John -- I found this in a website, and hope that it might answer your questions -- it seems that it was part of China, but had a very large Russian population.... http://www.comptons.com/encyclopedia/ARTICLES/0075/00817920_A.html "Recorded history of Harbin dates back to 1097. A small fishing village before 1896, it grew with the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway by the Russians. After the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-05, Harbin was jointly administered by China and Japan. It was a haven for Russian refugees after the Revolution of 1917 and became for a time the largest Russian city outside the Soviet Union. During the time Japan dominated Manchuria, calling it Manchukuo from 1932 to 1945, Harbin was known as Pinkiang. Soviet troops occupied the city in 1945, and the following year Chinese Communist forces gained control. Population (1989 estimate), 2,930,000. " If you have any other questions, let me know. All the best, Ryan >From: "John" <genealogy@paradise.net.nz> >Reply-To: CHINA-L@rootsweb.com >To: CHINA-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: [CHINA] KLIMOVITCH - BORN IN HARBIN >Date: Sat, 7 Jul 2001 15:46:24 +1200 > >LYDIA GRIGOREVNA KLIMOVITCH [ Maiden name SEREBRIAKOVA ] was born in HARBIN >17th August 1918. > >Question:- In 1918 was Harbin part of China or Russia? > >Either way could somebody assist with a URL or E-mail address that I can >use to start tracing her forebears. > >Regards >John Meagher >New Zealand > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com