Harbin is the capital of the modern province of Heilongjiang (literally Black Dragon River), People's Republic of China. That province is one of three provinces in the region of Dongbei (“东北”, literally East North in Mandarin), formerly known as Manchuria. 

Harbin was originally a Manchu word meaning "a place for drying fishing nets". Today the city is known for its magnificent winter ice and snow sculptures and is a thriving industrial center. It lies 642 air miles (1,033 km) north-northeast of Beijing, the Chinese capital, along the southern bank of the Songhua River (Sungari in Russian), a tributary of the Heilong River (Amur in Russian).  The Heilong is one of the three major rivers in China and marks part of China's northeastern border with Russia.

View Harbin via MapQuest at Latitude 45°73´N, Longitude 126°61´E (MapQuest Coordinates).
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Isak Grigori (Itzko Gershevich) Clurman stands on the coal pile of his Harbin lumberyard in the 1930s.
The city's New Synagogue is visible in the background.
Click here to view an advertisement for the lumberyard from 16 August 1926. (Added 22 December 2025)

Background Information

• A Brief History of Jews in Harbin by Irene Clurman and Professor Dan Ben-Canaan
• Jewish Footprints in Harbin: Concise Historical Notes - Full text of book by Professor Dan Ben-Canaan
• The Chinese Perception of the Jewish People - Lecture given on 18 February 2022 by Professor Dan Ben-Canaan
• A Manchurian Footnote to Jewish History by Irene Clurman, from Shemot, April 2016, Vol 24, 1
• Sino-Israel Research and Study Center in Harbin  
• History of Jews in China & Story of Ossinovsky/Berdakin/Skidelsky Families by Archie Ossin
• "Singapore, Manila, and Harbin As Reference Points for Asian 'Port Jewish' Identity" by Dr. Jonathan Goldstein
• Bibliography

Pictures and Maps

• Modern Harbin Photos from Nurit and Itzik Eshtein and Modern Postcards
• Vintage Harbin Photos Courtesy of the Sino-Israel Research and Study Center
• 2014 Renovation of the Old (Main) Synagogue
• Harbin Photos from the Clurman and Keilis Families
• Harbin Photos from the Raii and Nathan Clurman Family
• Harbin Photos from Katherine Bader Nigel
• Harbin Photos from the Bach Family
• Harbin Shops in 1929 from the Zonoff Family
• Harbin Photos and Documents from the Joseph Glikman Family
• Photos from the Family Collection of Rita Davies
• Trotsky Family Photo
• 1926 Tourist Map of Harbin in English
• 1938 Russian Map of Harbin
• Simeon Kaspé in 1933
• Jews of Harbin & Kaifeng -- Pictures and Sound
• Sitsky & Toper Family Photos from Harbin, Tientsin & Environs
• Vintage Postcards from the Sitsky/Toper Collection
• Harbin Photos and Documents from the Albin-Bialik-Krajmalnik Family
• Harbin Photos and Documents from the Galat (Galatzky) Family
• Businesses on Kitaiskaia Street
• Documents, Correspondence and Memorabilia

Personal Stories

• Ethel (Roza) Keilis Clurman -- Interview Transcript
• Charles (Ruvim) Isaac Clurman -- Interview Transcript
• Yaacov (Yana) Liberman -- Excerpts from My China: Jewish Life in the Orient 1900-1950
• Mara Moustafine -- My Family and Its City: Fifty Years in Harbin 1909-1959, Text with Photos and Charts,
  Link to Mara's Web Site
• Max Star -- Excerpts from In the Lion's Den 
• Robert Skidelsky -- "A Chinese Homecoming", Prospect Magazine, January 2006
• Reuvim Traub -- His 1923 Letter from Harbin to his Father
• Bob Sitsky -- Excerpts from Growing Up in Tientsin
• Mikhail Rinsky --  Jewish Tragedy in Inner Mongolia. English translation of accounts of the Japanese occupation
  from members of the Jewish community of Hailar, west of Harbin on the Chinese Eastern Railway.
• Irene Clurman -- Reclaiming My Russian-Chinese Heritage
• Dara Horn -- Cities of Ice, a dispatch from frozen Harbin, where Jews once flourished—and melted away

Searchable Databases (Use the "Back" button on your browser to return here.)

• JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF) for Harbin
  A database of ancestral towns and surnames currently being researched by Jewish genealogists worldwide.
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• Jewish Communities of China (Igud Yotzei Sin - Association of Former Residents of China).
• List in Russian of graves in Harbin Jewish Cemetery (at Jewish Communities of China).
• Harbin Jewish Cemetery - English index of names and photos of many headstones.
• The Sino-Judaic Institute supports the study and preservation of Jewish history in China and promotes cooperation between the Chinese and Jewish peoples.