Strange "Erbin", the real Harbin

  China News Weekly reporter Li Mingzi

  Published in the 1128th issue of "China News Weekly" magazine on February 5, 2024

  If the sales of Madiel popsicles are a barometer of Central Street, the "Southern Little Potato Index" of Ice and Snow World is a barometer of Harbin's entire cultural tourism traffic.

  These two data, when we first entered 2024, were both off the charts. "The sales of Madier popsicles reached 100,000 in the three days of New Year's Day, and the recent average daily sales are about 20,000." Liu Fubin, marketing director of Madier Group, told China News Weekly.

  After more than ten years in the industry, this year is also the year when "seasonal Internet celebrity" Bingcheng Zuoge has seen the most tourists from the south. At the stage on the westernmost side of Harbin Ice and Snow World, farthest from the entrance, every afternoon to evening, thousands of people sway and shout loudly along with "Brother Left and Right". At a glance, they are all "little southern potatoes" wearing light-colored plush hats. The security personnel formed a human wall around the stage, with their faces almost touching the live broadcast brackets of the mobile phones of the audience in the first row. "There are at least a dozen live broadcast rooms," Zuo Ge estimated.

  He understands the contrast brought about by this popularity better than anyone: At the end of 2022, when the Ice and Snow World first opened, there were only 7 tourists in the audience dancing the "rabbit dance" with him. The entire Harbin and even Heilongjiang understand this and are carefully protecting this "belated popularity".

  "Each department and agency has dedicated personnel to check tourists' complaints and comments every day, and sort out various reporting information. If there are any problems, they will find and implement them immediately." A staff member of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism told China News Weekly that amid the fermentation of public opinion Before, the processing results were basically available.

  No one expected that the rugged Northeastern people could provide such exquisite service. Locals joked, "Erbin, you make me feel strange", "It just proves that the service is in place." A person in charge of Madier Cultural Tourism Investment Group lamented: From the preparations before the city became popular to the current response to public opinion, "No Ignore every tourist who comes to this city.”

  What foreign tourists see is Harbin, a "pleasing city", while the 9.4 million Harbin citizens have regained their long-lost confidence and sense of existence. "Opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared, and the same goes for cities. Harbin's fire is not a flash in the pan." Brother Zuo said, "From the first Ice Lantern Garden Party in 1963 to now, this road of ice and snow has been going for 61 years. In addition, The beautiful European-style buildings that have been preserved by history, and the enthusiastic character of Harbin people, let everyone see that in such a "foreign-style" northern city, there are such down-to-earth people and unique ice and snow resources. Why? What if it can’t be on fire?”

The shaped “Erbin”

  Every night at 8:30 pm, after Brother Zuo finished his performance at Ice and Snow World, the offline and online teams met overnight to review the program, discuss the content of the program, and optimize the live broadcast. Different from the original "make your own jokes", now the content of daily short videos has begun to follow social hot spots.

  "I am studying every day now." Brother Zuo, whose real name is Jiang Kedong, used to be a wedding host. In 2011, he began to appear as the host of Ice and Snow World. In Harbin, the temperature is minus 20 to 30 degrees Celsius in the winter, and you can't stand outdoors for long. He initially wanted to lead the audience to move around and warm up, but he was afraid that he would fall if he "jumped", so he changed the familiar rabbit dance to " "Left foot, right foot" method. Later, the audience got used to calling him "Brother Left and Right".

  Born into a working-class family, Brother Zuo has a simple personality and speaks directly. "But not all viewers can accept my life-oriented side." Now that the exposure is high, Zuo Ge feels that he has to stop being careless and uneducated.

  Not only the left and right brothers, but the entire Harbin is "self-optimizing" to reverse the outside world's stereotype of the Northeast as "simple and rough".

  This "explosive change" in the city's image began in April last year. "Relevant government departments have organized many mobilizations." The person in charge of a member unit of the Heilongjiang Province Ice and Snow Tourism Development Promotion Association said that in early April last year, Heilongjiang representatives from the literary, artistic and sports circles in Beijing were summoned for a discussion, "Let's work together to contribute to the development of our hometown. Offer suggestions." In the summer of 2023, the cultural and tourism department will organize artists to "return to their hometowns for summer vacation" as usual, promote "Longjiang", and build the city from a "tourist transit station" to a "tourist destination".

