons , and explosive bombs . Twelve Unit 731 members were found guilty in the Khabarovsk War Crime Trials but later repatriated. Others received secret immunity by

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12958-464: The Chinese to move to Northeast China . Thousands of Chinese in Irkutsk , Chita , and Ulan-Ude were arrested for breach of local orders, tax evasion, and other reasons. When they left Russia, any Chinese to cross the border with more than 30 rubles in cash had to pay the surplus to the authorities. If they had at least 1,000 rubles in cash, they would arrested and have all of their money confiscated. Large numbers of Chinese were detained, according to

13167-399: The Chinese, but Zhang stood in the way of the joint management. The Soviets decided to make a deal with Zhang. On May 31, 1924, Lev Karakhan and Dr. V. K. Wellington Koo, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Republic of China, signed a Sino-Soviet treaty that included multiple articles, which played right into the Soviets' hands because Article V it stated that "the employment of persons in

13376-401: The Chinese, the Soviets turned to make a deal with Zhang. They promised him full control of choosing the Chinese officials who would be on the board in the joint Chinese-Soviet management of the CER, which would give him half control of CER. On September 20, 1924, he signed the Secret Agreement without knowing the Chinese government had signed the Secret Protocol earlier in the year. Since the CER

13585-429: The Chinese-educated clique opposed many military ventures. The old men, on the other hand, often showed little interest in military affairs other than as a means of personal profit (such as in the case of Kan Zhaoxi). Factional rivalries were an important cause of the 1925 rebellion led by Guo Songling, which nearly overthrew Zhang Zuolin. Zhang's ultimate triumph dealt a fatal blow to Guo's Chinese-educated faction, and

13794-415: The Chinese. The Soviets allowed the Chinese to think they were adding workers loyal to their government. However, in reality, the Soviets were creating more jobs on the railway and hiring Soviet workers. In the end, the Soviets controlled 67% of all positions on the CER. The Chinese entertained joint management until mid-1929. The change from Soviet to Chinese control started when the Chinese authorities made

14003-475: The Communists were willing to conclude a formal truce, Zhang secretly agreed. By June 1936, the secret agreement between Zhang and the CCP had been successfully settled. He also proposed to Chiang Kai-shek that he reverse policy of "first internal pacification, then external resistance", and focus on military preparation against Japan. When Chiang refused, Zhang began to plot a coup in "great secrecy". In November 1936, Zhang asked Chiang to come to Xi'an to raise

14212-556: The Communists. They argued that an alliance with Chiang was their best chance to combat the Japanese, while killing him would only provoke retaliation from the Nanjing Government. The Northeastern Army attempted to broadcast 8 demands to the Chinese public explaining why they arrested Chiang and the conditions for his release, but Nationalist censorship prevented their publication outside the Communist-held areas. Nonetheless, Chiang eventually agreed to negotiate with CCP diplomats Zhou Enlai and Lin Boqu . By late December Chiang had given

14421-551: The Electric Engineering Department. Between 1925 and 1928 the university's Rector was Leonid Ustrugov , the Russian Deputy Minister of Railways under Nicholas II before the Russian Revolution , Minister of Railways under Admiral Kolchak 's government and a key figure in the development of the Chinese Eastern Railway . The Russian community in Harbin made it their mission to preserve the pre-revolutionary culture of Russia. The city had numerous Russian language newspapers, journals, libraries, theaters, and two opera companies. One of

14630-409: The European community (Russians, Germans, Poles, Greeks, etc.) emigrated from 1950 to 1954 to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, and the US, or were repatriated to their home countries. By 1988 the original Russian community numbered just thirty, all of them elderly. Modern Russians living in Harbin mostly moved there in the 1990s and 2000s, and have no relation to the first wave of emigration. Harbin

14839-457: The Far East Army gave [the Chinese] a good scare." The conflict brought a sense of military prestige back into the Asian region. The Soviet victory was also applauded by such Western nations as the United States , France , and the United Kingdom . It showed the West that the Soviets could use both diplomacy and military might to achieve its goal. However, while some might have applauded the Soviets for using those techniques, others feared them in

15048-471: The Fengtian Army and drove them out of Shuozhou . Nearly one million soldiers participated in the battle along the railway connecting Shanxi with Beijing. In order to immobilize the railways and artillery on trains, Yan and Feng launched a joint siege of Shijiazhuang , a major railway hub, which fell on 9 May. Yan took Zhangjiakou on 25 May. Feng's forces were moving up the Beijing–Hankou railway , forcing

15257-507: The Fengtian Army had some initial success against Yan Xishan, but by October, Yan had begun his own offensive along the Beijing-Suiyuan Railroad . A major offensive by the reunited NRA began in November, rolling back what remained of Sun's gains and driving all the way to Shandong. Despite Fengtian reinforcements in the form of air support and 60,000 soldiers, the united forces of Sun and Zhang Zongchang were unable to halt

15466-566: The Fengtian Army's difficulties, the division of spoils had exacerbated existing tensions in the command. Guo Songling, a leader of the reformist Baoding faction, was frustrated that he had been passed over for promotion. Only one member of his faction, Li Jinglin, had received a military governorship: Zhang and Kan were "old" men and Yang and Jiang, while new men, were members of the Tokyo-educated faction. Guo wanted to replace Zhang Zuolin with Zhang Xueliang, who had been Guo's student at

15675-589: The Fengtian Clique. On 1 July 1928, he announced an armistice with the Nationalists and proclaimed that he would not interfere with reunification. This was the opposite of what the Japanese had expected and they demanded that Zhang proclaim Manchurian independence. He refused, and on 3 July, Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Beijing to negotiate a peaceful settlement. On 29 December, Zhang Xueliang announced

15884-475: The Fengtian commanders had a secret deal with the Zhili Clique. The Fengtian Army had made heavy use of its artillery and some use of machine guns, but poor training and a lack of experience with modern weapons meant they had little practical effect. The routed army was forced to retreat back to Manchuria. The 1st and 16th divisions were nearly completely destroyed, only one brigade of the 28th survived

16093-460: The Harbin Soviet requested recognition of the local taotai . On December 12, 1917, Bolsheviks seized control over the Harbin Soviet, pressuring Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries to leave the body. Through Golos Truda the Harbin Soviet declared itself as the government of the area. On December 18, 1917, the Harbin Soviet declared the Chinese Eastern Railway administrator Dmitry Horvat dismissed and directed its militia to seize control of

16302-521: The Harbin special district Zhang Jinghui . Other notable commanders included: Although mainly a land-based force, the Northeastern Army also had a small navy and air force. The navy had its origins in the First World War , when China received two captured German gunboats from the allies to help patrol Manchuria's rivers. Under the command of Captain Yin Shuo , these ships would go on to form

16511-563: The Japanese Arisakas of 1897 and 1905. Overall, the quality of these weapons were low. The China Yearbook estimated that even in 1924, 80 percent of Chinese rifles generally were "antiquated, badly kept, or in poor condition". A major difficulty for the Fengtian Army was that, at the start of the Warlord Era in 1916, none of the eight Chinese armories capable of producing new armaments were located in Manchuria. Before 1922,

