In the northeast of the People's Republic of China lies a piece of land resembling a flying swan. This is the beautiful and richly-endowed Province of Heilongjiang, which is named after the Heilongjiang River, the largest river in the province.

Heilongjiang faces Russia across the Heilongjiang River in the north and the Wusuli River in the east, and shares a borderline of over 3,000 kilometers with Russia. As China's sixth largest province, Heilongjiang covers 454,800 square kilometers, accounting for 4.7 percent of the nation's total.

Heilongjiang exercises jurisdiction over 13 cities (prefectures) and 65 counties and autonomous counties (county- level cities), with city of Harbin as its capital.

The total population of the Province is 38.20million. Besides Han, there are 48 minority groups, such as Manchu, Korean, Mongolian and Hezhe.

The Province features a rigid temperate continental monsoon climate.

Heilongjiang is abundant in resources. Heilongjiang is one of the three world-famous "Black Soil Belts", with 9.889 million hectares of cultivated land. The main agricultural crops are soybeans, wheat, corn, potatoes and rice, while the main cash crops include sugar beet, flax and flue-cured tobacco, and so on. There are in Heilongjiang 4.33 million hectares of grasslands. The Songnen Plain is ranked among the three largest sheep pastures in the world. The forest acreage of Heilongjiang is 43.6 percent, ranking the first place in total forest-covered area and timber reserves in China. Heilongjiang is the nation's major state-owned forest region and the largest timber production base. There are many rivers and lakes in the Province. Its five major water systems include Heilongjiang River, Wusuli River, Songhua River, Nen River and Suifenhe River. Heilongjiang is one of the regions with abundant water resources in North China. Heilongjiang is a major mineral resource based province, with 77 kinds of exploitable reserves verified. At present, 39 kinds of mineral ores are mined. There are 476 species of wild animals in the Province, of which 12 species such as the Siberian tiger, red-crowned crane and white crane are subject to State first-class protection.

Tourism resources in Heilongjiang are abundant, unique in styles and marked by sharp seasonal distinctions. The Province is especially famous for such unique tourist resources and attractions as ice and snow, forests, wetlands, grasslands, agriculture, long border rivers, big border lakes, volcanoes, urban sceneries, ethnic minority folkways and border tourism. To mention especially, the Jingbo Lake, Yabuli Ski Resort, Ice and Snow World, Wudalianchi (Five-Connected-Volcanic Lakes) and Xingkai Lake are famous tourist resorts in the Province.

Heilongjiang has a long history. Dating back to late Old Stone Age, the original "Habrinese" used to dwell in the area, leaving behind special historical legacies in Heilongjiang.

In terms of transport, a comprehensive network of land, water and air, in parallel with the underground pipeline system, has begun to take shape. At present, there are 5,432 kilometers of operating railways, making Heilongjiang one of the regions with high railroad density in China. In the Province, there are 10 State highways and 30 provincial highways, total 66821 kilometers, in which there are 722 kilometers of highways, 1040 kilometers of the first grade roads and 7034 kilometers of the second grade roads. The route from Suifenhe via Harbin to Machuria is reputed to be a "Eurasian Bridge". In terms of air transport, there are five airports, i.e. Harbin Airport, Qiqihar Airport, Mudanjiang Airport, Jiamusi Airport, and Heihe Airport, operating 73 domestic and international air routes. In respect of water transportation, Heilongjiang water systems are one of the three major navigation water systems in China. Ships navigating along the river-sea through transportation line from Heilongjiang River via Tartar Strait to the Sea of Japan are able to reach Japan, ROK and DPRK and Southeast Asian nations directly.

In terms of communications, the basic communication network system has been established, with Harbin as the hub linking up the whole country and the outside world. At present, the total length of the optical fiber cables is as long as 42,700 kilometers. Hence, a modern communication framework, characterized by multi-transmission means, has been formed, with the optical fiber network as the mainstay and microwave network as the auxiliary. Further, the services of program-controlled communication and digitalized transmission have been made available in areas above the township level. Currently, the data communication network system in Heilongjiang materializes full coverage in respects of population, territory, and service types.

At present, a relatively complete industrial system has been established, with heavy industry as the mainstay, large-sized enterprises as the backbone, and with machinery, metallurgy, power, coal mining, petrol-chemistry, construction materials, light-industry, textile, pharmacy, and food processing as the focus. Heilongjiang is the nation's leader in manufacturing equipment industry products, large pressure vessels, large mining equipment, heavy-duty tandem rolling and continuous casting equipment, heavy-duty NC machine tools, complete sets of large power plant generation equipment, nuclear power, freight trains, mini-vehicles, multi-purpose aircrafts, helicopters, large castings & forgings, and precisions bearings. The production volume of such major products as timber, crude oil, linen textile, natural gas and raw coal ranks among the first the country. Some key technologies of heavy-duty machinery, metallurgical equipment, precision meters, precision machine & measurement tools and robots rank among the first domestically or internationally. Many enterprises have become leaders of the internationally advanced or domestic leading industries. As one of the major industrial bases of China, Heilongjiang now has a batch of such major enterprises as Daqing Oilfield, Hahang Group, China First Heavy Industries, Harbin Power Equipment Group and Harbin Pharmaceutical Group. Thanks to the technological renovation over the recent years, its petrol-chemical, power equipment, heavy machinery, agricultural machinery, machine tools and aircraft manufacturing industries have all attained relatively high technological levels. High and new technological industries such as IT, bio-pharmacy and new materials are all manifesting dynamic momentum. Heilongjiang's traditional Chinese medicines, featured by unique curative effects, have also shown good prospects for further development.