  The tourism promotion in 2023 will be started earlier and with a higher degree of emphasis. Tian Li, chairman of Harbin Polar Park, told China News Weekly that in the past, the provincial cultural and tourism department organized companies to go to the south to promote winter ice and snow tourism, and usually only let the company's marketing department manager accompany them. But last year, we started promoting summer tourism in early April, and mobilized top leaders from various units and companies to attend. The first place of promotion was in Guangdong. The staff of the local cultural and tourism department had a premonition: "Heilongjiang started very early this year. It seems that cultural tourism is going to make big moves."

  By mid-August, the "big move" of Harbin's cultural tourism was officially announced. Harbin Madier Cultural Tourism Investment Group (hereinafter referred to as "Madiel Cultural Tourism Group") was established. This is considered to be the first time Harbin has become a top-notch website. The trader behind the red.

  Madiel Cultural Tourism Group operates and manages the Ice and Snow World, Sun Island Scenic Area, Yabuli Ski Resort, Songhua River Ice and Snow Carnival, Ice Lantern Art Garden Party, Sophia Church, Synagogue Concert Hall, and the "century-old brand" Madiel Erwei is a municipal-owned tourism-related national enterprise in the tourism industry chain such as hotels, catering, and shopping, covering the core cultural and tourism resources of "Erbin" out of the circle.

  With all the core cultural and tourism resources of Harbin’s “national prefix” in hand, Madier Cultural Tourism Group’s first fire exploded.

  On December 18, 2023, the opening day of Ice and Snow World, the number of tourists who made reservations in three hours exceeded 40,000. Due to the large number of people, the queue time for popular items such as the "Big Slide" was too long, which caused dissatisfaction among tourists. Some people on the scene shouted "ticket refund". The Harbin Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism immediately rushed to the scene to supervise, suspended ticket sales that day, refunded tickets to some tourists, and promised to make rectifications. The next day, Ice and Snow World issued a "Letter to Tourists" to publicly apologize, stating that it "will deeply reflect on the poor service and make rectifications overnight" and listed detailed rectification measures.

  The proper handling of the "check refund" crisis became the beginning of Harbin's popularity. The direction of public opinion turned, and netizens began to "justify" the scenic spot. During the New Year's Day holiday, Harbin received a total of 3.0479 million tourists and achieved total tourism revenue of 5.914 billion yuan.

  Compared with enterprises fighting alone, "the group has more mobilizable resources, capabilities and confidence." The person in charge of Madier Cultural Tourism Group told China News Weekly that after the opening of Ice and Snow World, all the middle-level cadres of the group were transferred to the park to provide support at the big slide, Ferris wheel, and the entrance to the show. “They have Experience, sense of responsibility, and emergency response capabilities are the talent advantages that group operations can provide."

  The operational ideas are also learning from last year’s Internet celebrity city Zibo. "Where do people come from? Where do money come from?" The person in charge said that these two questions are not only urban issues, but also problems faced by business operations. The answer provided by big data is "People come from the traffic entrance, and money comes from Consumption value comes”.

  "Look at the comments under the video, we will provide whatever tourists need." He Jing, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, said in an interview with CCTV News that tourists left messages saying that if there was a moon in the Sophia Church for travel photography It would be even better, just build an artificial moon. Some tourists said that it was too cold in Harbin, so they built many small warm houses. The planning, design and construction of Ice and Snow World have improved by an order of magnitude this year. The most popular "big slides" have increased from 8 slides in previous years to 14.

  The person in charge of Madier Cultural Tourism Group said frankly that he has now begun to explore a new set of gameplay: creating core IP, providing emotional value, and building consumption scenarios, thereby forming a closed business loop of cultural tourism services, "segmenting the market and attracting target customers." Group, use small medicine to cure serious diseases."

  In the era of self-media, tourists are also communicators. Hot topics add traffic, and the reputation of "Erbin" spreads farther and farther. In fact, as early as June last year, Harbin had already noticed the impact of public opinion on the city's image. Harbin Polar Park was the first to launch the "Service Star" evaluation. Tian Li, chairman of the Polar Park, said frankly that the most important thing in doing so was to respect the expressive rights of tourists and "keep dissatisfaction offline instead of bringing it online." This experience of "resolving potential public opinion crises" quickly received support from relevant departments, calling on more than 200 scenic spots in the province to come for investigation and study.