16720-442: The Japanese commanders. The presence of Japanese advisors in Chinese armies predated the establishment of the Fengtian army, and Zhang inherited several from previous Manchurian generals. Several dozen were in service at any one time, some of the most important being Takema Machino , Takeo Kikuchi , and Shigeru Honjō . The largest contingent of foreign soldiers were White Russians who had fled to Manchuria following their defeat in

16929-560: The Japanese on paper but decided to withdraw for several reasons. For one, almost half of the army (over 100,000 soldiers) was south of the Great Wall helping suppress a rebellion by Shi Yousan that had flared up in the aftermath of the Central Plains War. Zhang Xueliang was away in Beijing receiving treatment for his opium addiction. The Kwantung Army had superior training and weaponry, and the advisors they had embedded in

17138-467: The Japanese side soon lodged protest with China over the construction of Ahn's memorial hall. Harbin, with a total land area of 53,068 km (20,490 sq mi), is located in southern Heilongjiang province and is the provincial capital. The prefecture is also located at the southeastern edge of the Songnen Plain , a major part of China's Northeastern Plain . The city center also sits on

17347-496: The KMT to win and forcing Zhang back to Manchuria was preferable to letting Zhang unite China under his personal control. In May 1927, Japanese Colonel Doihara Kenji asked Yan Xishan to establish peace between the NRA and the NPA and "take over northern China". Confident of Japanese support, Yan defected to the KMT. This had the short term effect of forcing the NPA to abandon Henan to the NRA. The British, while less than optimistic about

17556-501: The KMT, were forced by the economic pressure of the Canton–Hong Kong strike to make an effort to appease them. In addition to other concessions, they turned a cold shoulder to Zhang's requests for financial aid. Things began to look up for Zhang after Chiang's purge of the Communists , and Nanjing began to enter into negotiations with Nanjing to split China. The Fengtian Army inflicted 100,000 casualties on an ill-planned offensive by

17765-541: The Kuomintang advance. Sun's Long-Hai railroad front subsequently disintegrated and the NPA were forced to retreat to Shandong and dig in. The severely weakened National Pacification Army continued to be pushed back throughout 1928. A coalition of Chiang, Feng, Yan, and Li Zongren surrounded it to the south, and Yan's forces flanked it to the west. The NPA had planned to retake Henan, but they were in no position to do so. In mid-April, Yan launched an offensive against

17974-673: The Kwantung Army . The main facility of the Unit 731 was built in 1935 at Pingfang District , approximately 24 km (15 mi) south of Harbin urban area at that time. Between 3,000 and 12,000 citizens, including men, women, and children, —from which around 600 every year were provided by the Kempeitai —died during the human experimentation conducted by Unit 731 at the camp based in Pingfang alone, which does not include victims from other medical experimentation sites. Almost 70 percent of

18183-542: The Marshal's position quickly collapsed. The unstable political situation kept the Fengtian Army in intermittent action over the next year. A conference held from 11 to 16 November in Tianjin between Zhang, Feng, Duan Qirui , and Lu Yongxiang confirmed Fengtian control of the northeast and set up a new national government under Duan. Brigade commander Kan Zhaoxi was promoted and put in charge of Rehe and Li Jinglin

18392-767: The Military Academy of the Three Eastern Provinces (Zhang Xueliang). The second faction had been educated in Japan at the Imperial Japanese Army Academy . They included Han Linchun , Yang Yuting , and Jiang Dengxuan . Relations between officers of these three factions—the old men and the two groups of new men—were often bitter to the point of threatening to break up the army. The Japanese-educated clique wanted to intervene in Chinese politics more directly and actively, while

18601-578: The Military Academy of the Three Eastern Provinces and looked up to Guo as a friend and mentor. Most likely with tacit support from Li Jinglin and Feng Yuxiang, Guo revolted on 22 November. He was in command of 70,000 of the Fengtian Army's best troops and seized the Shanhai Pass to divide Zhang in Shenyang from the rest of his army. Guo marched north to put Shenyang under siege, imprisoning Jiang Dengxuan and over thirty other Fengtian commanders along

18810-594: The Mukden "Arsenal" was capable of producing only small amounts of ammunition. New supplies came in piecemeal: Zhang received a shipment of arms from Yuan Shikai in 1911, and by agreement with Duan Qirui, seized 17 million yen worth of Japanese military supplies in 1917. To this was added a large amount of Japanese-funded equipment, including cars and airplanes, that was captured from the defeated Anhui Clique in 1920. The cars were particularly valuable: by 1926 there were still only 8,000 motor vehicles in all of China. French Renault FT tanks deployed to Vladivostok during

19019-595: The Mukden Arsenal, which was overseen by a series of talented superintendents: Tao Zhiping in 1922, Han Linchun in 1923, and Yang Yuting beginning in 1924. By 1924, the budget of the Mukden Arsenal was 2 million yuan per month; an enormous investment compared with the Hanyang Arsenal 's annual 1916 operating budget of just over a million yuan (before the Warlord Era, the Hanyang Arsenal

19228-519: The NPA to split their defense. In April, the Shandong front collapsed as Zhang Zongchang was fully defeated. As NRA forces reached Beijing, Zhang directed 200,000 men to hold the southern front. Although this succeeded in pushing Feng back to Dingzhou , the Guominjun was victorious on the eastern front and immediately moved to sever NPA communications. The Japanese, anxious for Zhang to preserve what

19437-495: The NRA and was officially rechristened the "Northeastern Border Defense Force". Despite being formally part of the NRA, the Northeastern Army remained de facto Zhang Xueliang's personal army. Zhang used the army to exercise considerable political influence during the tumultuous early years of the Nanjing Decade . The Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931 and forced the Northeastern Army to retreat into northern China. After

19646-487: The NRA had nearly surrounded Wuchang . Whilst Wu and most of his army fled north to Henan province, his remaining troops in the walled city held out for over a month. His failure in the face of the NRA, however, left his hold on power and reputation broken. What remained of his army would disintegrate in the following months. In November, Zhang called a conference of the remaining conservative warlords— Yan Xishan , Sun Chuanfang , Zhang Zongchang , and Chu Yupu —to declare

19855-583: The Nanjing government and a coalition of northern warlords resisting demilitarization. Zhang Xueliang was courted by both sides because the Northeastern Army was strong enough to swing the balance of power in either direction. He eventually sided with the Nationalists in return for a 10 million yuan bribe and the promise that he'd be able to administer all of China north of the Yellow River. In mid-September, he marched 100,000 Northeastern soldiers to occupy

20064-666: The New Army divisions from Manchuria, leaving Zhang Zuolin's border patrol battalion as one of the few military forces in the region. The reformist assembly was threatening to declare independence from the Qing, so Viceroy Zhao Erxun requested that Zhang march into Shenyang to help suppress the assembly. This Zhang did, and he then carried out a bloody purge of nationalists supportive of Sun Yat-sen 's rival government in Guangdong . As thanks for his efforts, Yuan reorganized and expanded

20273-404: The Northeastern Army gave them copious intelligence on Chinese movements. Most importantly, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Zhang to localize the incident and allow time for negotiations rather than resist. The offer to negotiate was initially accepted by Japanese Foreign Minister Kijūrō Shidehara , but plans collapsed when the Kwantung Army kept advancing. Within a few days, it had occupied cities along

