Inside China's Bizarre Mega-City Built by Russians

本站添加: 2026-05-12

[00:00:14]Oh, look at that.

[00:00:17]>> It's the first time in my life I put my ass on the puppy.

[00:00:47]Welcome to the city of Han. And today we're heading to Harbin. Hopefully, we're gonna make it because um the driver seems to think he's um Sham.

[00:01:02]>> Oh man, here's the real deal. He's not got one, not got two. Got four phones sitting around here.

[00:01:11]>> One being used for DD, one just on maps.

[00:01:14]Another one looks like some sort of linked to some sort of camera dash cam.

[00:01:20]And the other one maybe is the one he calls his wife. I don't know.

[00:01:25]>> The real deal.

[00:01:26]>> That's a level of efficiency.

[00:01:28]>> He just pulled out a fifth one. Yeah.

[00:01:30]>> And there is another one there. There is six. One, two, three.

[00:01:35]Six.

[00:01:44]>> Ransa.

[00:01:57]Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

[00:02:08]>> Businessman.

[00:02:28]This is Chinese Siberia, by the way.

[00:02:31]Exactly the same as the other side of the border. Just vast, vast landscapes, birch trees everywhere, rolling hills, just miles and miles of endless nothingness.

[00:02:56]Bye-bye.

[00:02:56]>> Bye. Bye.

[00:03:09]Oh dear.

[00:03:12]>> Fastest taxi driver in China.

[00:03:14]>> My ears are gone. You're supposed to get here in 20 minutes. I think we got here in like five.

[00:03:20]>> Literally. At one point, I think we lifted off the ground and gained air.

[00:03:25]Crazy.

[00:03:27]Welcome to Heihar airport.

[00:03:32]We didn't even know it had an airport until a few days ago.

[00:03:36]But of course, this is China. Everywhere has an airport. Infrastructure like nowhere else on earth.

[00:03:43]>> Doesn't look new to be fair.

[00:03:44]>> It doesn't.

[00:03:49]Welcome to Heihar. Heading north. Heihar is the most beautiful city.

[00:03:57]It's a titty ride, isn't it?

[00:04:01]Right, let's head in and check in.

[00:04:05]I don't think there's going to be any long cues.

[00:04:08]>> You may be surprised.

[00:04:10]>> Maybe interesting signs here in the airport are in Chinese, English, and Russian.

[00:04:19]I imagine for a lot of Russians from Lab Vision, it's good stuff.

[00:04:24]I was told to stop filming. So, as I was saying is it's interesting that here they have signs in Chinese, obviously, English, as we're used to seeing in airports all over the world, and also in Russian. And obviously that's aching to the fact that we're so close to Russia and a lot of Russian tourists, I would imagine, that are heading deeper into China, come cross over into Hehur, and then fly onwards further into into China itself, whether it's to Harbin or Beijing or further a field. Can see a few more European faces who I'm guessing are Russians waiting for our flight as well. The airport is pretty small.

[00:05:06]I was thinking there was going to be a cafe or something on this side, but doesn't look like it.

[00:05:11]And we've just had our power banks taken. So, note to anyone that's traveling to China anytime soon. There's a new rule that's in place that we forgot about because we were in Russia and just traveling over land flying within China. Now, if your power bank doesn't have a little certificate that says CCC on it, they're going to take it. So, they took both of our power banks and they were the best power banks we've ever had. They were only small like this. And uh they lasted for so long, charged so quick. What a nightmare. But oh well, it is what it is. We'll have to buy another one when we're in Harbin.

[00:05:48]>> I'm pissed.

[00:05:49]>> Yeah, I just explained about the power banks.

[00:05:52]>> They're the best ones we've ever had.

[00:05:54]>> A nightmare.

[00:05:56]>> They're probably made here.

[00:05:59]>> That's the thing. That's the irony of it.

[00:06:02]But they were probably made before this rule came into place. They didn't put this little sticker on there.

[00:06:08]What is the original?

[00:06:10]>> Unless it's been certified in China and it has this little like CCC certificate, you can't fly with it.

[00:06:14]>> What's it for?

[00:06:16]>> To certify safety.

[00:06:17]>> Our banks in China >> maybe.

[00:06:21]>> Up on the wall here in the airport there's a aerial view of Heihar and Blavves on the Russian side. What's really interesting is to see the difference in size of land area between the two cities. So the populations are the same here on Heihur. You can see it's very small, very compact, lots of highrises. And then across on the other side of the river of the Amord or the Hong Jang as it's called here in China, Lagavish is a lot less compact but goes right off onto the horizon there in the distance. It's a lot bigger in terms of land area, but the population is exactly the same.

