title: Bullfighting

text: There are several variations, including some forms which involve dancing around or leaping over a cow or bull or attempting to grasp an object tied to the animal's horns. The best-known form of bullfighting is Spanish-style bullfighting, practiced in Spain, Portugal, Southern France, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Peru. The Spanish Fighting Bull is bred for its aggression and physique, and is raised free-range with little human contact.


title: Bullfighting

text: The practice of bullfighting is controversial because of a range of concerns including animal welfare, funding, and religion. While some forms are considered a blood sport, in some countries, for example Spain, it is defined as an art form or cultural event, and local regulations define it as a cultural event or heritage. Bullfighting is illegal in most countries, but remains legal in most areas of Spain and Portugal, as well as in some Hispanic American countries and some parts of southern France.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting traces its roots to prehistoric bull worship and sacrifice in Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean region. The first recorded bullfight may be the "Epic of Gilgamesh," which describes a scene in which Gilgamesh and Enkidu fought and killed the Bull of Heaven ("The Bull seemed indestructible, for hours they fought, till Gilgamesh dancing in front of the Bull, lured it with his tunic and bright weapons, and Enkidu thrust his sword, deep into the Bull's neck, and killed it"). Bull-leaping was portrayed in Crete and myths related to bulls throughout Greece.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting and the killing of the sacred bull was commonly practiced among Koryos in ancient Iran and connected to the pre-Zoroastrian god Mithra. The cosmic connotations of the ancient Iranian practice are reflected in Zoroaster's Gathas and the Avesta. The killing of the sacred bull (tauroctony) is the essential central iconic act of Mithras, which was commemorated in the mithraeum wherever Roman soldiers were stationed. The oldest representation of what seems to be a man facing a bull is on the Celtiberian tombstone from Clunia and the cave painting "El toro de hachos", both found in Spain.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting is often linked to Rome, where many human-versus-animal events were held as competition and entertainment, the "Venationes". These hunting games spread to Africa, Asia, and Europe during Roman times. There are also theories that it was introduced into Hispania by the Emperor Claudius, as a substitute for gladiators, when he instituted a short-lived ban on gladiatorial combat. The latter theory was supported by Robert Graves (picadors are related to warriors who wielded the javelin, but their role in the contest is now a minor one limited to "preparing" the bull for the matador.) Spanish colonists took the practice of breeding cattle and bullfighting to the American colonies, the Pacific, and Asia. In the 19th century, areas of southern and southwestern France adopted bullfighting, developing their distinctive form.


title: Bullfighting

text: Religious festivities and royal weddings were celebrated by fights in the local plaza, where noblemen would ride competing for royal favor, and the populace enjoyed the excitement. In the Middle Ages across Europe, knights would joust in competitions on horseback. In Spain, they began to fight bulls.


title: Bullfighting

text: In medieval Spain bullfighting was considered a noble sport and reserved for the rich, who could afford to supply and train their animals. The bull was released into a closed arena where a single fighter on horseback was armed with a lance. This spectacle was said to be enjoyed by Charlemagne, Alfonso X the Wise and the Almohad caliphs, among others. The greatest Spanish performer of this art is said to have been the knight El Cid. According to a chronicle of the time, in 1128 "... when Alfonso VII of León and Castile married Berengaria of Barcelona daughter of Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Barcelona at Saldaña among other celebrations, there were also bullfights."


title: Bullfighting

text: In the time of Emperor Charles V, Pedro Ponce de Leon was the most famous bullfighter in Spain and a renovator of the technique of killing the bull on a horse with blindfolded eyes. Juan de Quirós, the best Sevillian poet of that time, dedicated to him a poem in Latin, of which Benito Arias Montano transmits some verses.


title: Bullfighting

text: Francisco Romero, from Ronda, Spain, is generally regarded as having been the first to introduce the practice of fighting bulls on foot around 1726, using the muleta in the last stage of the fight and an estoc to kill the bull. This type of fighting drew more attention from the crowds. Thus the modern "corrida", or fight, began to take form, as riding noblemen were replaced by commoners on foot. This new style prompted the construction of dedicated bullrings, initially square, like the "Plaza de Armas", and later round, to discourage the cornering of the action.


title: Bullfighting

text: The modern style of Spanish bullfighting is credited to Juan Belmonte, generally considered the greatest matador of all time. Belmonte introduced a daring and revolutionary style, in which he stayed within a few centimeters of the bull throughout the fight. Although extremely dangerous (Belmonte was gored on many occasions), his style is still seen by most matadors as the ideal to be emulated.


title: Bullfighting

text: Originally, at least five distinct regional styles of bullfighting were practised in southwestern Europe: Andalusia, Aragon–Navarre, Alentejo, Camargue, Aquitaine. Over time, these have evolved more or less into standardized national forms mentioned below. The "classic" style of bullfighting, in which the rule is kill the bull is the style practiced in Spain and many Latin American countries.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting stadia are named "bullrings". There are many historic bullrings; the oldest are the 1700s Spanish plazas of Sevilla and Ronda. The largest bullring is the Plaza México in Mexican capital which seats 48,000 people.


title: Bullfighting

text: Spanish-style bullfighting is called "corrida de toros" (literally "coursing of bulls") or "la fiesta" ("the festival"). In the traditional "corrida", three "matadores" each fight two bulls, each of which is between four and six years old and weighs no less than 460 kg (1,014 lb). Each matador has six assistants: two "picadores" (lancers mounted on horseback), three "banderilleros" – who along with the matadors are collectively known as "toreros" (bullfighters) – and a "mozo de espadas" (sword page). Collectively they comprise a "cuadrilla" (entourage). In Spanish the more general "torero" or "diestro" (literally 'right-hander') is used for the lead fighter, and only when needed to distinguish a man is the full title "matador de toros" used; in English, "matador" is generally used for the bullfighter.


title: Bullfighting

text: The modern "corrida" is highly ritualized, with three distinct stages or "tercios" ("thirds"); the start of each being announced by a bugle sound. The participants enter the arena in a parade, called the "paseíllo", to salute the presiding dignitary, accompanied by band music. Torero costumes are inspired by 17th-century Andalusian clothing, and matadores are easily distinguished by the gold of their "traje de luces" ("suit of lights"), as opposed to the lesser banderilleros, who are also known as "toreros de plata" ("bullfighters of silver").


title: Bullfighting

text: The bull is released into the ring, where he is tested for ferocity by the "matador" and "banderilleros" with the magenta and gold "capote" ("cape"). This is the first stage, the "tercio de varas" ("the lancing third"). The matador confronts the bull with the capote, performing a series of passes and observing the behavior and quirks of the bull.


title: Bullfighting

text: Next, a picador enters the arena on horseback armed with a "vara" (lance). To protect the horse from the bull's horns, the animal wears a protective, padded covering called "peto". Prior to 1930, the horses did not wear any protection. Often the bull would disembowel the horse during this stage. Until the use of protection was instituted, the number of horses killed during a fiesta generally exceeded the number of bulls killed.


title: Bullfighting

text: At this point, the picador stabs just behind the "morrillo", a mound of muscle on the fighting bull's neck, weakening the neck muscles and leading to the animal's first loss of blood. The manner in which the bull charges the horse provides important clues to the matador about the bull such as which horn the bull favors. As a result of the injury and also the fatigue of striving to injure the armoured heavy horse, the bull holds its head and horns slightly lower during the following stages of the fight. This ultimately enables the matador to perform the killing thrust later in the performance. The encounter with the picador often fundamentally changes the behavior of a bull; distracted and unengaging bulls will become more focused and stay on a single target instead of charging at everything that moves, conserving their diminished energy reserves.