Currently, the State is implementing the strategy of rejuvenating the Northeast Old Industrial Bases. Heilongjiang is accelerating the speed of reform and openness, with economic structure adjustment as main line, and reform of structure, ownership and technology as the penetration point, is sparing no efforts in winning the tough battle of restructuring state-owned enterprises, undertaking the innovation of system and mechanism, and strengthening self-reliant development capability, core competitiveness and sustainable development. As such, it is the plan of the Province to undertake the construction of six major bases for equipment, petrol-chemistry, energy, food, pharmaceutical and forest industries so as to realize the all-round development of all industries and undertakings, and promote the harmonious development of urban and rural areas, economy and society.
Heilongjiang is the nation's main grain producing area and commodity grain base. It's the nation's largest cultivated land and richest land reserves. The comprehensive processing capacity of grain reaches 36.00 million tons. In 2005, the Province produced 7.48 million tons of soybeans, had in stock 1.643 million heads of dairy cattle, and produced 4.442 millions tons of fresh milk. In addition, the daily fresh milk processing capacity was up to 11800 tons, playing a leading role in China for many years in succession. Owing to its late development, Heilongjiang is relatively less damaged and has a shorter pollution period in comparison with the developed countries. Up to now, the majority of Heilongjiang's territory is featured by green mountains, clean waters and unpolluted land. This has made it possible for the Province to meet the essential requirements for producing green food. The Province is being built as the largest green food production base of China.

Heilongjiang has 25 national first-class ports with Russia. In recent years, Heilongjiang, by using its advantage of geographical location, has been developing in-depth border trade and economic & technological cooperation with Russia and the East European nations. Meanwhile, it actively strives to develop trade and economic cooperation with Northeast Asia and other countries and regions. Heilongjiang has hitherto established economic and trade ties with over 130 countries and regions throughout the world. From 1984 to 2005, the Province has received investment from some 60 countries and regions, approved 7717 foreign-funded projects, and a contracted utilization volume of 14.67747 billion USD and an actual utilization volume of 9.75 billion USD. As of 2005, the total foreign capital actually utilized reached 1.52 billion USD, up by 5.3 per cent than the previous year. China Harbin Fair for Trade and Economic Cooperation is one of the seven major regional fairs approved by the State. Since its initial launching in 1990 as an annual event, 16 sessions of such fairs have been organized. Accumulatively, altogether 1.221 million international and domestic business people have since taken part in the previous 15 sessions of the Fair, bringing about a total business volume of 80 billion USD. China Harbin Fair for Trade and Economic Cooperation has become one of the most important Trade and Economic fairs.

The research institutions are mainly distributed in various areas related to the development of national economy and social advancement. A lot of agricultural research results are marked by unique innovativeness. A large batch of new breeds featuring anti-disease, cold-resistant, drought-resistant, and early-maturing crops have been cultivated. The scientific researches have been uplifted to a higher level, leading the nation in most sophisticated know-how in oil exploitation, aircraft manufacturing, underwater plasma cutting up to international advanced levels. Till to end of 2005, there are altogether 605 R&D institutions, with 100,000 people engaged in scientific research, of which 71,000 are scientists and engineers.

Relying on the higher institutions, research institutions, and large and medium-sized enterprises, the Province has attracted a large batch of hi-tech talents, skillful workforces and well-trained engineers. The province has 18 members of the Chinese Academy of Science and Chinese Engineering Academy, and more than 50 experts with outstanding contributions to the State. .In terms of educational causes, there are 62 general academies in Heilongjiang Province with 533,000 students and 37,000 graduate students.

The environmental protection sector has in place 104 different levels of environment monitoring stations. The Province has 170 nature reserves with an area of 4,689,000 hectares, of which 14 reserves are at the national level.

The Province has 8,230 public health institutions with 120,000 beds, of which 1,808 are hospitals and township or county hospitals.

In 2005, the athletes of Heilongjiang have altogether obtained 48 gold medals in world-class games, 227 gold medals in National games. The activity of “All Fitness Drive" has been extensively conducted in Heilongjiang.

Entering into the new century, Heilongjiang has taken on the trend of great-leap-forward development in economy and society. We believe that with the arduous efforts of 38 million people, the future of Heilongjiang will be more brilliant.