20482-674: The Outer Amur Military Region, then garrisoned in Harbin. A small percentage of the city's population consists of Muslims. Daowai Mosque is located in Harbin and is the largest mosque in Heilongjiang province. Harbin had a small Jewish community centered on Zhongyang Main Street, which was home to many European Jewish refugees. The Harbin local culture is based on Han culture , combined with Manchu culture and Russian culture. This combination of cultures influences

20691-664: 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 ( 冰 城 ) for its winter tourism and recreations. Harbin

20900-532: The Sixth Army ( Xu Langzhou ) went north to Chaoyang to head off any potential flanking maneuvers, and they were able to surprise the unprepared Zhili garrison. Their superior rifles and grenades helped them secure control of the strategically important passes in Rehe by the time Feng Yuxiang 's Third Zhili Army arrived. Further south the Fengtian Army had less luck at first. The First Army ( Jiang Dengxuan ) and

21109-650: The Soviet Great Purge between 1936 and 1938 as "Japanese spies" ). Most departing Russians returned to the Soviet Union, but a substantial number moved south to Shanghai or emigrated to the United States and Australia. By the end of the 1930s, the Russian population of Harbin had dropped to around 30,000. Many of Harbin's Jews (13,000 in 1929) fled after the Japanese occupation as the Japanese associated closely with militant anti-Soviet Russian Fascists , whose ideology of anti-Bolshevism and nationalism

21318-509: The Soviet Union created the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army , commanded by Vasily Blyukher , with the assistance of Voroshilov. Around a fifth of the entire Soviet Armed Forces was mobilized to participate or assist the operation. By doing so, they were willing to do whatever it took to return the CER back to their control. The Chinese leadership was surprised by that turn of events, as it had not expected

21527-495: The Soviet Union. During the Cultural Revolution many foreign and Christian things were uprooted. On 23 August 1966, Red Guards stormed into St. Nicholas Cathedral, burned its icons on the streets while chanting xenophobic slogans before destroying the church. As the normal economic and social order was seriously disrupted, Harbin's economy also suffered from serious setbacks. One of the main reasons of this setback

21736-489: The Soviet leadership such as Kliment Voroshilov urged for a military intervention, but General Secretary Joseph Stalin initially hesitated for fear a Japanese reaction to a Soviet invasion of Manchuria . However, the Soviet consul general in Tokyo obtained information according to which Japan would stay out of the conflict if the Soviets limited any invasions to northern Manchuria and so Stalin decided to act. On 6 August,

21945-476: The Soviets attacked Chalainor . Chinese troops retreated to an entrenchment, which was supported by machine guns. The Soviets suffered heavy losses in the battle, the only one in which the Soviets would incur such casualties. Blyukher consequently developed a plan for an offensive in two rapid operations, the first targeting Chinese naval forces and the second destroying the Chinese ground forces by rapid encirclement operations. The naval attack began in October, as

22154-645: The Soviets forced their naval fleets up the Amur and Songhua Rivers and captured Lahasusu . The maneuver caused the Chinese to move to a different location. On their way to Fujin, Chinese troops killed any civilian they met and raided any store. The Soviets stated that they would not touch the civilian population and encouraged Chinese civilians to fight alongside them against the Chinese Army. They also denied killing civilians and were said to take only military goods. All civilian personal items were to be left in place,

22363-488: The Soviets to react so aggressively. Zhang quickly enlisted more troops, most importantly thousands of anticommunist Russians who lived as White émigrés in Manchuria. Some of the White Russians even organized guerrilla groups to carry the war into the Soviet Union. Small skirmishes had broken out in July but would not be considered the first major military action. The first battle happened on August 17, 1929, when

22572-715: The Third Army ( Zhang Xueliang ) failed to take Shanhai Pass before it was occupied by the enemy (they were later joined by the Fourth and Fifth). Direct assaults on the gate led by Guo Songling failed. However, Fengtian forces freed up by the victory at Chaoyang came south and flanked the Zhili position. Further breakthroughs at Jiumenkou led by Jiang Dengxuan and his deputy commander Han Linchun (once again assisted by superior weaponry) forced Zhili to retreat from Shanhai Pass and only Wu Peifu's personal presence finally stabilized

22781-522: The Vilenski pamphlet as evidence. The Vilenski pamphlet also showed the Chinese that the Soviets were willing to transfer the CER to the Chinese without compensation. The July 25 Karakhan telegram showed that the Soviets' original intention was to return the CER to Chinese control without compensation. The July 25 telegram satisfied the diplomatic requirements for the Chinese government, but the August 26 one

22990-552: The Zhili. Many of his old associates were purged from command for incompetence or suspected disloyalty. Zhang poured millions into purchasing foreign arms and developing domestic manufacture at the Mukden Arsenal (see Equipment ). Funding also went towards a small navy and air force. The effectiveness of these reforms was mixed. Overall, the Fengtian Army was significantly better-equipped and led in 1924 than in 1922. However, corrupt and despotic officers such as Zhang Zongchang remained in high positions and tensions had been created between

23199-628: The academy. In most cases, though, this seemed to have little effect on their accustomed ways of thinking. After the Fengtian Army's defeat in the First Zhili-Fengtian War, it was clear to Zhang and his advisors that the incompetence of these so-called "old men" had been a major contributing factor. Several were removed from command and replaced with "new men", officers who had begun their careers with formal military training. The new men could be broadly separated into two factions. The first, centered around figures who had been educated domestically, either at Baoding Military Academy (Guo Songling, Li Jinglin ) or

23408-516: The advice of Mikhail Borodin and Vasily Blyukher , Nationalist Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek won a series of rapid victories. Surprised by the KMT advance (Zhang was increasingly concerned with what he perceived as the rise of Communist influence in China), the Fengtian clique offered its support to Wu but was refused. Wu feared that the northern warlords would undermine his position if he allowed their troops into his territory. By 2 September,

23617-538: The age of 14, while 14.65 percent are over 65. Harbin has a higher percentage of males (50.02 percent) than females (49.98 percent). Harbin currently has a lower birth rate than other parts of China, with 6.95 births per 1,000 inhabitants, compared to the Chinese average of 12.13 births. Most of Harbin's residents belong to the Han Chinese majority. Ethnic minorities include the Manchu , Hui , and Mongol . There

23826-650: The amount of scientific and technological achievements. Harbin Economic and Technological Development Zone (HETDZ) is one of the 90 national economical development zones of China. It was set up in June 1991, and was approved by the State Council as a national development zone in April 1993. In December 2012, Harbin High Technology Development Zone was merged into HETDZ. In 2009, the hi-tech zone

24035-489: The army was unable to prevent further Japanese annexations of Chinese territory, Zhang was temporarily removed from command. In 1935, the army was reassigned to the Gansu - Ningxia border area in an attempt to encircle the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s base there. Both Zhang and his soldiers resented fighting fellow Chinese while Manchuria was under occupation. They negotiated a covert ceasefire with

24244-442: The army's size at this time—McCormack places it at 70–80,000, while Tong puts it as high as 120,000. The opposing force under General Wu Peifu was roughly equivalent in size or slightly smaller. Sources disagree about which force was better equipped. The armies clashed for control of Hebei's strategic railway lines. The Fengtian Army was defeated when its right flank was turned, either because of bad generalship or possibly because