title: Bullfighting

text: In the next stage, the "tercio de banderillas" ("the third of banderillas"), each of the three banderilleros attempts to plant two "banderillas", sharp barbed sticks, into the bull's shoulders. These anger and agitate the bull reinvigorating him from the "aplomado" (literally 'leadened') state his attacks on the horse and injuries from the lance left him in. Sometimes a matador will place his own banderillas. If so, he usually embellishes this part of his performance and employs more varied maneuvers than the standard "al cuarteo" method commonly used by banderilleros.


title: Bullfighting

text: In the final stage, the "tercio de muerte" ("a third of death"), the matador re-enters the ring alone with a smaller red cloth, or "muleta", and a sword. It is a common misconception that the color red is supposed to anger the bull; the animals are functionally colorblind in this respect: the bull is incited to charge by the movement of the muleta. The muleta is thought to be red to mask the bull's blood, although the color is now a matter of tradition. The matador uses his muleta to attract the bull in a series of passes, which serve the dual purpose of wearing the animal down for the kill and creating sculptural forms between man and animal that can fascinate or thrill the audience, and which when linked together in a rhythm create a dance of passes, or "faena". The matador will often try to enhance the drama of the dance by bringing the bull's horns especially close to his body. The faena refers to the entire performance with the muleta.


title: Bullfighting

text: The faena is usually broken down into "tandas", or "series", of passes. The faena ends with a final series of passes in which the matador, using the cape, tries to maneuver the bull into a position to stab it between the shoulder blades going over the horns and thus exposing his own body to the bull. The sword is called "estoque," and the act of thrusting the sword is called an "estocada". During the initial series, while the matador in part is performing for the crowd, he uses a fake sword ("estoque simulado"). This is made of wood or aluminum, making it lighter and much easier to handle. The "estoque de verdad" (real sword) is made out of steel. At the end of the "tercio de muerte", when the matador has finished his faena, he will change swords to take up the steel one. He performs the "estocada" with the intent of piercing the heart or aorta, or severing other major blood vessels to induce a quick death if all goes according to plan. Often this does not happen and repeated efforts must be made to bring the bull down, sometimes the matador changing to the 'descabello', which resembles a sword, but is actually a heavy dagger blade at the end of a steel rod which is thrust between the cervical vertebrae to sever the spinal column and induce instant death. Even if the descabello is not required and the bull falls quickly from the sword one of the banderilleros will perform this function with an actual dagger to ensure the bull is dead.


title: Bullfighting

text: If the matador has performed particularly well, the crowd may petition the president by waving white handkerchiefs to award the matador an ear of the bull. If his performance was exceptional, the president will award two ears. In certain more rural rings, the practice includes an award of the bull's tail. Very rarely, if the public and the matador believe that the bull has fought extremely bravely – and the breeder of the bull agrees to have it return to the ranch – the event's president may grant a pardon ("indulto"). If the "indulto" is granted, the bull's life is spared; it leaves the ring alive and is returned to its home ranch for treatment and then to become a "semental", or seed-bull, for the rest of its life.


title: Bullfighting

text: Recortes, a style of bullfighting practiced in Navarre, La Rioja, north of Castile and Valencia, has been much less popular than the traditional "corridas". But recortes have undergone a revival in Spain and are sometimes broadcast on TV.


title: Bullfighting

text: This style was common in the early 19th century. Etchings by painter Francisco de Goya depict these events.


title: Bullfighting

text: Since horses are not used, and performers are not professionals, recortes are less costly to produce.


title: Bullfighting

text: Comical spectacles based on bullfighting, called "espectáculos cómico-taurinos" or "charlotadas", are still popular in Spain and Mexico. Troupes include "El empastre" or "El bombero torero".


title: Bullfighting

text: An "encierro", or running of the bulls, is an activity related to a bullfighting fiesta. Before the events that are held in the ring, people (usually young men) run in front of a small group of bulls that have been let loose, on a course of a sectioned-off subset of a town's streets.


title: Bullfighting

text: A "toro embolado" (in Spanish), "bou embolat" (in Catalan), roughly meaning "bull with balls", is a festive activity held at night and typical of many towns in Spain (mainly in the Valencian Community and Southern Catalonia). Balls of flammable material are attached to a bull's horns. The balls are lit and the bull is set free in the streets at night; participants dodge the bull when it comes close. It can be considered a variant of an "encierro" ("correbous" in Catalan). This activity is held in a number of Spanish towns during their local festivals.


title: Bullfighting

text: Most Portuguese bullfights are held in two phases: the spectacle of the "cavaleiro", and the "pega". In the "cavaleiro", a horseman on a Portuguese Lusitano horse (specially trained for the fights) fights the bull from horseback. The purpose of this fight is to stab three or four "bandeiras" (small javelins) into the back of the bull.


title: Bullfighting

text: In the second stage, called the "pega" ("holding"), the forcados, a group of eight men, challenge the bull directly without any protection or weapon of defense. The frontman provokes the bull into a charge to perform a "pega de cara" or "pega de caras" (face grab). The frontman secures the animal's head and is quickly aided by his fellows who surround and secure the animal until he is subdued. Forcados are dressed in a traditional costume of damask or velvet, with long knitted hats as worn by the "campinos" (bull headers) from Ribatejo.


title: Bullfighting

text: The bull is not killed in the ring and, at the end of the "corrida", leading oxen are let into the arena, and two "campinos" on foot herd the bull among them back to its pen. The bull is usually killed out of sight of the audience by a professional butcher. Some bulls, after an exceptional performance, are healed, released to pasture and used for breeding.


title: Bullfighting

text: In the Portuguese Azores islands, there is a form of bullfighting called "tourada à corda", in which a bull is led on a rope along a street, while players taunt and dodge the bull, who is not killed during or after the fight, but returned to pasture and used in later events.


title: Bullfighting

text: Since the 19th century, Spanish-style "corridas" have been increasingly popular in Southern France where they enjoy legal protection in areas where there is an uninterrupted tradition of such bull fights, particularly during holidays such as Whitsun or Easter. Among France's most important venues for bullfighting are the ancient Roman arenas of Nîmes and Arles, although there are bull rings across the South from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic coasts. Bullfights of this kind follow the Spanish tradition and even Spanish words are used for all Bullfighting related terms. Minor cosmetic differences exist such as music. This is not to be confused with the bloodless bullfights referred to below which are indigenous to France.


title: Bullfighting

text: A more indigenous genre of bullfighting is widely common in the Provence and Languedoc areas, and is known alternately as ""course libre"" or ""course camarguaise"". This is a bloodless spectacle (for the bulls) in which the objective is to snatch a rosette from the head of a young bull. The participants, or "raseteurs", begin training in their early teens against young bulls from the Camargue region of Provence before graduating to regular contests held principally in Arles and Nîmes but also in other Provençal and Languedoc towns and villages. Before the "course", an "abrivado"—a "running" of the bulls in the streets—takes place, in which young men compete to outrun the charging bulls. The "course" itself takes place in a small (often portable) arena erected in a town square. For a period of about 15–20 minutes, the "raseteurs" compete to snatch rosettes ("cocarde") tied between the bulls' horns. They do not take the rosette with their bare hands but with a claw-shaped metal instrument called a "raset" or "crochet" ("hook") in their hands, hence their name. Afterward, the bulls are herded back to their pen by "gardians" (Camarguais cowboys) in a "bandido", amidst a great deal of ceremony. The stars of these spectacles are the bulls.