  On January 13, Harbin Tianli Taxi Company imposed a penalty of 15 days of suspension on a driver and will terminate his contract after the suspension period. Just one day ago, some tourists reported that "taking a taxi for 2 kilometers costs 50 yuan." After verifying the facts, the Harbin Municipal Transportation Bureau ordered the driver to apologize to the passengers. The speed of the handling caused widespread concern.

  The "Harbin speed" of cultural tourism complaints response is not an isolated case. On January 22, some netizens posted a video reflecting on the issue of "1,680 yuan for a group tour to eat rice porridge and steamed buns for breakfast." The next day, Harbin Daoli District Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau issued a notice. After mediation and negotiation, the travel agency and tourists involved Reach a settlement.

  "Once a problem is discovered, the group quickly mobilizes its superior personnel to handle the crisis and resolve public opinion." The person in charge of Madier Cultural Tourism Group said frankly that looking back, the proper handling of the "ticket refund" incident at Ice and Snow World has become the reason for the surge in traffic in Harbin this winter. turning point.

The boundaries of the “pleasing city”

  "Wealth and wealth" come suddenly, and even if they are prepared, many businesses are still overwhelmed.

  At the door of the old Russian private restaurant on the auxiliary street of Central Avenue, there is a photo of the chef Aunt Natasha and the guests of the variety show "Happy Restart". Tourists check in according to the "tourist route of the variety show".

  "We have expectations for the increase in the number of tourists dining, but we simply cannot handle such a large number of customers." Store manager Li Xiaomei said that when the store opens at 7 a.m. every day, tourists are already waiting outside the door, leaving their contact information after taking the number. I walked around Central Street and waited for the notice. "The store is almost full every day, and the wait time is more than two hours at most."

  The Internet celebrity bakery opposite Sophia Church is so busy that it "cannot accept reservations." The most popular mousse cake with the same shape as the church can only be picked up in the store, with a limit of 100 pieces per day. Sales volume is about four times that before it became popular, and the number of store employees has increased from thirteen to fourteen to twenty. Store manager Guo Jinpeng said frankly that chef Hou worked at least 12 hours a day and had reached his physical limit. The handmade cakes could not be mass-produced. Faced with the "flooding wealth", he "really couldn't handle it".

  Yibin's House, across the street from Sophia Church, has also become the first choice for tourists to "replenish their equipment." Almost every customer queuing up to check out has a plush hat in hand. On the display stand at the entrance of the store, restockers squeezed through the crowd and poured baskets of hats, gloves, and scarves into the special sale float. The competition for cold-proof necessities is fierce. From street stalls near churches to the windows of travel agencies and souvenir shops on Central Street, white hats like those worn by "Little Southern Potatoes" are hung.

  The scene where Zibo Barbecue exploded in popularity last year and opened a new restaurant is now happening again on the streets of Harbin. Data from the Harbin Market Supervision Bureau shows that from January 1st to 15th this year, there was a large increase in newly registered business entities around the Ice and Snow World, Central Street, Sophia Church and other scenic spots, among which accommodation business entities in Songbei District and Daoli District The year-on-year growth rates were 1950% and 1175% respectively, which is quite astonishing.

  "It's hard to wait for the traffic, so grab it first." Song Xingwen, director of the Harbin Historical and Cultural Research Association and founder of the Old Russian Overseas Chinese Private Kitchen Cafe, said that following the trend of the market is certainly irrational, and many businesses were overwhelmed by the sudden flow of people. Harbin was caught off guard, but this round of popularity in Harbin has brought a sense of confidence and vitality to the local area and even to the entire Northeast.

  His feelings are very representative. Over the years, Harbin, as the "eldest son of the Republic", has been unable to retain young people. Its per capita GDP ranks last among provincial capital cities in the country. In the past three years, passenger flow has further decreased. "Everyone is holding their breath." , now I finally got my chance.

  "The whole Harbin is working hard to promote their hometown, and everyone feels that they cannot hold back." Brother Zuo told China News Weekly, "Being kind to everyone from the bottom of your heart is the character of Harbin people."

