Review of reviews and world's work . andbut for the unexpected war with Japan herpurpose would have been crowned with suc-cess. Harbin, as it stands to-day, is apurely Russian product laid out by the rail-way engineers. The original old town isthree miles distant from the present railwaydepot. Pristan, the commercial town, is onthe side of the railway bordering on theriver. The official city or district, whereall the public buildings, offices, hotels, located, is in close proximity to the rail-way station. Hie purely Chinese town, theheadquarters of the governor, is known asFu-tu-tien
Review of reviews and world's work . andbut for the unexpected war with Japan herpurpose would have been crowned with suc-cess. Harbin, as it stands to-day, is apurely Russian product laid out by the rail-way engineers. The original old town isthree miles distant from the present railwaydepot. Pristan, the commercial town, is onthe side of the railway bordering on theriver. The official city or district, whereall the public buildings, offices, hotels, located, is in close proximity to the rail-way station. Hie purely Chinese town, theheadquarters of the governor, is known asFu-tu-tien, and is about four miles from theofficial district. Here, at Harbin, it was that Russia planned her Asiatic metropolis; and every inducement was held out to the confiding Russian capitalists to purchase lots and to cast their fortunes in with the new venture. Wide streets were laid out and paved, elec-tric lights installed; fine, large official build-ings, railway clubs, hotels, and schools were 360 THE AMERICAN REVIEW OF RE^ BUSINESS BUILDINGS IN RIVER TOWN. HARBIN. erected, immense car and machine shops equipped. . The town rapidly outgrew its original delimitations, and further land wasadded to meet the expansion. In the old town, land originally offeredat a little over one cent gold a square footsoon soared to over seventeen cents goldper square foot ; and within a year fromthe time that this section was opened to thepublic it is estimated that over $5,000,000gold was expended in building industrial boom followed which at onetime promised to make Harbin the greatestmanufacturing center in Asia. Saw-mills,mines, breweries, vodka factories, flour mills,and other large schemes were promoted. In1904 ten flour mills were producing nearly1,000,000 pounds a day. Prosperity wasin the air. Ever\body seemed to have money,and it was spent like water. Easy come, easygo. The new city was Russian to the core. Foreigners were practically excluded oronly permitted to r
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