title: Bullfighting

text: Another type of French 'bullfighting' is the "course landaise", in which cows are used instead of bulls. This is a competition between teams named "cuadrillas", which belong to certain breeding estates. A cuadrilla is made up of a "teneur de corde", an "entraîneur", a "sauteur", and six "écarteurs". The cows are brought to the arena in crates and then taken out in order. The teneur de corde controls the dangling rope attached to the cow's horns and the entraîneur positions the cow to face and attack the player. The écarteurs will try, at the last possible moment, to dodge around the cow and the sauteur will leap over it. Each team aims to complete a set of at least one hundred dodges and eight leaps. This is the main scheme of the "classic" form, the "course landaise formelle". However, different rules may be applied in some competitions. For example, competitions for Coupe Jeannot Lafittau are arranged with cows without ropes.


title: Bullfighting

text: At one point, it resulted in so many fatalities that the French government tried to ban it but had to back down in the face of local opposition. The bulls themselves are generally fairly small, much less imposing than the adult bulls employed in the "corrida". Nonetheless, the bulls remain dangerous due to their mobility and vertically formed horns. Participants and spectators share the risk; it is not unknown for angry bulls to smash their way through barriers and charge the surrounding crowd of spectators. The "course landaise" is not seen as a dangerous sport by many, but écarteur Jean-Pierre Rachou died in 2003 when a bull's horn tore his femoral artery.


title: Bullfighting

text: Spanish-style bullfighting is normally fatal for the bull, but it is also dangerous for the matador. The danger for the bullfighter is essential; if there is no danger, it is not considered bullfighting in Spain. Matadors are usually gored every season, with picadors and banderilleros being gored less often. With the discovery of antibiotics and advances in surgical techniques, fatalities are now rare, although over the past three centuries 534 professional bullfighters have died in the ring or from injuries sustained there. Most recently, Iván Fandiño died of injuries he sustained after being gored by a bull on June 17, 2017 in Aire-sur-l'Adour, France.


title: Bullfighting

text: Some matadors, notably Juan Belmonte, have been seriously gored many times: according to Ernest Hemingway, Belmonte's legs were marred by many ugly scars. A special type of surgeon has developed, in Spain and elsewhere, to treat "cornadas", or horn-wounds.


title: Bullfighting

text: The bullring has a chapel where a matador can pray before the "corrida", and where a priest can be found in case a sacrament is needed. The most relevant sacrament is now called "Anointing of the Sick"; it was formerly known as "Extreme Unction", or the "Last Rites".


title: Bullfighting

text: The media often reports the more horrific of bullfighting injuries, such as the September 2011 goring of matador Juan José Padilla's head by a bull in Zaragoza, resulting in the loss of his left eye, use of his right ear, and facial paralysis. He returned to bullfighting five months later with an eyepatch, multiple titanium plates in his skull, and the nickname 'The Pirate'.


title: Bullfighting

text: Until the early twentieth century, the horses were unprotected and were commonly gored and killed, or left close to death (intestines destroyed, for example). The horses used were old and worn-out, with little value. Starting in the twentieth-century horses were protected by thick blankets and wounds, though not unknown, were less common and less serious.


title: Bullfighting

text: However, the danger lurks not only from a bull, but also from other causes, such as too weak infrastructure. One of such cases happened in 2022 in Colombia, when several people were killed and more than 300 were injured after a stand collapsed during the bullfight. The incident happened in El Espinal, Tolima, in central Colombia.


title: Bullfighting

text: Many supporters of bullfighting regard it as a deeply ingrained, integral part of their national cultures; in Spain, bullfighting is nicknamed "la fiesta nacional" ("the national fiesta." Notice that "fiesta" can be translated as "celebration, festival, party" among other words). The aesthetic of bullfighting is based on the interaction of the man and the bull. Rather than a competitive sport, the bullfight is more of a ritual of ancient origin, which is judged by "aficionados" based on artistic impression and command. American author Ernest Hemingway wrote of it in his 1932 non-fiction book "Death in the Afternoon": "Bullfighting is the only art in which the artist is in danger of death and in which the degree of brilliance in the performance is left to the fighter's honor." Bullfighting is seen by some as a symbol of Spanish national culture.


title: Bullfighting

text: The bullfight is regarded as a demonstration of style, technique, and courage by its participants and as a demonstration of cruelty and cowardice by its critics. While there is usually no doubt about the outcome, the bull is not viewed by bullfighting supporters as a sacrificial victim — it is instead seen by the audience as a worthy adversary, deserving of respect in its own right.


title: Bullfighting

text: Those who oppose bullfighting maintain that the practice is a sadistic tradition of torturing and killing a bull amidst pomp and pageantry. Supporters of bullfights, called "aficionados", claim to respect the bulls, that the bulls live better than other cattle, and that bullfighting is a grand tradition, a form of art important to their culture.


title: Bullfighting

text: Conchita Cintrón was a Peruvian female bullfighter who began her career in Portugal before being active in Mexican and other South American bullfights. Patricia McCormick began bullfighting as a professional "Matadora" in January 1952, and was the first American to do so. Bette Ford was the first American woman to fight on foot in the Plaza México, the world's largest bullfight arena.


title: Bullfighting

text: In 1974, Angela Hernandez (also known as Angela Hernandez Gomez and just Angela), of Spain, won a case in the Spanish Supreme Court allowing women to be bullfighters in Spain; a prohibition against women doing so was put in place in Spain in 1908. Cristina Sánchez de Pablos, of Spain, was one of the first female bullfighters to gain prominence; she debuted as a bullfighter in Madrid on 13 February 1993.


title: Bullfighting

text: In Spain and Latin America, opposition to bullfighting is referred to as the "antitaurino" movement. In a 2012 poll, 70% of Mexican respondents wanted bullfighting to be prohibited.


title: Bullfighting

text: A February 2018 study commissioned by the 30 millions d'amis foundation and conducted by the Institut français d'opinion publique (IFOP) found that 74% of the French wanted to prohibit bullfighting in France, with 26% opposed. In September 2007, these percentages were still 50-50, with those favouring a ban growing to 66% in August 2010 and those opposed shrinking to 34%. The survey found a correlation between age and opinion; younger survey participants were more likely to support a ban.


title: Bullfighting

text: Despite its slow decrease in popularity among younger generations, bullfighting remains a widespread cultural activity throughout Spain. A 2016 poll reported that 58% of Spaniards aged 16 to 65 opposed bullfighting against 19% who supported it. The support was lower among the younger population, with only 7% of respondents aged 16 to 24 supporting bullfighting, vs. 29% support within 55 to 65 age group. According to the same poll 67% of respondents felt "little to not at all" proud to live in a country where bullfighting was a cultural tradition (84% among 16 to 24 age group).


title: Bullfighting

text: Between 2007 and 2014, the number of "corridas" held in Spain decreased by 60%. In 2007 there were 3,651 bullfighting and bull-related events in Spain but by 2018, the number of bullfights had decreased to 1,521, a historic low. A September 2019 Spanish government report showed that only 8% of the population had attended a bull-related event in 2018; of this percentage, 5.9% attended a bullfight while the remainder attended other bull-related events, such as the running of the bulls. When asked to gauge their interest in bullfighting on a scale of 0 through 10, only 5.9% responded with 9–10. A majority of 65% of responded with 0–2; among those aged 15–19, this figure was 72.1%, and for those aged 20–24, it reached 76.4%. With a fall in attendance, the bullfighting sector has come under financial stress, as many local authorities have reduced subsidies because of public criticism.