24453-461: The battle lines. Feng Yuxiang marched his forces back to Beijing and on 20 October seized control of the capital with the Beijing Coup . Although not necessarily fatal on its own, it became so after Yan Xishan stopped Zhili reinforcements from taking the railroad lines north through his territory. The Japanese intervened to stop Wu from embarking the reinforcements around the severed line and

24662-629: The beginning of its division into separate forces: Zhang's Shandong Army and Li's Zhili Army were too far from Shenyang to receive direct supervision, and gradually became independent forces. The lack of a single dominant faction made the resumption of large-scale conflict inevitable. In October, Wu Peifu re-emerged as military governor of Hubei and was set on returning to national leadership. That same month, independent military governor of Zhejiang, Sun Chuanfang , invaded Jiangsu and Anhui. He quickly defeated Yang Yuting and Jiang Dengxuan and began to fight with Zhang Zongchang over Shandong. Adding to

24871-528: The border patrol battalions into the 27th division of the Beiyang Army , with Zhang as its commander. In June, Zhang was promoted to Lieutenant General. He was also named the Vice Minister of Military Affairs, but because his nominal superior had no local power base, Zhang was de facto head of all troops in Fengtian. Zhang supported Yuan against the failed Manchu Restoration , and as a reward

25080-491: 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 2 km (1.2 mi) from present-day Acheng's central urban area. The site of

25289-569: The city on 20 August 1945 and Harbin never came under the control of the Nationalist Government , whose troops stopped 60 km (37 mi) short of the city. The city's administration was transferred by the departing Soviet Army to the Chinese People's Liberation Army in April 1946. On 28 April 1946, the communist government of Harbin was established, making the 700,000-citizen-city the first large city governed by

25498-507: The city a very European appearance. Starting in the late 19th century, a mass influx of Han Chinese arrived in Manchuria, and taking advantage of the rich soils, founded farms that soon turned Manchuria into the "breadbasket of China" while others went to work in the mines and factories of Manchuria, which become one of the first regions of China to industrialize. Harbin became one of the main points through which food and industrial products were shipped out of Manchuria. A sign of Harbin's wealth

25707-626: The city following the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway , which the Russian Empire had financed. The Russians selected Harbin as the base of their administration over this railway and the Chinese Eastern Railway Zone . The railways were largely constructed by Russian engineers and indentured workers. The Chinese Eastern Railway extended the Trans-Siberian Railway , substantially reducing

25916-486: The city receives 2,340 hours of bright sunshine annually; on average precipitation falls 99 days out of the year. The annual mean temperature is 5.2 °C (41.4 °F), and extreme temperatures have ranged from −42.6 °C (−45 °F) or for the official weather station there, −41.1 °C (−42 °F) in January 1931 to 39.2 °C (103 °F) on which was hit most recently on 4 June 2001, though an unofficial record high temperature of 41.0 °C (105.8 °F)

26125-508: The combined force, including Zhang Jinghui , Zhang Zuoxiang , Tang Yulin , and Zuo Fen . Fengtian soldiers were mostly ethnically Chinese and overwhelmingly from Fengtian province, because this was where the 27th division did its recruiting according to the territorial system of recruitment laid out under the Qing. This recruitment system was preserved by Zhang in his early years because of its benefits to unit cohesion. As additional divisions based in other Manchurian provinces were absorbed,

26334-674: The communists. During the short occupation of Harbin by the Soviet Army (August 1945 to April 1946), thousands of Russian emigres who had been identified as members of the Russian Fascist Party and fled communism after the Russian October Revolution, were forcibly deported to the Soviet Union. After 1952 the Soviet Union launched a second wave of immigration back to Russia. By 1964, the Russian population in Harbin had been reduced to 450. The rest of

26543-403: The conflict, the Soviets gained full control of Bolshoy Ussuriysky Island ( Chinese : 黑瞎子岛 ) from China, and its military occupation of the island continued until the 1991 Sino-Soviet Border Agreement , in which Russia agreed to return the western half of the island to China in 2004. On 25 July 1919, the Soviet government's Assistant Commissar of Foreign Affairs, Lev Karakhan , had issued

26752-661: The core of the Songhua River Flotilla. In 1923, the Flotilla became part of the Northeast Sea Defense Squadron under Vice Admiral Shen Honglie . After the Fengtian victory in the Second Zhili-Fengtian War, Shen was transferred to Shandong under Zhang Zongchang's command. He had returned to Manchuria by 1929 and commanded four gunboats and seven supporting craft. The air force was heavily invested in but remained small and never played

26961-578: The distance from Chita to Vladivostok and also linking the new port city of Dalny ( Dalian ) and the Russian naval base of Port Arthur ( Lüshun ). The settlement founded by the Russian-owned Chinese Eastern Railway quickly turned into a boomtown , growing into a city within five years. The Russian-speaking settlers in Harbin came from all over the Russian Empire, including Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, Georgians, and Tatars , in addition to Russians, eventually making Harbin

27170-488: The early 1920s, according to Chinese scholars' recent studies, over 20,000 Jews lived in Harbin. After 1919, Dr. Abraham Kaufman played a leading role in Harbin's large Russian Jewish community. The Republic of China discontinued diplomatic relations with the Russian Republic in 1920, leaving many Russians stateless. When the Chinese Eastern Railway and government in Beijing announced in 1924 that they agreed

27379-643: The early 1920s. Many of Harbin's Russians were wealthy, which sometimes confused foreign visitors who expected them to be poor, with for instance the American writer Harry A. Franck in his 1923 book Wanderings in North China writing the Russian "ladies as well gowned as at the Paris races [who] strolled with men faultlessly garbed by European standards", leading him to wonder how they had achieved this "deceptive appearance". The Harbin Institute of Technology

27588-524: The economic hub of northeastern China and an international metropolis. The rapid growth of the city challenged the public healthcare system. The worst-ever recorded outbreak of pneumonic plague spread to Harbin through the Trans-Manchurian railway from the border trade port of Manzhouli . The plague lasted from late autumn of 1910 to spring 1911 and killed 1,500 Harbin residents (mostly ethnic Chinese), or about five percent of its population at

27797-680: The economy concentration zone of the local headquarters. Regional Scientific research centers including Harbin Science and Technology Innovation Center and Harbin International Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Center are also located in this development zone. Profit from these major research institutes, Harbin ranked ninth among 50 major Chinese cities in scientific and technological innovation ability in scientific and technological competitiveness ranking in 2006, as well as ranking sixth among Chinese cities in

28006-516: The edge of living and dead." Although after signing the Treaty of Khabarovsk  [ zh ; ru ] , the Soviet government released most of the arrested Chinese. The Chinese had been severely tortured by the Soviet government, the confiscated possessions of the Chinese were not returned, difficult situations had arisen among the workers and the businessmen, and there were high prices of goods and unaffordable living costs. Those factors caused all of

28215-463: The end of 1925. Besides depriving Zhang of some of his most capable commanders (such as Guo and Jiang), the rebellion showed Zhang how contingent the loyalty of his other officers was on his immediate fortunes. Of particular note were Li Jinglin and Zhang Zongchang, whose distance from Shenyang made them virtually independent. During Guo's rebellion, the Guominjun had managed to drive Li Jinglin out of Zhili Province and Kan Zhaoxi out of Rehe in spite of