  In addition to tearing out one's heart and lungs, one also "empties one's family fortune." This year, the Harbin government continues to come up with new tricks for tourists: the Oroqen people wearing roe deer hats parading on the Central Street, the flying phoenix show borrowed from Shenyang, the cute snow foxes at the Ice and Snow Carnival, as well as the artificial moon and Pegasus. Ice, hot air balloon, symphony orchestra...

  “The cost of building an attraction in Ice and Snow World is astonishing, and the investment in reshaping the all-round service system is even more expensive. Behind the continuous hot searches is the indescribable investment and dedication.” An article in Heilongjiang Daily The report pointed out the crux of the problem. As the popularity of Harbin continues, more discussions have surfaced. "How long can the enthusiasm for free burn" is one of the core topics. Some bloggers pointed out that "the overwhelming popularity of flattering and immature online marketing has begun to gradually lose its boundaries."

  Volga Manor, about 30 kilometers away from Central Street, has at least doubled its passenger flow and revenue this winter compared to the same period before the epidemic. Not long ago, a motorcade contacted the Volga Manor and proposed a cooperation plan to "pick up and drop off tourists for free" on the condition that a "Volga Manor" sign be posted on the car.

  "The flow of people is converted into an economic flow to reasonably stimulate the economy. Drivers should be allowed to make money. Why is it free? Cooperation that conforms to the laws of the market economy should be encouraged." Wei Minfang, general manager of Harbin Volga Manor Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd., told China News Weekly.

  Harbin, which takes the "pampering" route, is also faced with the problem of "how to take into account the needs of local residents and foreign tourists." More realistically, how long can the free services and warm hospitality of local people "generate power with love" last?

  A staff member of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism said frankly that standing at the forefront of public opinion, any mistakes may be magnified. The more popular the city, the more the government departments behind it are "walking on thin ice" and can only "talk less and do more."

  Rather than creating an overly perfect "super-friendly" society, what tourists may really need is a destination where services are standardized and prices are clearly marked. The satisfaction of local citizens may be the only criterion for testing "sustainability".

"Little Paris of the East" re-visited

  Lao Liao, an online ride-hailing driver guarding the entrance of Ice and Snow World, has only been to Ice and Snow World twice, once when he was a child and once with his son a few years ago.

  "Ice lanterns can be seen everywhere, but locals don't join in the fun." Lao Liao said that orders from foreign tourists are mainly concentrated in Ice and Snow World, Central Street and Sophia Cathedral. He transported tourists from the busiest scenic spots in the city to quiet streets more than ten kilometers away, as if they had passed through an Internet filter and "returned to reality" from illusion. "Harbin has indeed not been so popular for a long time."

  "From the first Ice Lantern Garden Party in 1963 to now, Harbin has been on the road of ice and snow for 61 years." Brother Zuo still remembers the details of seeing the ice lanterns for the first time in 1992. Tickets for the Ice Lantern Garden Party in Zhaolin Park are 20 yuan, and the slides are charged separately. . He was only 6 years old at the time, and his father's monthly salary was 230 yuan. The whole family spent 80 yuan to see the ice lanterns, which is equivalent to the monthly salary of a newly graduated worker.

  In the early 1990s, Harbin was still immersed in its old dream of glory. Harbin is the earliest liberated big city in the country and is known as the "eldest son of the Republic". Before the outbreak of the Korean War, Harbin, as a strategic rear area, undertook the "relocation of factories from the south to the north". The proportion of local heavy industry and the level of industrial manufacturing increased rapidly. By the "First Five-Year Plan" period, Harbin had been listed as one of the national key construction cities. Among the 156 key construction projects aided by the Soviet Union, 10 factories and 13 projects were arranged in Harbin, ranking first among major cities in the country. By 1978, Harbin's GDP ranked among the top ten in the country, and six cities in Northeast China ranked among the top twenty in the country.

  "Among the 15 most popular songs in the 1980s, Harbin accounted for two." Song Yaowu, a professor at Northeast Petroleum University, grew up in Harbin and was called "Lao Ha" in the local dialect. He remembers that many people were listening to "Lao Ha" at that time. "Sun Island" and "Happy Song Flying out of the Waves" come to Harbin to find "Where is the Sun Island".

  "That's where the locals go for picnics." Song Yaowu said that on weekends, locals bring tape recorders and badminton to the island for vacation. They spread a piece of plastic sheet on the ground and put out a plate of red sausages with several dishes of dipping sauce. Pickles are a "combination of earth and foreign countries". "Harbin people's emphasis on food, clothing and fun is influenced by Russian culture."