title: Bullfighting

text: When the COVID-19 pandemic hit Spain and the country entered into lockdown in March 2020, all bullfighting events were cancelled indefinitely. In mid-May 2020, the bullfighting industry, alike other sectors of Spanish economy, demanded that the government compensate them for their losses, estimated at €700 million. This prompted outrage, and more than 100,000 people signed a petition launched by AnimaNaturalis urging the government not to rescue "spectacles based on the abuse and mistreatment of animals" with taxpayer money at a time when people were struggling to survive and public finances were already heavily strained. A 29–31 May 2020 YouGov survey commissioned by "HuffPost" showed that 52% of the 1,001 Spaniards questioned wanted to ban bullfighting, 35% were opposed, 10% did not know and 2% refused to answer. A strong majority of 78% answered that "corridas" should no longer be partially subsidised by the government, with 12% favoring subsidies and 10% undecided. When asked whether bullfighting was culture or mistreatment, 40% replied that it is mistreatment alone, 18% replied that it is culture alone and 37% replied that it is both. Of the respondents, 53% had never attended a "corrida".


title: Bullfighting

text: Outside of Spain, the country in which bullfighting has enjoyed the most popularity even today is Peru. The Plaza de toros de Acho, the oldest bullring in the Americas and second oldest in the world after La Maestranza in Spain (not counting the Roman Empire-era Arles Amphitheatre in France), serves as the premier bullring in the country and is classified as a national historic monument. The held in honor of the annual festival takes place at the plaza on Sundays through October and November. During the fair, Lima brings in some of the world's most lauded talent (the bill for 2019 included Andrés Roca Rey, Sebastian Castella, and Jose Mari Manzanares) The best bullfighter of the year is awarded the "Escapulario de Oro" (Golden Scapular), while the " Escapulario de Plata" Silver Scapular goes to the provider of the best bull. Sometimes either or both scapulars may go not awarded.


title: Bullfighting

text: RSPCA assistant director for public affairs David Bowles said: "The RSPCA is strongly opposed to bullfighting. It is an inhumane and outdated practice that continues to lose support, including from those living in the countries where this takes place such as Spain, Portugal and France."


title: Bullfighting

text: The bullfighting guide "The Bulletpoint Bullfight" warns that bullfighting is "not for the squeamish," advising spectators to "be prepared for blood." The guide details prolonged and profuse bleeding caused by horse-mounted lancers, the charging by the bull of a blindfolded, armored horse who is "sometimes doped up, and unaware of the proximity of the bull", the placing of barbed darts by banderilleros and the matador's fatal sword thrust. The guide stresses that these procedures are a normal part of bullfighting and that death is rarely instantaneous. The guide further warns those attending bullfights to "Be prepared to witness various failed attempts at killing the animal before it lies down."


title: Bullfighting

text: Alexander Fiske-Harrison, who trained as a bullfighter to research for his book on the topic (and trained in biological sciences and moral philosophy before that) has pointed out that the bull lives three times longer than do cattle reared exclusively for meat, and lives wild during that period in meadows and forests which are funded by the premium the bullfight's box office adds on to the price of their meat, should be taken into account when weighing concerns about both animal welfare and the environment. He also speculated that the adrenalizing nature of the 30-minute spectacle may reduce the bull's suffering even below that of the stress and anxiety of queueing in the abattoir. However, zoologist and animal rights activist Jordi Casamitjana argues that the bulls do experience a high degree of suffering and "all aspects of any bullfight, from the transport to the death, are in themselves causes of suffering."


title: Bullfighting

text: The question of public funding is particularly controversial in Spain, since widely disparaged claims have been made by supporters and opponents of bullfighting. According to government figures, bullfighting in Spain generates €1.6 billion a year and 200,000 jobs, 57,000 of which are directly linked to the industry. Furthermore, bullfighting is the cultural activity that generates the most tax revenue for the Spanish state (€45 million in VAT and over €12 million in social security).


title: Bullfighting

text: Critics often claim that bullfighting is financed with public money. However, though bullfighting attracts 25 million spectators annually, it represents just 0.01% of state subsidies allocated to cultural activities, and less than 3% of the cultural budget of regional, provincial and local authorities. The bulk of subsidies is paid by town halls in localities where there is a historical tradition and support for bullfighting and related events, which are often held free of charge to participants and spectators. The European Union does not subsidize bullfighting but it does subsidize cattle farming in general, which also benefits those who rear Spanish fighting bulls.


title: Bullfighting

text: In 2015, 438 of 687 members of the European Parliament voted in favour of amending the 2016 E.U. budget to indicate that the "Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) appropriations or any other appropriations from the budget should not be used for the financing of lethal bullfighting activities."


title: Bullfighting

text: In the late 19th and early 20th century, some Spanish "regeneracionista" intellectuals protested against what they called the policy of "pan y toros" ("bread and bulls"), an analogue of Roman "panem et circenses". Such belief was part of the wider current of thought known as "anti-flamenquismo", a campaign against the popularity of both bullfighting and flamenco music, which were believed to be "oriental" elements of Spanish culture that were responsible for Spain's perceived culture gap compared to the rest of Europe. In Francoist Spain, bullfights received great governmental support, as they were considered a demonstration of greatness of the Spanish nation and received the name of "fiesta nacional." Bullfighting was therefore highly associated with the regime. After Spain's transition to democracy, popular support for bullfighting declined.


title: Bullfighting

text: Opposition to bullfighting from Spain's political parties is typically highest among those on the left. PSOE, the main centre-left political party, has distanced itself from bullfighting but refuses to ban it, while Spain's largest left-wing political party Podemos has repeatedly called for referendums on the matter and has shown disapproval of the practise. PP, the largest conservative party, strongly supports bullfighting and has requested large public subsidies for it. The government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was the first to oppose bullfighting, prohibiting children under 14 from attending events and imposing a six-year ban on live bullfights broadcast on state-run national television, although the latter measure was reversed after Zapatero's party lost in the 2011 elections.


title: Bullfighting

text: Despite its long history in Barcelona, bullfighting was outlawed across the Catalonia region in 2010 following a campaign led by an animal-rights civic platform called "Prou!" ("Enough!" in Catalan). Critics have argued that the ban was motivated by issues of Catalan separatism and identity politics. In October 2016, the Constitutional Court ruled that the regional Catalan Parliament did not have the authority to ban events that are legal in Spain.


title: Bullfighting

text: The Spanish Royal Family is divided on the issue. Former queen consort Sofía of Spain disapproves of bullfights, but former king Juan Carlos occasionally presided over bullfights from the royal box. Their daughter Princess Elena is well-known for her support of the practise and often attends bullfights.


title: Bullfighting

text: Pro-bullfighting supporters include former prime minister Mariano Rajoy and his party (Partido Popular), as well as most leaders of the opposition PSOE party, including former prime minister Felipe Gonzalez and the current presidents of Andalusia, Extremadura and Castilla–La Mancha.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting is thought to have been practised since prehistoric times throughout the entire Mediterranean coast, but it survives only in Iberia and in part of France. During the Arab rule of Iberia, the ruling class tried to ban bullfighting, considering it a pagan celebration and heresy. In the 16th century, Pope Pius V banned bullfighting for its ties to paganism and for the danger that it posed to the participants. Anyone who would sponsor, watch or participate in a bullfight was to be excommunicated by the church. Spanish and Portuguese bullfighters kept the tradition alive covertly, and Pius's successor Pope Gregory XIII relaxed the church's position. However, Pope Gregory advised bullfighters to not use the sport as means of honoring Jesus Christ or the saints, as was typical in Spain and Portugal.


