Dumpling cooking class in Harbin

Harbin is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population and largest city by metropolitan population (urban and rural together) in Northeast China. 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 is also one of the top 200 science cities and metropolitan areas in the world by scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index. With its often harsh winters, Harbin is heralded as the Ice Cityfor its well-known winter tourism and recreations.Harbin is notable for its ice sculpture festival in the winter. Besides being well known for its historical Russian legacy, the city serves as an important gateway 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.The city was voted "China Top Tourist City" by the China National Tourism Administration in 2004.