  Evolving from a small fishing village to a metropolis, Harbin’s urban legend predates Shenzhen by nearly a century. In the late 1890s, the construction of the Middle East Railway and the arrival of the Russians turned Harbin into a prosperous "Little Paris of the East". Hu Shi concluded, "When the Russians first ran Harbin, they had long planned to turn it into a big city with two million residents, so all the civilized facilities were available; in the past few decades, Harbin has become the Shanghai of northern China."

  The foreigners who immigrated to Harbin were not limited to workers who came to build the railway. During the war, a large number of Russian middle-class families, upper-class aristocrats and capitalists fled to Harbin along the railway. Russian expatriates once accounted for more than half of the population. They brought Baroque architecture, modern commerce, education, medical care and the European lifestyle.

  Russian Jew Joseph Capes built Harbin's first foreign-related hotel on "China Street". The Art Nouveau style building concealed the most fashionable cinema and luxurious ballroom in the early 20th century. The hotel was named "Madiel", which means "modern and fashionable", and the "China Street" became the later Central Street.

  After Russia's "Pioneer of the Far East Business" Qiulin Commercial Bank settled in Harbin, its business scope expanded rapidly. It was once the "most secure and promising" job in the minds of a generation, and it was also a symbol of status and accomplishment. Employees entering and leaving Qiulin must "dress neatly" , behave politely, be warm and considerate, and stand elegantly.”

  "Can you imagine that a Shandong child who worked as a child laborer in the Laobado Cigarette Factory eventually became the owner of an international hotel by teaching himself Russian and accumulating capital?" Song Xingwen, director of the Harbin History and Culture Research Association in Heilongjiang Province, told China News Weekly . In 2007, when Song Xingwen was writing "Harbin Food Map", in order to explore the stories behind time-honored restaurants, he began to collect plaques, photos, receipts, dishes, and eating utensils of old Harbin restaurants. From more than 1,000 cultural relics, he accidentally pieced together the city. The life history of the residents for more than one hundred years. “Harbin in the 1930s and 1940s was like the American West at the same time, full of opportunities.”

  The Harbin Middle East Railway Club, built in 1911, also gave birth to another business card of Harbin - music. Out of longing for their hometown and their love for music, Russian overseas Chinese successively built music schools in Harbin. By 1962, nearly 30 had been built. The first Harbin Summer Concert was two years earlier than the Ice and Snow World. The romantic Harbin people also created the balcony concert.

  In the autumn of 2020, Alyosha, a young man from Tacheng, Xinjiang, who was still studying at university in St. Petersburg, Russia, traveled to Harbin, played the accordion on Central Street and Sophia Church, and went for a walk along the river. "You can hear melodies everywhere, every house has a piano or accordion, music is part of life in this city."

  "Many people are reluctant to say that Harbin's current popularity is the result of one year's planning. The city's current changes benefit from the accumulation of several generations." Song Yaowu said. At the end of 1999, in order to welcome the new century and innovate the traditional ice and snow culture in the natural environment, the "Ice and Snow World" was opened. By around 2011, Harbin had strengthened urban infrastructure construction and opened up the urban skeleton on both sides of the Songhua River. The city's high-level basic education and higher education are often ignored by the outside world. Higher education institutions such as Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin Engineering University, Northeast Forestry University, and Northeast Agricultural University continue to provide talents and cultural nourishment to the city.

  "Harbin has been prepared for many years and can stand the test of time." Song Yaowu is not worried about the decline in popularity of "Erbin". In his view, the city's popularity this time "let more people see Harbin's multiple values" and be taken seriously. "Erbin" has regained its confidence in development.

Will it be "Spring in the Northeast"? 

  Before Harbin became popular this winter, Alyosha had decided to stay in Harbin and start a business. His bakery was opened on the auxiliary street of Central Avenue.

  Living in a large multi-ethnic family since childhood, Alyosha intends to inherit the cultural traditions of his Russian ancestors. He likes to play the piano and can dance Russian tap dance. Alyosha likes the old houses in Harbin, the climate and the city's music atmosphere.