title: Bullfighting

text: Although Pope Francis' statement that "every act of cruelty towards any creature is 'contrary to human dignity'", in his 2015 encyclical letter, "Laudato si'", does not mention bullfighting as such, it has been taken as supporting religious opposition to bullfighting.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting has been intertwined with religion and religious folklore in Spain at a popular level, particularly in the areas in which it has been most popular. Bullfighting events are celebrated during festivities celebrating local patron saints, along with other activities, games and sports. The bullfighting world is also inextricably linked to iconography related to religious devotion in Spain, with bullfighters seeking the protection of Mary and often becoming members of religious brotherhoods.


title: Bullfighting

text: State-run Spanish TVE had cancelled live coverage of bullfights in August 2007 until September 2012, claiming that the coverage was too violent for children and that live coverage violated a voluntary, industry-wide code attempting to limit "sequences that are particularly crude or brutal." In a October 2008 statement to Congress, Luis Fernández, the president of Spanish state broadcaster TVE, confirmed that the station would no longer broadcast live bullfights because of high production costs and a lack of advertiser support. However, the station continued to broadcast "Tendido Cero", a bullfighting magazine programme. Other regional and private channels kept broadcasting it with good audiences. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's government lifted the ban, and live bullfights are now shown at the traditional 6:00 p.m. time on TVE as of September 2012.


title: Bullfighting

text: A television station in Costa Rica stopped the broadcast of bullfights in January 2008 over concerns that they were too violent for minors.


title: Bullfighting

text: A growing list of Spanish, Portuguese and South American cities and regions have formally declared their bullfighting celebrations as part of their protected cultural patrimony or heritage. Most of these declarations have been enacted in reaction to the 2010 ban in Catalonia. In April 2012, the Andalusian city of Seville declared bullfighting to be part of the city's cultural heritage.


title: Bullfighting

text: In November 1567, Pope Pius V issued a papal bull titled "De Salute Gregis" forbidding the fighting of bulls and other beasts as a voluntary risk to life which endangered the soul of the combatants. However it was rescinded eight years later by his successor, Pope Gregory XIII, at the request of King Philip II.


title: Bullfighting

text: Chile banned bullfighting shortly after gaining independence in 1818, but the Chilean rodeo (which involves horseriders in an oval arena blocking a female cow against the wall without killing it) is still legal and has even been declared a national sport.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting was introduced in Uruguay in 1776 by Spain and abolished by Uruguayan law in February 1912; thus the Plaza de toros Real de San Carlos, built in 1910, only operated for two years. Bullfighting was also introduced in Argentina by Spain, but after Argentina's independence, the event drastically diminished in popularity and was abolished in 1899 under law 2786.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting was present in Cuba during its colonial period from 1514 to 1898, but was abolished by the United States military under the pressure of civic associations in 1899, right after the Spanish–American War of 1898. The prohibition was maintained after Cuba gained independence in 1902. Bullfighting was also banned for a period in Mexico in 1890; consequently some Spanish bullfighters moved to the United States to transfer their skills to the American rodeos.


title: Bullfighting

text: During the 18th and 19th centuries, bullfighting in Spain was banned at several occasions (for instance by Philip V), but always reinstituted later by other governments.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting had some popularity in the Philippines during Spanish rule, though foreign commentators derided the quality of local bulls and toreros. Bullfighting was noted in the Philippines as early as 1619, when it was among the festivities in celebration of Pope Urban III's authorisation of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Following the Spanish–American War, the Americans suppressed the custom in the Philippines under the tenure of Governor General Leonard Wood, and it was replaced with a now-popular Filipino sport, basketball.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting is now banned in many countries; people taking part in such activity would be liable for terms of imprisonment for animal cruelty. "Bloodless" variations, though, are often permitted and have attracted a following in California, Texas, and France. In southern France, however, the traditional form of the corrida still exists and it is protected by French law. However, in June 2015 the Paris Court of Appeals removed bullfighting/"la corrida" from France's cultural heritage list. While it is not very popular in Texas, bloodless forms of bullfighting occur at rodeos in small Texas towns.


title: Bullfighting

text: Several cities around the world (especially in Catalonia) have symbolically declared themselves to be Anti-Bullfighting Cities, including Barcelona in 2006.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting with killing bulls in the ring is legal in Colombia. In 2013, Gustavo Petro, then mayor of the Colombian capital city of Bogotá, had "de facto" prohibited bullfighting by refusing to lease out bullrings to bullfighting organisers. But the Constitutional Court of Colombia ruled that this violated the right to expression of the bullfighters, and ordered the bullrings to be reopened. The first bullfight in Bogotá in four years happened on 22 January 2017 amid clashes between antitaurino protesters and police.


title: Bullfighting

text: In Costa Rica the law prohibits the killing of bulls and other animals in public and private shows. However, there are still bullfights, called "Toros a la Tica", that are televised from Palmares and Zapote at the end and beginning of the year. Volunteer amateur bullfighters ("improvisados") confront a bull in a ring and try to provoke him into charging and then run away. In a December 2016 survey, 46.4% of respondents wanted to outlaw bullfights while 50.1% thought they should continue. The bullfights do not include spears or any other device to harm the bull and resemble the running of the bulls in Pamplona, the difference being that the Costa Rican event takes place in an arena rather than in the streets, as in Pamplona.


title: Bullfighting

text: Ecuador staged bullfights to the death for over three centuries as a Spanish colony. On 12 December 2010, Ecuador's president Rafael Correa announced that in an upcoming referendum, the country would be asked whether to ban bullfighting; in the referendum, held in May 2011, the Ecuadorians agreed on banning the final killing of the bull that happens in a corrida. This means the bull is no longer killed before the public, and is instead taken back inside the barn to be killed at the end of the event. The other parts of the corrida are still performed the same way as before in the cities that celebrate it. This part of the referendum is applied on a regional level, meaning that in regions where the population voted against the ban, which are the same regions where bullfighting is celebrated the most, killing the animal publicly in the bullfighting plaza is still performed. The main bullfighting celebration of the country, the Fiesta Brava in Quito was still allowed to take place in December 2011 after the referendum under these new rules.


title: Bullfighting

text: In 1951, bullfighting in France was legalised by §7 of Article 521-1 of the French penal code in areas where there was an 'unbroken local tradition'. This exemption applies to Nîmes, Arles, Alès, Bayonne, Carcassonne, and Fréjus, amongst others. In 2011, the French Ministry of Culture added corrida to the list of 'intangible heritage' of France, but after much controversy silently removed it from its website again. Animal rights activists launched a lawsuit to make sure it was completely removed from the heritage list and thus not given extra legal protection; the Administrative Appeals Court of Paris ruled in their favour in June 2015. In a separate case, the Constitutional Council ruled on 21 September 2012 that bullfighting did not violate the French Constitution.


title: Bullfighting

text: In Honduras, under Article 11 of 'Decree no. 115-2015 ─ Animal Protection and Welfare Act' that went into effect in 2016, dog and cat fights and duck races are prohibited, while 'bullfighting shows and cockfights are part of the National Folklore and as such allowed'. However, 'in bullfighting shows, the use of spears, swords, fire or other objects that cause pain to the animal is prohibited.'


