Directory_and_Chronicle_1934 — Page 506

HARBIN

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Apart from Dairen, Harbin is the principal business centre in Manchuria. It is topographically and historically a group of settlements widely dif fering in character which have expanded till they virtually form different quarters of one town. The original distinctions remain in the character of the population and in the form of administration.

The town (or towns) is situated on the south bank of the Sungari at the junction of the Trans-Siberian Railway (C.E.R. Section) and the C.E.R. to Changchun, whence the S.M.R. runs to Dairen. It is the railway centre of North Manchuria and is in many ways essentially a railway town, but the elder traffic by river still flourishes and in normal times contributes materially to the town's prosperity.

The town is within easy reach of rich and extensive bean and grain pro- ducing districts, and is the natural centre for the vast area to the north which is being gradually opened up and developed.

The population is estimated as about 340,000 of whom some 72,000 are foreigners, mostly Russian,

The number of firms in operation as given by a variety of sources would appear to be approximately:-2,718 commercial and 1,209 industrial.

A total of 3927, of which 2207 are Chinese and 1270 are foreign owned: the majority of the latter being small Russian concerns, but the figure includes 319 Japanese firms and 130 firms owned by other foreigners enjoying treaty rights.

From the administrative point of view the various quarters of the town form three groups: (a) Pristan and New Town, which is controlled by the Harbin Town Council. more fully described as the Harbin (Special Area) Municipal Council. There are three foreign members in the Council. (b.) The Area Municipal Administration. This body is also under the Civil Administra- tor and controls all the other quarters which make up the Special Area- except Pristan and New Town. (c.) The third body of the kind is the Ping- chiang Provincial Municipality, also under the Civil Administrator, which controls Fuchiatien and its suburbs.

These three municipal bodies control different areas, have separate offices, levy different taxes, and have no connection with each other.

Pristan and New Town may be described respectively as the foreign business and the foreign residential quarters. They are the most properous and fully developed sections of the town. The houses for the most part consist of three and four story brick and tile (or concrete and tile) buildings. No figures are readily available as to the number of houses in either area, but the number of families in August 1930 was 10,563 in Pristan and 6597 in New Town: of which 3552 in Pristan were Chinese and 2525 in New Town were Chinese. So large a proportion of the population both foreign and Chinese live in apartment buildings and flats that these figures give little indication of the number of houses.

The Harbin Municipality has much improved the town of late years providing excellent cemented pavements and improved macadamised roads. Drainage has re- ceived considerable attention. The telephone system is automatic, and excellent, and managed by a special department of the Chinese Eastern Railway. The palatial building of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank is evidence of the importance attached by the Bank to its Harbin branch, and the establishment in 1928 of a branch of the Chartered Bank was further proof of the increasing importance of Harbin as a commercial centre.