Harbin is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang province. Holding sub-provincial administrative status, Harbin is the eighth-most populous metropolitan among Chinese cities, as well as the most populous city in Northeast China. According to the 2010 census, the city's urban area has 5,878,939 inhabitants, while the total population of the sub-provincial city is up to 10,635,971. 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.Harbin, which was originally a Manchurian word meaning "a place for drying fishing nets", grew from a small rural settlement on the Songhua River to become one of the largest cities in Northeast China. Founded in 1898 with the coming of the Trans-Manchurian Railway, the city first prospered as a region inhabited by an overwhelming majority of the immigrants from the Russian Empire.Having the most bitterly cold winters among major Chinese cities, Harbin is referred to as the Ice City for its well-known winter tourism and recreations. Harbin is notable for its beautiful ice sculptures in winter and its Russian legacy, and it still plays an important part in Sino-Russian trade today. 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. On 22 June 2010, Harbin was appointed a UNESCO "City of Music" as part of the Creative Cities Network.