title: Bullfighting

text: Jallikattu, a type of bull-taming or bull-riding event, is practiced in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A bull is released into a crowd of people. Participants attempt to grab the bull's hump and either hold on for a determined distance or length of time or attempt to liberate a packet of money tied to the bull's horns. The practice was banned in 2014 by India's Supreme Court over concerns that bulls are sometimes mistreated prior to jallikattu events. Animal welfare investigations into the practice revealed that some bulls are poked with sticks and scythes, some have their tails twisted, some are force-fed alcohol to disorient them, and in some cases chili powder and other irritants are applied to bulls' eyes and genitals to agitate the animals. The 2014 ban was suspended and reinstated several times over the years. In January 2017, the Supreme Court upheld their previous ban and various protests arose in response. Due to these protests, on 21 January 2017, the Governor of Tamil Nadu issued a new ordinance that authorized the continuation of jallikattu events. On 23 January 2017 the Tamil Nadu legislature passed a bi-partisan bill, with the accession of the Prime Minister, exempting jallikattu from the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960). Jallikattu is legal in Tamil Nadu, but another organization may challenge the mechanism by which it was legalized, as the Animal Welfare Board of India claims that the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly does not have the power to override Indian federal law, meaning that the state law could possibly once again be nullified and jallikattu banned.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting has been banned in four Mexican states: Sonora in 2013, Guerrero in 2014, Coahuila in 2015, and Quintana Roo in 2019. It was banned "indefinitely" in Mexico City in 2022.


title: Bullfighting

text: Law 308 on the Protection of Animals was approved by the National Assembly of Panama on 15 March 2012. Article 7 of the law states: 'Dog fights, animal races, bullfights – whether of the Spanish or Portuguese style – the breeding, entry, permanence and operation in the national territory of all kinds of circus or circus show that uses trained animals of any species, are prohibited.' Horse racing and cockfighting were exempt from the ban.


title: Bullfighting

text: Nicaragua prohibited bullfighting under a new Animal Welfare Law in December 2010, with 74 votes in favour and 5 votes against in Parliament.


title: Bullfighting

text: Queen Maria II of Portugal prohibited bullfighting in 1836 with the argument that it was unbefitting for a civilised nation. The ban was lifted in 1921, but in 1928 a law was passed that forbade the killing of the bull during a fight. In practice, bulls still frequently die after a fight from their injuries or by being slaughtered by a butcher.


title: Bullfighting

text: In 2001, matador Pedrito de Portugal controversially killed a bull at the end of a fight after spectators encouraged him to do so by chanting "Kill the bull! Kill the bull!" The crowds gave Pedrito a standing ovation, hoisted him on their shoulders and paraded him through the streets. Hours later the police arrested him and charged him with a fine, but they released him after crowds of angry fans surrounded the police station. A long court case ensued, finally resulting in Pedrito's conviction in 2007 with a fine of €100,000. In 2002, the Portuguese government gave Barrancos, a village near the Spanish border where bullfighting fans stubbornly persisted in encouraging the killing of bulls during fights, a dispensation from the 1928 ban.


title: Bullfighting

text: Various attempts have been made to ban bullfighting in Portugal, both nationally (in 2012 and 2018) and locally, but so far unsuccessful. In July 2018, animalist party PAN presented a proposal at the Portuguese Parliament to abolish all types of bullfighting in the country. Left-wing party Left Bloc voted in favour of the proposal but criticised its lack of solutions to the foreseen consequences of the abolition. The proposal was however categorically rejected by all other parties, that cited freedom of choice and respect for tradition as arguments against it.


title: Bullfighting

text: The parliament of the Spanish region of Catalonia voted in favour of a ban on bullfighting in 2009, which went into effect in 2012. The Spanish national parliament passed a law in 2013 stating that bullfighting is an 'indisputable' part of Spain's 'cultural heritage'; this law was used by the Spanish Constitutional Court in 2016 to overturn the Catalan ban of 2012. When the island of Mallorca adopted a law in 2017 that prohibited the killing of a bull during a fight, this law was also declared partially unconstitutional by the Spanish Constitutional Court in 2018, as the judges ruled that the death of the bull was part of the essence of a corrida.


title: Bullfighting

text: In 1991, the Canary Islands became the first Spanish Autonomous Community to ban bullfighting, when they legislated to ban spectacles that involve cruelty to animals, with the exception of cockfighting, which is traditional in some towns in the Islands; bullfighting was never popular in the Canary Islands. Some supporters of bullfighting and even Lorenzo Olarte Cullen, Canarian head of government at the time, have argued that the fighting bull is not a "domestic animal" and hence the law does not ban bullfighting. The absence of spectacles since 1984 would be due to lack of demand. In the rest of Spain, national laws against cruelty to animals have abolished most blood sports, but specifically exempt bullfighting.


title: Bullfighting

text: On 18 December 2009, the parliament of Catalonia, one of Spain's seventeen Autonomous Communities, approved by majority the preparation of a law to ban bullfighting in Catalonia, as a response to a popular initiative against bullfighting that gathered more than 180,000 signatures. On 2010, with the two main parties allowing their members a free vote, the ban was passed 68 to 55, with 9 abstentions. This meant Catalonia became the second Community of Spain (first was Canary Islands in 1991), and the first on the mainland, to ban bullfighting. The ban took effect on 1 January 2012, and affected only the one remaining functioning Catalan bullring, the Plaza de toros Monumental de Barcelona.


title: Bullfighting

text: It did not affect the "correbous", a traditional game of the Ebro area (south of Catalonia) where lighted flares are attached to a bull's horns. The correbous are seen mainly in the municipalities in the south of Tarragona, with the exceptions of a few other towns in other provinces of Catalonia. The name "correbous" is essentially Catalan and Valencian; in other parts of Spain they have other names.


title: Bullfighting

text: A movement emerged to revoke the ban in the Spanish congress, citing the value of bullfighting as "cultural heritage". The proposal was backed by the majority of parliamentarians in 2013.


title: Bullfighting

text: In October 2016 the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled that the regional Catalan Parliament had no competence to ban any kind of spectacle that is legal in Spain.


title: Bullfighting

text: In Galicia, bullfighting has been banned in many cities by the local governments. Bullfighting has never had an important following in the region.


title: Bullfighting

text: Bullfighting was outlawed in California in 1957, but the law was amended in response to protests from the Portuguese community in Gustine. Lawmakers determined that a form of "bloodless" bullfighting would be allowed to continue, in affiliation with certain Christian holidays. Though the bull is not killed as with traditional bullfighting, it is still intentionally irritated and provoked and its horns are shaved down to prevent injury to people and other animals present in the ring, but serious injuries still can and do occur and spectators are also at risk. The Humane Society of the United States has expressed opposition to bullfighting in all its forms since at least 1981.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin (; ; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest city by metropolitan population (urban and rural together) in Northeast China. Harbin has direct jurisdiction over nine metropolitan districts, two county-level cities and seven counties, and 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 50 largest urban areas in the world.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin, whose name was originally a Manchu 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 Chinese Eastern Railway, the city first prospered as a region inhabited by an overwhelming majority of immigrants from 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.


title: Harbin

text: Known for its bitterly cold winters, Harbin is heralded as the "Ice City" () for its winter tourism and recreations. Harbin 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 was voted "China Top Tourist City" by the China National Tourism Administration in 2004.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin is one of the top 100 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 is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in the world for engineering.


title: Harbin

text: 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, the new emperor Wanyan 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 Jin Dynasty) moved the capital to Yanjing (now Beijing) in 1153. Liang even went so far as 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 from present-day Acheng's central urban area. The site of the old Jin capital ruins is a national historic reserve, and includes the . 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.


title: Harbin

text: After the Mongol conquest of the Jin Empire (1211–1234), Huining Prefecture 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 1800s, with over ten villages and about 30,000 people in the city's present-day urban districts by the end of the 19th century.


title: Harbin

text: A small village in 1898 grew into the modern city of Harbin. Polish engineer Adam Szydłowski drew plans for 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 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 majority of settlers in Harbin came from southern Ukraine (Russian Empire). In addition to Ukrainians, there were many Russians, Poles, Georgians, and Tatars.


title: Harbin

text: 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 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 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 was that a theater had established during its first decade and in 1907 the play "K zvezdam" by Leonid Andreyev had its premiere there.