28424-523: The establishment of a unified National Pacification Army (NPA), of which he became the commander-in-chief. Sun and Zhang Zhongchang were appointed deputy commanders of the new force, and its headquarters was established in the Pukou – Nanjing area. In total the NPA counted 500,000 men, 100,000 of which was the Fengtian Army (excluding those portions based in Zhili and Shandong provinces, which by this point were functionally separate commands). In early 1927,

28633-473: The establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo , the so-called " pacification of Manchukuo " began, as volunteer armies continued to fight the Japanese. Harbin became a major operations base for the infamous medical experimenters of Unit 731 , who killed people of all ages and ethnicities. All these units were known collectively as the Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of

28842-519: The event of a possible war. Some major universities of China were also moved out of Harbin, including Harbin Military Academy of Engineering (predecessor of Changsha's National University of Defense Technology ) and Harbin Institute of Technology (Moved to Chongqing in 1969 and relocated to Harbin in 1973). National economy and social service have obtained significant achievements since the Chinese economic reform first introduced in 1979. Harbin holds

29051-467: The famous Russian poets in Harbin was Valery Pereleshin , who started publishing his intensely homoerotic poetry in 1937 and was also one of the few Russian writers in Harbin who learned Mandarin. The subject of Pereleshin's poetry caused problems with the Russian Fascist Party , and led Pereleshin to leave Harbin for Shanghai, and ultimately to the United States. Not all of the Russian newspapers were of high quality, with Karlinsky calling Nash put' ,

29260-528: The final years of Zhang's regime were marked by a return to valuing loyalty above professional skill. During the Warlord Era , modern weaponry was expensive and often difficult to acquire. When created, the Fengtian Army was composed of former bandits armed with what was available. The Hanyang 88 , designed based on the German Gewehr 1888 , had been the standard infantry rifle under the Qing and

29469-587: The forces of the NPA engaged the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) in Henan and Jiangsu. Despite some victories in the field, the NPA faced a continuing series of major setbacks. The Japanese had supported Zhang at several key points in the past in order to gain his acquiescence to their economic ambitions in Manchuria, but Zhang's growing power threatened to free him from any reliance on their aid. Japanese diplomats had concluded that allowing

29678-445: The frontier, the largest Red Army combat force to be fielded between the Russian Civil War (1917–1922) and the Soviet Union's entry to the Second World War . In 1929, the Chinese Northeastern Army took over the Chinese Eastern Railway to regain sole control of it. The Soviet Union quickly responded with a military intervention and eventually forced the Chinese to return the railway to the previous format of joint administration. During

29887-409: The generals on 2 February, but this only turned the majority of the soldiers against the plan to stand and fight. The Northeastern Army peacefully surrendered to advancing KMT forces and was divided into new units, which were sent to Hebei, Hunan, and Anhui. Yang Hucheng, however, was arrested and eventually executed, while the leaders of the Anti-Japanese Comrade Society defected to the Red Army. Zhang

30096-409: The geographical makeup of the army became consequently more diverse. When Li Jinglin and Zhang Zongchang's divisions were relocated to Zhili and Shandong respectively after the Second Zhili-Fengtian War, they began recruiting from the local populations and soon locals made up a majority in both armies. The monthly salary remained the same as it had been under the Qing—in 1922, that was 4.2 yuan for

30305-409: The grave of his grandfather in Huang Shan Jewish Cemetery, which had over 500 Jewish graves identified. On 5 October 1984, Harbin was designated a sub-provincial city by the Organization Department of the CCP Central Committee . The eight counties of Harbin originally formed part of Songhuajiang Prefecture whose seat was practically located inside the urban area of Harbin since 1972. The prefecture

30514-406: The influence of Japanese-educated clique of officers and helped Zhang consolidate his control. Nonetheless, the Northeastern Army was not in a strong position in 1929. The financial burden of supporting the army and its many wars had had a crushing impact on the Manchurian economy, especially during Zhang Zuolin's final years. Zhang Xueliang was forced to cut down on the army's size and funding to

30723-531: The length of the South Manchuria Railway and coerced or bribed the governors of Fengtian and Jilin Provinces to declare independence. The Japanese then declared the formation of the puppet state of Manchukuo out of the Three Eastern Provinces. The Northeastern Army mostly withdrew south of the Great Wall, but cavalry commander Ma Zhanshan led a doomed but highly publicized resistance campaign in Heilongjiang until early 1932. Ma briefly defected to Manchukuo and got himself appointed Minister of War before stealing

30932-444: The message that the Communists wanted to form an alliance against the Japanese. With the help of Communist-sympathetic officers, they pressed Zhang and Yang to negotiate a truce. The generals were open to the idea and invited official CCP representatives to begin negotiations in late 1935. The Red Army followed up on their promise to fight the Japanese by launching the "eastern expedition" from February to April 1936. They announced that

31141-402: The mid-1920s the Northeastern Army was the dominant military force in China, but in 1928 it was defeated by the Kuomintang 's National Revolutionary Army (NRA) during the Northern Expedition . At the end of that campaign, Zhang Zuolin was assassinated and succeeded by his son Zhang Xueliang . When Xueliang subsequently pledged loyalty to the Kuomintang, the Northeastern Army became part of

31350-407: The morale of troops unwilling to fight the Communists. When he arrived, Northeastern soldiers overwhelmed his bodyguard and placed him under house arrest. A faction of the army led by Yang Hucheng and the radical young officers of the "Anti-Japanese Comrade Society" wanted to execute Chiang, but Zhang and the Communists insisted that he be kept alive and convinced to change his policy towards Japan and

31559-467: The name means " swan " in the Jurchen language , and other sources says that it means a Manchu word meaning "a place for drying fishing nets ". The settlement grew from a small rural fishing village on the Songhua River to become one of the largest cities in Northeast China. Founded in 1898 with the coming of the Russian -built Chinese Eastern Railway , the city first prospered as a settlement inhabited by an overwhelming majority of immigrants from

31768-403: 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

31977-454: The new officers from staff colleges and the old officers from Zhang Zuolin's bandit days. The decisive confrontation with Wu Peifu came in late 1924. Zhang had managed to secure a triangular alliance with the Anhui Clique based in Zhejiang and the Kuomintang based in Guangdong . The Fengtian Army was organized into six route armies totaling 170,000 to 250,000 men, under Zhang's overall command. The Second Army (under Li Jinglin ) and

32186-439: The newspaper Rubezh was considered to be a promising writer whose career was cut short when he gave up literature for activism in the Russian Fascist Party and cocaine addiction. Moya-tvoya (mine – yours), a pidgin language that was a combination of Russian and Mandarin Chinese that had developed in the 19th century when Chinese went to work in Siberia, was considered essential by the Chinese businesspeople of Harbin. In

32395-400: The newspaper of the Russian Fascist Party "the lowest example of gutter journalism that Harbin had ever seen". Nikolai Baikov , a Russian writer in Harbin was known for his novels of exile life in that city together with his accounts of his travels across Manchuria and the folklore of its Manchu and Chinese population. Boris Yulsky , a young Russian writer who published his short stories in