[00:07:02]Interesting to see it like that. This airport is tiny. All there is is this tiny shop with um lots of Russian stuff. Let's see what they've got.

[00:07:17]Hats, obviously.

[00:07:22]Some dried milk.

[00:07:25]Honey, some tea possibly.

[00:07:39]Look at that. St. Pete's bag binoculars electric shaven.

[00:07:56]It's got our tea and uh pickles.

[00:08:03]coffee.

[00:08:06]>> Lots of random stuff. Sweets.

[00:08:10]>> Oh, yeah. These are nice.

[00:08:17]My sister's favorite sweets.

[00:08:21]And of course, vodka.

[00:08:29]Mhm.

[00:08:33]Georgian wine here, but they don't actually have any legit snacks and food you can have or hot drink. Although there is drinking water.

[00:08:47]There's even some hot water. So, there is something. Can't say that there is nothing here.

[00:08:55]Need to bought myself another shanka.

[00:08:58]I actually probably did.

[00:09:14]>> We can walk to the plane.

[00:09:15]>> Oh, >> no way.

[00:09:18]Are we sure we can be trusted?

[00:09:36]Bye-bye. There you go.

[00:09:40]Looks tiny.

[00:09:44]>> It's an Airbus 320 for your information.

[00:09:48]>> Thank you very much.

[00:09:49]>> You're welcome.

[00:10:08]Using carbs on board is strictly prohibited in the overhead.

[00:10:17]Thank you.

[00:10:18]>> In the seat pocket in front of you or in your handbag. Thank you.

[00:10:28]Thank you.

[00:10:33]>> You know how they always check your ticket when you board the plane and apparently it's done. So, um you don't board the wrong plane. Well, a few times I had someone sitting on my seat because people managed to board the wrong flight. So, it's a mystery then why they still checking out tickets.

[00:10:51]It's a busy plane.

[00:11:08]change.

[00:11:10]>> Byebye.

[00:11:14]>> Hour later and we made it to Harin to the airport. Let's head into the city and um explore. see what it's like. The biggest city in Manuria in the very north of China.

[00:11:47]So, we just checked into our hotel. We haven't even gone into the room yet, but we've been given a coffee each and then been sat down in the reception area. And there's free snacks. There's cakes and nuts that Julia's loading up on over there. And it's all included in the room price. And we'll check out the room in a minute. But this hotel cost us, so you know in advance, £30 a night. £30 a night here in the center of Harbin, not far from St. Sophia's Church.

[00:12:18]Look at them >> nuts.

[00:12:28]>> Also, you can rinse. I just would say, "Yeah, >> you can dress um as a Russian royalty."

[00:12:35]If you like, >> you can rent some saris clothing. You can be like, >> "You need to put some wheel.

[00:12:49]>> Let's go check the room out."

[00:12:51]>> This way.

[00:12:55]I always take the wrong direction, but you've got to give it to me because I do it with such confidence every single time.

[00:13:06]>> Thank you for admiring that.

[00:13:15]>> Interesting choice or a bathroom placement, but uh it looks very much like sauna. Is it a sauna?

[00:13:24]Imagine that's a I mean it's got to be the toilet, right? But imagine it was a s shower toilet.

[00:13:36]>> I think it's a Japanese toilet. Oh my god.

[00:13:38]>> That's it.

[00:13:39]>> What a dream.

[00:13:40]>> You're going to lose Matt now.

[00:13:41]>> What a dream.

[00:13:45]>> What? Oh my god.

[00:13:49]Look at that.

[00:13:53]A bath in the room.

[00:13:56]What's all this? Bubble bath.

[00:14:00]Bubble bath.

[00:14:02]Some other stuff.

[00:14:04]>> No.

[00:14:04]>> Bath salts.

[00:14:07]Uh, and I think they even have rose petals.

[00:14:12]What is this place?

[00:14:15]I mean, >> this is probably controlling a button, right?

[00:14:17]>> Probably. Look at that.

[00:14:23]>> Let's just spin back to that room.

[00:14:25]>> I know.

[00:14:26]>> My god. Just a reminder, $30 a night. $40 US.

[00:14:35]Unreal value. Wow. Wow. Wow. We Let's look at this teapot as well. I am speechless.

[00:14:49]This is beautiful. What is this? What is this book?

[00:14:56]>> Can you open it?

[00:14:59]Got some night reading as well.

[00:15:01]>> Yeah, practice your Chinese. It >> just gets better and better. I am definitely having bath tonight. This is just exquisite, I would say.

[00:15:10]>> Imagine that. Have a bath looking out over your empire, the former Russian party of Harbin.

[00:15:19]>> Wow.

[00:15:21]>> Wow. Indeed.