title: Harbin

text: 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 the economic hub of northeastern China and an international metropolis.


title: Harbin

text: The rapid growth of the city challenged the public healthcare system. The worst-ever recorded outbreak of pneumonic plague was 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 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 the turning point of the epidemic. The suppression of this plague pandemic changed medical progress in China. Bronze statues of Dr. Wu Lien-teh are built in Harbin Medical University to remember his contributions in promoting public health, preventive medicine, and medical education.


title: Harbin

text: 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 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.


title: Harbin

text: After Russia's Great October Socialist Revolution in November 1917, 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 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 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".


title: Harbin

text: The Harbin Institute of Technology 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 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.


title: Harbin

text: 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 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'", 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 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.


title: Harbin

text: In 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 Soviet Union in 1920, leaving many Russians stateless. When the Chinese Eastern Railway and government in Beijing announced in 1924 that they agreed the railroad would only employ Russian or Chinese nationals, the emigres were forced to announce their ethnic and political allegiance. Most accepted Soviet citizenship.


title: Harbin

text: 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 the railway.


title: Harbin

text: 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.


title: Harbin

text: With 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 the Kwantung Army". The main facility of the Unit 731 was built in 1935 at Pingfang District, approximately 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 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 South East Asians and Pacific Islanders from then-colonies of 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 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 the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers Douglas MacArthur before the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal in exchange for biological warfare work in the Cold War for the American Force.


title: Harbin

text: 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 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.


title: Harbin

text: 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 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.


title: Harbin

text: 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 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.


title: Harbin

text: The Soviet Army took the city on 20 August 1945 and Harbin never came under the control of the Nationalist Government, whose troops stopped 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 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 the European community (Russians, Germans, Poles, Greeks, etc.) emigrated during 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.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin 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 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 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 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).


title: Harbin

text: National economy and social service have obtained significant achievements since the Chinese economic reform first introduced in 1979. Harbin holds 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 the grave of his grandfather in Huang Shan Jewish Cemetery, which had over 500 Jewish graves identified.


title: Harbin

text: 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 was officially merged into Harbin city on 11 August 1996, increasing Harbin's total population to 9.47 million.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin hosted the third Asian Winter Games in 1996. In 2009, Harbin held the XXIV Winter Universiade.


title: Harbin

text: 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 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, the Japanese side soon lodged protest with China over the construction of Ahn's memorial hall.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin, with a total land area of , 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 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 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 . 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 is located at the southwestern edge of the Sanjiang Plain.


title: Harbin

text: 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 a 24-hour average in January of only , 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 . Summer is also when most of the year's rainfall occurs, and more than half of the annual precipitation, at , occurs in July and August alone. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 52 percent in December to 63 percent in March, the city receives 2,571 hours of bright sunshine annually; on average precipitation falls 104 days out of the year. The annual mean temperature is , and extreme temperatures have ranged from to .


title: Harbin

text: The sub-provincial city of Harbin has direct jurisdiction over 9 districts, 2 county-level cities and 7 counties.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin has the largest economy in Heilongjiang province. In 2013, Harbin's GDP totaled RMB501.08 billion, an increase of 8.9 percent over 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.


title: Harbin

text: The chernozem soil in Harbin, called "black earth" is one of the most nutrient rich in all of China, making it valuable for cultivating food and textile-related crops. As a result, Harbin is China's base for the production of commodity grain and an ideal location for setting up agricultural businesses.


title: Harbin

text: 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 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, is China's second-biggest pharmaceutical company by market value.


title: Harbin

text: 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 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 the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Heilongjiang Provincial government, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and Russia's Ministry of Trade and Industry.


title: Harbin

text: 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.


title: Harbin

text: 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 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 the amount of scientific and technological achievements.


title: Harbin

text: 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 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.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin High and New Technology Industry Development Zone 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.


title: Harbin

text: The 2010 census revealed total population in Harbin was 10,635,971, representing a 12.99 percent increase 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. The encompassing metropolitan area was estimated by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) to have, , a population of 10.5 million.


title: Harbin

text: The demographic profile for the Harbin metropolitan area in general is relatively old: 10.95 percent are under the age of 14, while 8.04 percent are over 65, compared to the national average of 16.6% and 8.87 percent, respectively. Harbin has a higher percentage of males (50.85 percent) than females (49.15 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.


title: Harbin

text: Most of Harbin's residents belong to the Han Chinese majority (93.45 percent). Ethnic minorities include the Manchu, Hui, and Mongol. In 2000, 616,749 residents belonged to minority ethnicities, among which the vast majority (433,340) were Manchu, contributing 70.26 percent to the minority population. The second and third largest minority groups were Koreans (119,883) and Hui nationalities (39,995).


title: Harbin

text: The Catholic minority is pastorally served by its own Latin rite 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 (pre-diocesan, Byzantine Rite in Russian language). The badly damaged Church of the Iver Icon of the Mother of God was previously used by Russian soldiers of 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.


title: Harbin

text: The Harbin local culture is based on Han culture, combined with Manchu culture and Russian culture. This combination of cultures influences the local architecture style, food, music, and customs. The city of Harbin was appointed a UNESCO City of Music on 22 June 2010 as part of the Creative Cities Network.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin is renowned for its culinary tradition. The cuisine of Harbin consists of European dishes and Northern Chinese dishes mainly typified by heavy sauce and deep-frying.


title: Harbin

text: One of the most famous dishes in Northeastern Chinese cuisine is Guo Bao Rou, a form of sweet and sour pork. It is a classic dish from Harbin that originated in the early 20th century in Daotai Fu (). It consists of a bite-sized pieces of pork in a potato starch batter, deep-fried until crispy. They are then lightly coated in a variation of a sweet and sour sauce, made from freshly prepared syrup, rice vinegar, sugar, flavoured with ginger, cilantro, sliced carrot and garlic. The Harbin Guobaorou is distinct from that of other areas of China, such as Liaoning, where the sauce may be made using either tomato ketchup or orange juice. Rather the Harbin style is dominated by the honey and ginger flavours and has a clear or honey yellow colour. Originally the taste was fresh and salty. In order to fete foreign guests, Zheng Xingwen, the chef of Daotai Fu, altered the dish into a sweet and sour taste. Usually, people prefer to go to several small or middle size restaurants to enjoy this dish, because it is difficult to handle the frying process at home.


title: Harbin

text: Demoli Stewed Live Fish is one among other notable dishes in Harbin, which is originated in a village named Demoli on the expressway from Harbin to Jiamusi. The village is now Demoli Service Area on Harbin-Tongjiang Expressway. Stewed Chicken with Mushrooms, Braised Pork with Vermicelli, and quick-boil pork with Chinese sauerkraut are also typical authentic local dishes.


title: Harbin

text: Since Russia had a strong influence on Harbin's history, the local cuisine of Harbin also contains Russian-style dishes and flavor. There are several authentic Russian-style restaurants in Harbin, especially alongside the Zhongyang Street.


title: Harbin

text: A popular regional specialty is Harbin-style smoked savory red sausage. This product, which is similar to mild Lithuanian and German sausages, tend to be much more of European flavours than other Chinese sausages. In 1900, Russian merchant Ivan Yakovlevich Churin founded a branch in Harbin, which was named Churin Foreign trading company (; ) selling imported clothes, leather boots, canned foods, vodka, etc., and began to expand sales network in other cities in Manchuria. The influx of Europeans through the Trans-Siberian Railway and Chinese Eastern Railway, increased demand of European flavor food. In 1909, Churin's Sausage Factory was founded, and first produced European flavor sausage with the manufacturing process of Lithuanian staff. Since then European style sausage become a specialty of the city.