32604-408: The newspaper stated that those detained in Khabarovsk had only a bread soup for meal daily, and many people had hanged themselves because of unbearable starvation. On 14 September, the newspaper stated that 1,000 of Chinese in Vladivostok had been arrested, with almost no Chinese remaining in the city. On 15 September, the newspaper continued that Vladivostok had arrested more than 1,000 Chinese during

32813-431: The next line of Guominjun defenses at Nankou . Nonetheless, Feng Yuxiang's army was able to mostly retreat into the rugged terrain of the northwest until the Northern Expedition began to change the military calculus. While Wu Peifu had been fighting alongside the Fengtian Army against the Guominjun, the Kuomintang had taken advantage of the situation to launch the Northern Expedition . They targeted Wu first, and with

33022-480: The number of Russians reached its peak at about 5,270 men, mostly serving in Nechaev's 65th Infantry Division under Zhang Zongchang. However, they suffered heavy casualties in the 1926–1927 fighting against Sun Chuanfang , and Zhang Xueliang demobilized the remaining White Russian units after they sided with Zhang Zongchang's revolt . As mentioned, the original officer core consisted of Zhang's former bandit comrades who were personally loyal to him. But in 1919,

33231-429: The number of troops they contained did not actually change, brigades were renamed as divisions to fit the NRA pattern (100 was added to their brigade number, e.g. the 17th Brigade became the 117th Division). Zhang himself left on a tour of Europe . Japanese aggression continued after the fall of Rehe. Northeastern Army soldiers under He Zhuguo and Weng Zhaoyuan faced offensives in April and May that pushed them back from

33440-414: The official garrison of Xinmin . Nonetheless, they remained more loyal to their commander than to the state, and when the Russo-Japanese War temporarily destroyed any semblance of local Qing authority, they fought as mercenaries for both sides. In late October 1911, the Qing Dynasty brought Yuan Shikai out of retirement to command the New Army against the developing Xinhai Revolution . Yuan withdrew

33649-434: The old Jin capital ruins is a national historic reserve, and includes the Jin Dynasty History Museum . 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

33858-695: The output of the rest of China combined. Every month in 1928, the Fengtian Clique produced 7,500 rifles, 70–80 machine guns, 120,000 artillery shells, and about 9 million cartridges, among other equipment. But this extraordinarily high output put an unsustainable strain on the Manchurian economy. After 1929, Zhang Xueliang was forced to cut funding to the arsenal. [REDACTED] Communist Party / [REDACTED] Soviet Republic ( [REDACTED] Red Army ) → Liberated Area ( [REDACTED] 8th Route Army , New Fourth Army , etc. → [REDACTED] People's Liberation Army ) → [REDACTED]   People's Republic of China Harbin Harbin

34067-502: The period before 1928. After 1928, the army was incorporated into the National Revolutionary Army and rechristened the "Northeastern Border Defense Force" (simplified Chinese: 东北边防军 ; traditional Chinese: 東北邊防軍 ; pinyin: Dōngběi bian fáng jūn ; see Early Nanjing Decade ). From that point on, English sources almost exclusively use some variant of "Northeastern Army". The Northeastern Army had its roots in bandit forces organized by Zhang Zuolin in Manchuria around

34276-467: The previous year. The proportion of the three industries to the aggregate of GDP was 11.1:36.1:52.8 in 2012. The total value for imports and exports by the end of 2012 was US$ 5,330 million. In 2012, the working population reached 3.147 million. In 2015, Harbin had a GDP of RMB 575.12 billion. The chernozem soil in Harbin is one of the most nutrient rich in all of China, making it valuable for cultivating food and textile-related crops. As

34485-448: The question of whether to intervene in China to a head. Radical junior officers of the Kwantung Army , led by Kanji Ishiwara and Seishirō Itagaki , planned and executed the Mukden Incident on September 18, 1931, to give the Japanese an excuse to invade. On the night following the incident, the Kwantung Army crossed the border and captured the Mukden Arsenal and Beidaying Barracks in Shenyang. The Northeastern Army heavily outnumbered

34694-439: The railroad would employ only Russian or Chinese nationals, the émigrés were forced to announce their ethnic and political allegiance. Most accepted Soviet citizenship. The Chinese warlord Zhang Xueliang , the "Young Marshal" seized the Chinese Eastern Railway in 1929. The Soviet military force quickly put an end to the crisis and forced the Nationalist Chinese to accept the restoration of joint Soviet-Chinese administration of

34903-1102: The railroad. At the time Harbin was not an established city. The city was almost built from scratch by the builders and early settlers. Houses were constructed, furniture and personal items were brought in from Russia. After the Manchurian plague epidemic, Harbin's population continued to increase sharply, especially inside the Chinese Eastern Railway Zone. In 1913 the Chinese Eastern Railway census showed its ethnic composition as: Russians  – 34,313, Chinese (that is, including Hans , Manchus etc.) – 23,537, Jews – 5,032, Poles  – 2556, Japanese – 696, Germans  – 564, Tatars  – 234, Latvians  – 218, Georgians  – 183, Estonians  – 172, Lithuanians  – 142, Armenians  – 124; there were also Karaims , Ukrainians , Bashkirs , and some Western Europeans. In total, 68,549 citizens of 53 nationalities, speaking 45 languages. Research shows that only 11.5 percent of all residents were born in Harbin. By 1917, Harbin's population exceeded 100,000, with over 40,000 of them being ethnic Russians. Immediately after

35112-428: The railway installations. The Bolshevik militia was soon confronted by Chinese troops and Horvat loyalists, who disarmed and deported some 1,560 Bolshevik fighters. Ryutin went underground. In 1920 more than 100,000 defeated Russian White Guards and refugees retreated to Harbin, which became a major center of White Russian émigrés and the largest Russian enclave outside the Soviet Union . Karlinsky noted that

35321-420: The railway. Japan invaded Manchuria outright after the Mukden Incident in September 1931. After the Japanese captured Qiqihar in the Jiangqiao Campaign , the Japanese 4th Mixed Brigade moved toward Harbin, closing in from the west and south. Bombing and strafing by Japanese aircraft forced the Chinese army to retreat from Harbin. Within a few hours, the Japanese occupation of Harbin was complete. With

35530-419: The released Chinese to return to China. Northeastern Army The Northeastern Army , also known as the Fengtian Army (see terminology ), was a Chinese army that existed from 1911 to 1937. General Zhang Zuolin developed it as an independent fighting force during the Warlord Era . He used the army to control Northeastern China ( Manchuria ) and intervene in the national politics. During

35739-536: The remnants of Sun Chuanfang's and Zhang Zongchang's armies, each consisting of over 50,000 men, who were now situated between Tangshan and Shanhai Pass. Yang wanted to capitalize on KMT disagreements and infighting in order to prepare for a comeback of the NPA. But Zhang did not want to pursue this course of action, and he began to suspect Yang of plotting a coup with the Japanese. In January 1929, Zhang ordered Yang's execution, along with that of one of Yang's associates, Heilongjiang governor Chang Yinhuai . This ended

