Harbin is the capital of Heilongjiang, China, and the largest city of the province—as well as the second largest urban population (after Shenyang, Liaoning province) and the largest metropolitan population (urban and rural regions together) in Northeast China. Harbin has direct jurisdiction over nine metropolitan districts, two county-level cities, and seven counties. It is the eighth most populous Chinese city according to the 2020 census. The built-up area of Harbin (which consists of all districts except Shuangcheng and Acheng) has 5,841,929 inhabitants, while the total metropolitan population is up to 10,009,854, making it one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. Harbin serves as a key political, economic, scientific, cultural, and communications hub in Northeast China, as well as an important industrial base of the nation.

Several different etymologies have been offered for the city's name. The city government says the name means "swan" in the Jurchen language, and other sources say that it comes from a Manchu word meaning "a place for drying fishing nets". The settlement grew from a small rural fishing village on the Songhua River to become one of the largest cities in Northeast China. Founded in 1898 with the coming of the Russian-built Chinese Eastern Railway, the city first prospered as a settlement inhabited by an overwhelming majority of immigrants from the Russian Empire. In the 1920s the city was considered China's fashion capital, since new designs from Paris and Moscow reached here first before arriving in Shanghai. From 1932 until 1945, Harbin was the largest city in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. Well known for its historical Russian legacy and architecture, the city is famed for its European influence and serves as an important gateway in Sino-Russian trade today.

Harbin is one of the top 50 cities and metropolitan areas in the world by scientific research output. The city hosts several major universities in Northeast China, including Harbin Engineering University, Harbin Medical University, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin Normal University, Northeast Forestry University, and Heilongjiang University. Notably, Harbin Institute of Technology is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in the world for engineering.

Harbin was voted "China Top Tourist City" by the China National Tourism Administration in 2004. Though known for its bitterly cold seasons, Harbin is heralded as the Ice City (冰城) for its winter tourism and recreations, especially the ice sculpture festival. The city has hosted the 1996 Winter Asian Games, the 2009 Winter Universiade, and the 2025 Asian Winter Games.

Human settlement in the Harbin area dates from at least 2200 BC during the late Stone Age. Wanyan Aguda, the founder and first emperor (reigned 1115–1123) of the Jin dynasty (1115–1234), was born of the Jurchen Wanyan tribes who resided near the Ashi River in this region. In AD 1115 Aguda established Jin's capital, Shangjing Huiningfu (Upper Capital, Huining Prefecture), in today's Acheng District of Harbin. After Aguda's death, the succeeding emperor Wanyang Sheng ordered the construction of a new city with a uniform plan. The planning and construction emulated major Chinese cities, in particular Bianjing (Kaifeng), although the Jin capital was smaller than its Northern Song prototype. Huining Prefecture served as the first superior capital of the Jin Empire until Wanyan Liang (the fourth emperor of the Jin Dynasty) moved the capital to Yanjing (now Beijing) in 1153. Liang even went to destroy all palaces in the former capital in 1157. Wanyan Liang's successor Wanyan Yong (Emperor Shizong) restored the city and established it as a secondary capital in 1173. Ruins of the Shangjing Huining Prefecture were discovered and excavated about 2 km (1.2 mi) from present-day Acheng's central urban area. The site of the old Jin capital ruins is a national historic reserve and includes the Jin Dynasty History Museum ^[zh]. The public museum was renovated in late 2005. Mounted statues of Aguda and of his chief commander Wanyan Zonghan (also Nianhan) stand on the grounds of the museum. Many of the artifacts found there are on display in nearby Harbin.^{[citation needed]}

After the Mongol conquest of the Jin Empire (1211–1234), Huining Prefecture was abandoned. In the 17th century, the Manchus used building materials from Huining Prefecture to construct their new stronghold in Alchuka. The region of Harbin remained largely rural until the 19th century, by the end of which over ten villages and about 30,000 people arrived in the city's present-day urban districts.

This small village in 1898 grew into the modern city of Harbin. Polish engineer Adam Szydłowski drew plans for the city following the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which the Russian Empire had financed. The Russians selected Harbin as the base of their administration over this railway and the Chinese Eastern Railway Zone. The railways were largely constructed by Russian engineers and indentured workers. The Chinese Eastern Railway extended the Trans-Siberian Railway, substantially reducing the distance from Chita to Vladivostok and also linking the new port city of Dalny (Dalian) and the Russian naval base of Port Arthur (Lüshun). The settlement founded by the Russian-owned Chinese Eastern Railway quickly turned into a boomtown, growing into a city within five years. In addition to the Russians, other Russian-speaking settlers in Harbin came from all over the Russian Empire, including Ukrainians, Poles, Jews, Georgians, and Tatars, eventually making Harbin a Russian town, with the majority coming from the south of European Russia.

The city was intended as a showcase for Russian imperialism in Asia, and the American scholar Simon Karlinsky, who was born in Harbin in 1924 to a Russian-Jewish family, wrote that in Harbin "the buildings, boulevards, and parks were planned—well before the October Revolution—by distinguished Russian architects and also by Swiss and Italian town planners", giving the city a very European appearance. Starting in the late 19th century, a mass influx of Han Chinese arrived and, taking advantage of the rich soils, founded farms that soon turned Manchuria into the "breadbasket of China". Others went to work in the mines and factories, making the northeast one of the first regions of China to industrialize. Harbin became one of the main points from which food and industrial products were shipped out of Manchuria. A sign of Harbin's wealth was the theatre that was established during its first decade. In 1907 the play K zvezdam by Leonid Andreyev premiered there.