title: Harbin

text: A Russian style large round bread 大列巴 dà liě ba, derived from the Russian word "" for "bread" is also produced in Harbin's bakeries. Dalieba is a miche like sourdough bread. First introduced to the locals by a Russian baker, it has been sold in bakeries in Harbin for over a hundred years. Dalieba's sour and chewy taste is different from other traditional soft and fluffy Asian style breads in other parts of China.


title: Harbin

text: Kvass, a Russia-originated fermented beverage made from black or regular rye bread, is also popular in Harbin.


title: Harbin

text: Madier ("", derived from "Modern") ice-cream provided in the Zhongyang Street is also well known in northern China. This ice cream is made from a specific traditional recipe and it tastes a little salty but more sweet and milky. Besides its headquarters in Harbin, it also has branches in other major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, etc.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province, is situated in the northeast of the Northeast China Plain. It is a Famous Historical and Cultural City with an infusion of foreign culture. It is also popular as a city universally prestigious for its snow and ice culture. Summer and winter are the best occasions to visit Harbin as it is a cool resort in the short lovely summer and a fascinating ice kingdom in the harsh cold and long winter.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin is known for its European-style structures, for example, the popular Saint Sophia Cathedral, the design on Central Street, and the Baroque compositional complex in Lao Daowai (Old Town). Harbin in winter shows a large number of ice figures and offers many ice and snow activities for sightseers.


title: Harbin

text: Along with facilitating the world's greatest Ice and Snow Festival, Harbin flaunts the world's biggest indoor ski park, which is inside the Wanda Harbin Mall (counting six ski slants up to 500 meters in length).


title: Harbin

text: Located in northern Northeast China, Harbin is the northernmost among major cities in China. Under the direct influence of the Siberian Anticyclone, the average daily temperature is in winter. Annual low temperatures below are not uncommon. Nicknamed "Ice City" due to its freezingly cold winter, Harbin is decorated by various styles of Ice and snow Sculptures from December to March every year.


title: Harbin

text: The annual Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival has been held since 1985. Although the official start date is 5 January each year, in practice, many of the sculptures can be seen before. While there are ice sculptures throughout the city, there are two main exhibition areas: enormous snow sculptures at Sun Island (Taiyang Dao, a AAAAA-rated recreational area on the opposite side of the Songhua River from the city) and the separate "Ice and Snow World" that operates each night with lights switched on, illuminating the sculptures from both inside and outside. Ice and Snow World features illuminated full-size buildings made from blocks of 2–3 feet thick crystal clear ice directly taken from the Songhua River, which passes through the city. The sculptures inside the exhibition ground takes 15,000 workers to work for 16 days. In early December, ice artisans cut 120,000 cubic metres (4.2 million cubic feet) of ice blocks from Songhua river's frozen surface as raw materials for the ice sculptures' show. Massive ice buildings, large-scale snow sculptures, ice slides, festival food and drinks can also be found in several parks and major avenues in the city. Winter activities in the festival include Yabuli Alpine Skiing, snow mobile driving, winter-swimming in Songhua River, and the traditional ice-lantern exhibition in Zhaolin Garden, which was first held in 1963. Snow carving and ice and snow recreations are famous nationwide, especially among Asian countries including Korea, Japan, Thailand and Singapore.


title: Harbin

text: The "Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival" is one of the four largest ice and snow festivals in the world, along with Japan's Sapporo Snow Festival, Canada's Quebec City Winter Carnival, and Norway's Holmenkollen Ski Festival.


title: Harbin

text: Every November, the city of Harbin sends teams of ice artisans to the United States to promote their unique art form. It takes more than 100 artisans to create ICE!, the annual display of indoor Christmas-themed ice carvings in National Harbor, Maryland; Nashville, Tennessee; Kissimmee, Florida; and Grapevine, Texas.


title: Harbin

text: Founded in 1908, the Harbin Symphony Orchestra was China's oldest symphony orchestra. Harbin No.1 Music School was also the first music school in China, which was founded in 1928. Nearly 100 famous musicians have studied at the school since its founding, said Liu Yantao, deputy chief of Harbin Cultural, Press and Publication Bureau.


title: Harbin

text: Every year, thousands of youngsters start their music dreams in this city, and the "Harbin Summer Music Concert" serial activities that always be held in the every year's summer present the music passion of the locals.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin Summer Music Concert ('Concert' for short) is a national concert festival, which is held on 6 August every two years for a period of 10~11 days. During the concert, multiple evenings, concert, race and activities are held. The artists come from all over the world.


title: Harbin

text: The 'Harbin Summer Music Month', which was then renamed as 'Harbin Summer Music Concert', was held in August 1958. The first formal Concert was held on 5 August 1961 in Harbin Youth Palace, and kept on every year until 1966 when the Cultural Revolution started in China. In 1979, the Concert was recovered and from 1994, it has been held every two years. As a part of 2006 Harbin Summer Music Concert's opening ceremony, a 1,001-piano concert was held in Harbin's Flood memorial square located at the north end of Central Street () on 6 August 2006. Repertoires of the ensemble consisted of "Triumphal March", "Military March", "Radetzky March" and famous traditional local song "On The Sun Island". This concert set a new Guinness World Record for largest piano ensemble, surpassing the previous record held by German artists in a 600-piano concert.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin is notable for its combination of Chinese and European architecture styles. Many Russian and other European style buildings are protected by the government. The architecture in Harbin gives it the nicknames of "Oriental Moscow" and "Oriental Paris" in China.


title: Harbin

text: Central Street, one of the main business streets in Harbin, is a remnant of the bustling international business activities at the turn of the 20th century. First built in 1898, The long street is now a veritable museum of European architectural styles: Baroque and Byzantine façades, little Russian bakeries and French fashion houses, as well as non European architectural styles: American eateries, and Japanese restaurants.


title: Harbin

text: The Russian Orthodox church, Saint Sophia Cathedral, is also located in the central district of Daoli. Built in 1907 and expanded from 1923 to 1932, it was closed during the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution periods. Following its designation in 1996 as a national cultural heritage site (First class Preserved Building), it was turned into a museum as a showcase of the history of Harbin city in 1997. The -tall Church, which covers an area of 721 square meters, is a typical representative of Byzantine architecture.


title: Harbin

text: Many citizens believe that the Orthodox church damaged the local feng shui, so they donated money to build a Chinese Buddhist monastery in 1921, the Ji Le Temple. There were more than 15 Russian Orthodox churches and two cemeteries in Harbin until 1949. The Communist Revolution, and the subsequent Cultural Revolution, and the decrease in the ethnic Russian population, saw many of them abandoned or destroyed. Today, about 10 churches remain, while services are held only in the Church of the Intercession in Harbin.


title: Harbin

text: The Harbin Railway Administration, formerly known as the Middle East Railway Administration, commonly known as the "big stone house", was built in 1902, destroyed twice and rebuilt in 1904 and 1906.


title: Harbin

text: Harbin Grand Theatre is located in the cultural center of Songbei District, Harbin. It provides 1600- and 400-seat venues. The architecture uses the external design of the heterogeneous hyperbolic surface.


title: Harbin

text: The Harbin Grand Theatre is a landmark building in Harbin. It is built in accordance with the water and is consistent with the surrounding environment. It embodies the concept of the landscape and landscape of the north. As a public building facility, the theatre provides people and visitors with different spatial experiences from the theatre, landscape, square and stereoscopic platform. During the design process, architect Ma Yansong has set up a unique sightseeing corridor and viewing platform in the Grand Theatre. Visitors are able to overlook the surrounding wetland and enjoy the unique natural wetland scenery of Harbin.