35948-425: The replacement of all flags in Manchuria with the flag of Nationalist China , symbolically marking the reunification of the Republic and ending the Northern Expedition. But although the NPA was formally dissolved and the erstwhile Fengtian Army was renamed the "Northeastern Border Defense Army", it retained its internal structure and autonomy. Zhang, like the other warlords who had declared their allegiance to Chiang,

36157-466: The retreat. Several of the mixed brigades were scattered as well. Many of Zhang's officers who had been with him since his bandit days were discredited by the defeat. One of the most important periods in the history of the Fengtian Army was the two years between the First and Second Zhili-Fengtian Wars. Zhang Zuolin and his advisors came away from their defeat with the lesson that the army would need massive reorganization and re-equipment in order to fight

36366-576: The semi-official nature of armies during the Warlord Era , the Northeastern Army was known by a variety of names at different points its history. Zhang Zuolin's first significant military unit, the 27th Division, was based in Fengtian Province and therefore called the "Fengtian Army" ( simplified Chinese : 奉系军 ; traditional Chinese : 奉系軍 ; pinyin : Fèng xì jūn ). As he gained command of more divisions based in other Northeastern provinces , "Fengtian Army" continued to be used to refer just to those forces stationed in Fengtian, but also became

36575-480: The southeast, Daqing to the west, and Suihua to the northwest. On its southwestern boundary is Jilin province. The main terrain of the city is generally flat and low lying, with an average elevation of around 150 metres (490 ft). The territory that comprises the 10 county-level divisions in the eastern part of the municipality consists of mountains and uplands. The easternmost part of Harbin prefecture also has extensive wetlands , mainly in Yilan County , which

36784-400: The southern bank of the middle Songhua River . Harbin received its nickname The pearl on the swan's neck , since the shape of Heilongjiang resembles a swan. Its administrative area is rather large with latitude spanning 44° 04′−46° 40′ N, and longitude 125° 42′−130° 10' E. Neighbouring prefecture-level cities are Yichun to the north, Jiamusi and Qitaihe to the northeast, Mudanjiang to

36993-484: The summer fighting had reached a stalemate. The rest of the Fengtian Army was more successful: it secured control of the Manchurian railways for the Allies , which they needed to support their intervention in the Russian Civil War (China had joined World War I on the side of the Allies in 1917). For this, Zhang was promoted to full General in 1919. By 1920, however, Zhang had grown wary of Duan Qirui's growing power. He therefore sided with Duan's rival Cao Kun in

37202-455: The time. This turned out to be the beginning of the large so-called Manchurian plague pandemic , which ultimately claimed 60,000 victims. In the winter of 1910, Dr. Wu Lien-teh (later the founder of Harbin Medical University ) was given instructions from the Foreign Office, Peking, to travel to Harbin to investigate the plague. Dr. Wu asked for imperial sanction to cremate plague victims, as cremation of these infected victims turned out to be

37411-526: The total force there to 100,000. According to historian Parks Coble, however, the efforts of Zhang and the central government were "largely a veneer". The central government provided insufficient funds and no additional troops, and the troops provided by Zhang were his least reliable units. When the Japanese invaded with 30,000 troops on 27 February, Tang Yulin and the other Northeastern commanders, Zhu Chinglan and Wan Fulin , fled rather than fighting. Only Sun Dianying , an old Guominjun commander, attempted

37620-569: The turn of the twentieth century. At that time, the poverty of Manchuria encouraged many young men (known as Honghuzi or red-beards) to resort to banditry in order to feed themselves and their families. The declining Qing Dynasty lacked the resources to keep the peace and its sovereignty was challenged by Russian and Japanese imperialism. Qing soldiers had a reputation for petty tyranny and were often no more popular than bandits. Local authorities would even attempt to co-opt successful bandits: in 1903, Zhang and his few hundred followers were made

37829-442: The turning point of the epidemic. The suppression of this plague pandemic changed medical progress in China. Bronze statues of Dr. Wu Lien-teh were built in Harbin Medical University to remember his contributions in promoting public health, preventive medicine, and medical education. The first generation of Harbin Russians were mostly the builders and employees of the Chinese Eastern Railway. They moved to Harbin in order to work on

38038-569: The various departments of the railway shall be in accordance with the principle of equal representation between the nationals of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and those of the Republic of China." The Soviets added, "In carrying out the principle of equal representation the normal course of life and activities of the Railway shall in no case be interrupted or injured, that is to say the employment of both nationalities shall be in accordance with experience, personal qualifications and fitness of applicants." While negotiations had been concluded with

38247-409: The verge of annexation by Japan after the signing of the Eulsa Treaty . South Korean President Park Geun-Hye raised an idea of erecting a monument for Ahn while meeting with Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping during a visit to China in June 2013. After that China began to build a memorial hall honoring Ahn at Harbin Railway Station. As the hall was unveiled on 19 January 2014,

38456-412: The victims who died in the Pingfang camp were Chinese , including both civilian and military. Close to 30 percent of the victims were Russian. The Russian Fascist Party had the task of capturing "unreliable" Russians living in Harbin to hand over to Unit 731 to serve as the unwilling subjects of the gruesome experiments. Some others were Southeast Asians and Pacific Islanders from the colonies of

38665-432: The way. Jiang, one of Guo's main rivals for influence, was shot. Feng Yuxiang joined the war on 27 November. However, Zhang Zongchang remained loyal to Zhang Zuolin and Li Jinglin backed away from supporting Guo, fighting the Guominjun and leaving Guo without the forces or supplies he needed to take Shenyang. With the help of the Japanese, Zhang was able to defeat Guo's demoralized forces and retake control of Manchuria by

38874-415: Was de facto independent of the central government. The decision to join with the KMT left important Fengtian commanders dissatisfied. Yang Yuting, who had been put in charge of military strategy in July, reluctantly went along but felt that Fengtian–KMT unity would not last. He advised Zhang Xueliang to hold the line east of Shanhai Pass and Rehe Province , as well as asking for him to take control of

39083-400: Was 10,009,854, representing a 5.62 percent decrease over the previous decade. The built-up area, made up of all urban districts but Acheng and Shuangcheng not urbanized yet, had a population of 5,282,083 people. 70.61 percent lived in urban areas, while 29.39 lived in rural areas. The demographic profile for the Harbin metropolitan area in general is relatively old: 10.46 percent are under

39292-411: Was a success. On November 26, the Chinese were ready to sign a treaty with the Soviets. On December 13, after much debate, the Chinese signed the Khabarovsk Protocol, which restored peace and the status quo ante bellum , the Sino-Soviet treaty of 1924. The victory over China was an eyeopener for the world. During the conflict, the Soviets used propaganda to help spread communist ideology and to confuse

39501-449: 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. A small village in 1898 grew into the modern city of Harbin. Polish engineer Adam Szydłowski drew plans for

39710-403: Was able to add the 28th and 29th divisions to his army. By this point, Zhang's small battalion had grown into a force of between 50,000 and 70,000 men. Local elites supportive of Zhang had gradually coalesced into what became known as the " Fengtian Clique ". After Zhang became governor in 1915, the Fengtian Clique soon exerted control over the entirety of Manchuria. Yuan Shikai's death left

