| Hailar District 海拉尔区 |
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| — District — | |
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Hailar District
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | China |
| Region | Inner Mongolia |
| Prefecture | Hulunbuir |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1,440 km2 (556 sq mi) |
| Population (1999) | |
| • Total | 256,000 |
| • Density | 177.8/km2 (460.4/sq mi) |
| Time zone | China Standard (UTC+8) |
| Postal code | 021000 |
| Area code(s) | 0470 |
| Website | http://www.hailar.gov.cn/ |
Hailar District (simplified Chinese: 海拉尔区; traditional Chinese: 海拉爾區; pinyin: Hǎilā'ěr Qū) is an urban district that serves as the seat of the prefecture-level city Hulunbuir in northeastern Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. Hulunbuir, due to its massive size, is a city in administrative terms only, being mainly grassland and rural. Hailar, therefore, is a de facto city. Hailar can also refer to the urban area around the Hailar district, with Hulunbuir being the wider geographical region that contains the urban area.
Long known as the "Pearl of the Grasslands", Hailar acts as a gateway between China and Russia. The district has an estimated population of 256,000, and serves as a regional centre for commerce, trade, and transportation.
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Hailar was founded as a Chinese fort in 1734, and during the administration of the Republic of China it was the capital city of Xing'an Province. It is now a centre of agricultural production on the Chinese Eastern RR. Once known as Hulun, Hailar today is a relatively small but thriving modern industrial city of around 300,000, its population having soared from an estimated 20,000 in the mid-20th century.
It was occupied and fortified by the Japanese during their expansion into Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, and China proper during the 1930s until the end of the Second World War in August 1945, and perhaps the oldest building in Hailar that stands today was left by the occupying forces. When the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, Hailar was the scene of a bitter struggle in the wider campaign to push Japanese forces out of Manchuria and northeast China and Korea (see Soviet invasion of Manchuria (1945)).
Hailar Dongshan Airport serves the city, with flights to Beijing and Shenyang amongst others. Hailar's railway station is the penultimate major station before Manzhouli, the port city that stands close to the Russian border. It is on the famous Manchuria branch of the Trans-Siberian express route. Trains to Harbin take about 12 hours, trains to Beijing 27. Hailar has a frequent series of buses that cover the town, albeit that they do not run after 6.30. As is the case all over urban China, taxis are ubiquitous 24/7.
Hailar has no less than 4 shopping malls - Friendship, Yishidan, Huahui and Busen- which are similar to Western ones in their scope and variety, if not quite as good. On the other hand, progress is much more dramatic in some areas than others. Whilst it is possible to buy a flat screen television there, other common household items in the West are impossible to find. As yet, there is no McDonalds or Starbucks, though there is a KFC and an imitation Starbucks coffee house.
On the outskirts of Hailar there are still many red brick, one storey houses which might be called slums. These are steadily being replaced by six storey blocks of flats. Many steps have been made to beautify the town. Genghis Khan park is notable for its sculptures and landscaping, with a strong Mongolian motif running throughout. The main bridge that runs into town has a new clock which chimes "Westminster Chimes" the same tune as Big Ben. In winter, extensive ice sculptures are put up about the town, although they now melt a month earlier than they once did, due to rising temperatures. And finally, with its fake plastic trees with different colour neon leaves, Hailar is arguably a beautiful sight at night.
Hailar experiences a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (Dwb) that borders closely on a subarctic climate to the north. Winters are long, very dry and severe, due to the semi−permanent Siberian High, while summers are short, though very warm, and rather wet, due to the East Asian monsoon. Monthly averages range from −25.1 °C (−13.2 °F) in January to 20.0 °C (68 °F) in July, with an annual mean of −0.96 °C (30.3 °F). Sunny weather dominates year round, though the vast majority of the year's rainfall occurs during summer, with some snow in winter.
| Climate data for Hailar District (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | −19.2 (−2.6) |
−14.1 (6.6) |
−3.9 (25.0) |
8.9 (48.0) |
18.1 (64.6) |
23.7 (74.7) |
25.8 (78.4) |
23.6 (74.5) |
17.2 (63.0) |
7.5 (45.5) |
−5.8 (21.6) |
−16.1 (3.0) |
5.5 (41.9) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −30 (−22) |
−26.9 (−16.4) |
−16.9 (1.6) |
−3.9 (25.0) |
3.5 (38.3) |
10.5 (50.9) |
14.3 (57.7) |
12.0 (53.6) |
4.4 (39.9) |
−4.9 (23.2) |
−16.8 (1.8) |
−26.2 (−15.2) |
−6.7 (19.9) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 3.4 (0.134) |
2.9 (0.114) |
4.6 (0.181) |
12.4 (0.488) |
22.5 (0.886) |
63.2 (2.488) |
101.8 (4.008) |
91.8 (3.614) |
38.3 (1.508) |
15.8 (0.622) |
5.1 (0.201) |
5.5 (0.217) |
367.3 (14.461) |
| % humidity | 79 | 79 | 69 | 53 | 46 | 61 | 71 | 73 | 68 | 63 | 74 | 80 | 68.0 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 7.6 | 5.9 | 5.6 | 5.9 | 7.0 | 12.9 | 14.5 | 12.4 | 9.5 | 6.2 | 7.1 | 9.6 | 104.2 |
| Sunshine hours | 167.0 | 195.6 | 244.1 | 246.2 | 298.0 | 285.9 | 279.8 | 268.7 | 218.6 | 210.1 | 165.3 | 139.4 | 2,718.7 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration [1] | |||||||||||||
Hailar is discernibly an ethnic minority town with a strong Han contingent. As such, signs are usually bi-lingual and Mongolian influence pervades in songs played on shop CD players, domes on buildings and the chitter chatter of some locals. As is the case with any Northern Chinese city, cultural facilities differ from those in the West. There is no theatre,opera house or bar running salsa classes. Nor indeed a public library. On the other hand, it does have many KTVs dotted about the town, including one luxurious one in the Yes-Se Nightclub, a new black building (and one of the highest in Hailar). Hailar also has a sophisticated sex worker industry, ranging from impoverished massage parlours whose days are probably numbered to services provided in KTVs, bathhouses and hotels.