  "After the epidemic is over, people urgently need to develop the economy. The government's early preparations and planning, coupled with private power and network promotion, jointly contributed to the popularity of this tourism." Song Yaowu said. Taxi drivers' daily income has increased from three to four hundred yuan to seven to eight hundred yuan now. They find that "the better they serve passengers, the higher their income will be." Their business concepts and logic have changed.

  In his view, the most important thing is that the mentality of the government, enterprises, and ordinary people has changed. They regard themselves as the carrier of the city's image, voluntarily bring glory to the city, and improve their self-discipline. "This is the beginning of the change." .

  "I have been left out for too long." An employee who has worked at Volga Manor for more than eight years said that the park has experienced two years of floods and three years of epidemics, and is basically closed. When it was most difficult, it even provided loans to employees to pay wages. Until this winter, Harbin was doing its best to maintain its image and improve services from top to bottom.

  The collective consciousness of Northeastern people extends beyond many regions. The two previous "Northeast Revitalization Symposiums" both mentioned the premise of "the Northeast's five important missions to safeguard national security."

  "It is difficult to implement a completely adequate market mechanism in a place that is related to national food, industry, energy, ecology and national defense security." Song Yaowu was the director of the Harbin Municipal Investment Promotion Bureau and the director of the Radio, Film and Television Bureau. He understood the two sides of talent and capital. The major factors flow according to market rules. This gap and contradiction caused Northeast China to gradually fall behind after the 1990s. After the reform and opening up, the gap between the northeastern region and the coastal areas has continued to widen. The pattern formed over more than 40 years cannot be broken easily.

  Northeast China has long been under an economic system that "serves the overall interests of the country." "The advantage is that the grassroots have strong mobilization capabilities and can concentrate on doing big things; the shortcoming is that they are relatively dependent on the government, and the business space of private enterprises needs to be further opened." When Song Yaowu went to Wenzhou for research, he saw that a small Every lighter in Shaoxing has its own chamber of commerce branch. A Shaoxing company’s curtains and bedding products are exported to Europe. The EU flag hangs next to the national flag at the factory gate. In this business tradition, the financial, legal, and consulting industries supporting business have fully developed, jointly creating a good business environment. "A good business environment grows out of business traditions, and it is not just a 'hot break out' that can lead to complete transformation."

  In the Northeast, many resource allocation tasks require concentrated efforts, and the improvement of the business environment requires room for the development of the private economy. How to balance the contradictions - take the lead in breaking the ice in some areas with a relatively high degree of marketization, such as cultural tourism, which is now in full swing.

  According to the latest news from the Harbin Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, Harbin will receive a total of 135 million tourists in 2023, and the city will achieve total tourism revenue of 169.245 billion yuan. The number of tourists received and total tourism revenue increased by 145.78% and 239.03% respectively year-on-year, changing the previous situation where "traffic cannot stimulate the economy" in Internet celebrity cities.

  However, Harbin currently only has more than 30 five-star hotels. As a tourist city, there is still a lot of room for development in the hardware gap. After Harbin became popular, high-end hotels have already "flopped". Gao Xiaohua, deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Madil Group, has been paying attention to changes in the hotel industry. She predicts that there will be investment in high-end hotels in Harbin in the future. Tourism-related areas such as food, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping, and entertainment will receive more capital attention. Many merchants on Central Street have raised the wages of emergency workers from about 5,000 yuan to 7,000 to 8,000 yuan. "It's better to let the bullets fly a little longer," she said.

  In the past, investment promotion relied on the government, but after the explosion in Harbin, local companies began to move closer to the "business-based investment promotion" model to attract investment from outside. Song Yaowu is currently the vice president and secretary-general of the Harbin Equity Investment Association. According to feedback from member units, there are investment projects at home and abroad being watched recently.

  Harbin Airport ranked 22nd in the country and first in the Northeast in terms of passenger throughput last year. Driven by tourism, it is expected to rank among the top 20 this year. But now, apart from buses and taxis, there is no rail transportation from the airport to the city. "Urban rail transit investment will definitely become a hot spot in the future." Song Yaowu believes that personnel, land and other related elements will increase in value, which continues to attract outside attention to Harbin investment.

  What he hopes to see more is that more capital pays attention to the scientific research results of Harbin universities, realizes the integration of innovation results and funds, develops good projects, creates better opportunities and platforms, thereby realizing the return of personnel and making "going home" a A choice for young people.

  "China News Weekly" Issue 5, 2024

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