39919-464: Was assigned to Zhili Province . However, the provinces of central and southern China were outside of Zhang and Feng's direct military control and did not fully submit to their authority, although they were hesitant to openly defy it. From December 1924 to late January 1925, Zhang Zongchang had to lead a detachment including the White Russians of the Fengtian foreign legion to put down the rebellious Qi Xieyuan in Jiangsu and Shanghai. The Fengtian Army

40128-415: Was deeply divided on the appropriate response. Yang Hucheng and the Anti-Japanese Comrade Society wanted to stand and fight if the KMT army attacked, and refuse to negotiate until Zhang was released. The Communist representatives strongly disagreed and cautioned that civil war would, in the words of Zhou Enlai, "make China into another Spain ". Negotiations between the CCP and Nanjing continued. However, when

40337-435: Was established in 1920 as the Harbin Sino-Russian School for Industry to educate railway engineers via a Russian method of instruction. Students could select from two majors at the time: Railway Construction or Electric Mechanic Engineering. On 2 April 1922, the school was renamed the Sino-Russian Industrial University. The original two majors eventually developed into two major departments: the Railway Construction Department and

40546-425: Was kept under house arrest for over 50 years before emigrating to Hawaii in 1993. Chiang did eventually keep his promise to the CCP. After six months of continued negotiations, he signed a formal agreement creating the Second United Front , a military alliance of the Communists and Nationalists against Japan. Originally, the Fengtian Army was composed solely of the 27th division. In 1917, the army expanded to include

40755-595: Was laced with virulent anti-Semitism. The Kwantung Army-sponsored and financed the Russian Fascist Party, which after 1932 started to play an over-sized role in the Harbin's Russian community as its thugs began to harass and sometimes kill those opposed to it. Most Jews left for Shanghai , Tianjin , and the British Mandate of Palestine . In the late 1930s, some German Jews fleeing the Nazis moved to Harbin. Japanese officials later facilitated Jewish emigration to several cities in western Japan, notably Kobe , which came to have Japan's largest synagogue. The Soviet Army took

40964-432: Was left of his forces so that the NRA would not be able to invade Manchuria unopposed, threatened that they would block Zhang Zuolin from retreating if he allowed himself to be defeated in an engagement. As a result, Zhang decided on 3 June to retreat beyond the passes. As he was returning to Manchuria on 4 June 1928, his train was blown up by officers of the Kwantung Army. Zhang Xueliang succeeded his father as leader of

41173-563: Was officially merged into Harbin city on 11 August 1996, increasing Harbin's total population to 9.47 million. Harbin hosted the third Asian Winter Games in 1996. In 2009, Harbin held the XXIV Winter Universiade . A memorial hall honoring Korean nationalist and independence activist Ahn Jung-geun was unveiled at Harbin Railway Station on 19 January 2014. Ahn assassinated four-time Prime Minister of Japan and former Resident-General of Korea Itō Hirobumi at No.1 platform of Harbin Railway Station on 26 October 1909, as Korea on

41382-442: Was once again afraid that the balance of power had begun to tip in the favor of Cao Kun's Zhili clique that now governed Beijing. He launched a war against his former ally to try and shore up his strategic position. In April, the Fengtian Army marched through the Shanhai Pass with the intention of occupying Hebei . Zhang Jinghui was in overall command with Zuo Fen in charge of the right flank. Sources disagree drastically on

41591-417: Was one of the key construction cities of China during the First Five-Year Plan period from 1951 to 1956. 13 of the 156 key construction projects were aid-constructed by the Soviet Union in Harbin. This project made Harbin an important industrial base of China. During the Great Leap Forward from 1958 to 1961, Harbin experienced a very tortuous development course as several Sino-Soviet contracts were cancelled by

41800-403: Was originally controlled by the Soviets, most of the positions would be under Soviet control. The Soviets then claimed they should keep majority control because any other solution would interrupt or injure the railway. The Soviets were also the puppet master of the President for the CER. They regained majority control of the CER by playing the secret protocols off one another and by outmaneuvering

42009-450: Was originally organized by the Manchurian branch of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The army was supported by the Comintern after the CCP Manchurian Provincial Committee was dissolved in 1936. Under the Manchukuo régime and Japanese occupation, Harbin Russians had a difficult time. In 1935, the Soviet Union sold the Chinese Eastern Railway (KVZhD) to the Japanese, and many Russian emigres left Harbin (48,133 of them were arrested during

42218-423: Was published to uphold Soviet propaganda requirements. The first major step in uncovering the hostile takeover of the CER by the Chinese in 1929 started with the understanding of the Secret Protocol of March 14, 1924, and the Secret Agreement of September 20, 1924. The Secret Protocol stated that all former conventions, treaties, protocols, contracts, and documents between the Soviet and China would be annulled until

42427-521: Was recorded in July 1907. To mitigate impacts of climate change , urban planning in Harbin has made use of sponge city concepts, including the Qunli stormwater park which collects, filters, and stores rainwater while conserving natural habitat. The sub-provincial city of Harbin has direct jurisdiction over 9 districts , 2 county-level cities and 7 counties . Harbin has the largest economy in Heilongjiang province. In 2013, Harbin's GDP totaled RMB501.08 billion, an increase of 8.9 percent over

42636-442: Was separated from HETDZ again. The area now has a total area of 18.5 square-kilometers in the centralized parks, subdivided into Nangang and Haping Road Centralized Parks. The 12.2 square-kilometers Yingbin Road Hi-tech Centralized Park, which was formerly part of HETDZ, is currently under the administration of Harbin High and New Technology Industry Development Zone since 2009. Harbin High and New Technology Industry Development Zone

42845-778: Was that a theater had established during its first decade and in 1907 the play K zvezdam by Leonid Andreyev had its premiere there. During the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), Russia used Harbin as its base for military operations in Manchuria. Following Russia's defeat, its influence declined. Several thousand nationals from 33 countries, including the United States, Germany, and France, moved to Harbin. Sixteen countries established consulates to serve their nationals, who established several hundred industrial, commercial and banking companies. Churches were rebuilt for Russian Orthodox , Lutheran/German Protestant , and Polish Catholic Christians. Chinese capitalists also established businesses, especially in brewing, food, and textiles. Harbin became

43054-404: Was the largest in China). The arsenal employed a workforce of 20–30,000 that included thousands of foreign specialists brought in from across the globe. The main rifle in production was the Mukden Arsenal Mauser , a copy of the Arisaka tweaked by Han Linchun. An English arms manufacturer, Francis Sutton, was paid to build a state-of-the-art trench mortar works nearby, and he helped Zhang set up

43263-414: Was therefore widely available. A smaller quantity of the Type 1 rifle (a Chinese copy of the Mauser Model 1907) were produced towards the end of the Qing and during the early Republican period and may have been used as well. Given Manchuria's location between Russia and Japanese-occupied Korea, other common rifles included the Russian Mosin–Nagant model 1891, various models of the Japanese Murata , and

43472-409: Was victorious, "but their struggles had not clarified the military situation; rather, they had rendered it more complex." It took five more months for the army to complete the Fengtian expansion. In April, Zhang Zongchang took over Shandong and in August Yang Yuting received Jiangsu and Anhui went to Jiang Dengxuan . Although this represented a major extension of Fengtian control, it also marked

43681-521: Was voted "China Top Tourist City" by the China National Tourism Administration in 2004. Harbin is one of the top 50 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

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