[00:15:25]>> That's not it. We're just recording videos for a family to show them the room. Look what they've got here. Stuff for your lenses, mouthwash.

[00:15:39]All of this stuff. Shaving kit.

[00:15:43]Need to translate all of that stuff. No idea what it is. Maybe face wash.

[00:15:50]Sewing kit. You know what I noticed as well? In the toilet. They have a little step for your feet to help you out a bit. And also scales. That's um not a good thing.

[00:16:04]Let's pretend it's not there. But he came proper. I used to honestly this place and the bed is so comfortable.

[00:16:14]Maybe we should move to China.

[00:16:19]>> Yeah. If you're asking me, let's do it.

[00:16:21]>> We have 2-year visa, right?

[00:16:24]>> We've got a 2-year visa.

[00:16:25]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:16:26]>> 90 days of time.

[00:16:27]>> 90 days. And you can leave for a day and come back. We got our visa for China when we were in the UK.

[00:16:34]Um, pretty easy to sort it cost a bit.

[00:16:38]However, as soon as we got it, you get citizens uh, we're allowed to enter China visa free.

[00:16:48]>> The only saving grace is that the visa that we've got means we get 90 days at a time if we want to stay here for longer >> and the visa free entry is only for 30 days. So, I guess it means that we can stay here for longer having the visa.

[00:17:02]So, we should be China.

[00:17:03]>> Not sure if it was a saving grace for spending like £250 each, but what can we do?

[00:17:13]>> Let's go for a walk around Harbin. But first, let's grab some food on the way because um having those nuts were literally like throwing sausages on the corridor. Didn't touch the side.

[00:17:38]It's interesting we say that uh there is a vibe to Soviet towns and cities. If you were dropped there, you would know that you in one of them. See, with Chinese kind of style of building their cities, if you were dropped in any of the cities, you would know you're in China.

[00:18:03]And here's where you get that.

[00:18:07]>> Yeah. I think, you know, even if you didn't see people, you didn't see any street signs, you could just tell.

[00:18:13]>> Yeah.

[00:18:13]>> Especially apartments. Yeah. Just >> the layout.

[00:18:16]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:18:17]>> The feel of it as well. feel the vibe of the city.

[00:18:22]Oh yes, >> one of it seems million Russian restaurants in uh in Harin.

[00:18:31]>> Look at that baby midi.

[00:18:38]>> We came to the right dress.

[00:18:54]Oh, look at that place.

[00:19:12]>> You like her?

[00:19:13]>> I like Yes.

[00:19:30]>> Did you see the >> fab?

[00:19:38]Very nice.

[00:19:49]Why is it called midv >> it's hard in Russian? It's different.

[00:20:01]Check this place out though.

[00:20:06]>> I love the chandelier.

[00:20:08]>> Very ornate.

[00:20:15]I think Chinese people, if I was to generalize, >> the sweetest people in the world. So nice.

[00:20:26]>> It's such a joy to travel China, isn't it? For like >> Yeah.

[00:20:29]>> For that reason, because everyone's just so helpful. Everyone's incredibly friendly. Everyone >> like you don't ever feel hassled. You don't ever feel like you're going to be mugged off or like like when this woman was here just then, she wasn't trying to upsell us for the reason. She was just concerned, right? And I even ordered something and she's like, "That's too much. That's too much.

[00:20:47]>> Too much food. You sure you want to order this?"

[00:20:49]>> Yeah. Yeah.

[00:20:49]>> I had a woman sitting next to me on the plane and um she was carrying me the entire flight. Only an hour, right? I could see. So, I smiled at her a couple of times. But then um when we go up and I was putting my rucks sack on, she was helping me to put it on. It was so sweet.

[00:21:06]However, one thing I struggle with traveling here is actually Chinese food.

[00:21:11]It's really nice. However, to eat it few times a day every day, it's quite heavy and there is a lot of pork which I don't really like, which I don't really eat.

[00:21:22]And um it's just quite oily and a bit heavy. So yeah, >> the thing is eating Russian food here is kind of a cultural experience as well.

[00:21:32]That's why there's so many Russian restaurants because for a lot of the Chinese tourists that are coming up to Harbin, you know, this is a it's a whole cultural experience for this part of China. Um, but also eating coming and just having shashlik meat is like we're trying to eat healthy at the moment. So that's kind of the perfect fit, isn't it, for us? Salad and some grilled meat. Also, we just spotted, look at that in the background.

[00:21:57]It's like a little isbushka down there.

[00:22:02]Can I try >> She is Thank you very much.

[00:22:27]>> Cheers.

[00:22:37]That was served very seriously. I >> know.

[00:23:16]Welcome to the city of Harbin and one that was actually only founded in the very late 19th century and early 20th century. In fact, by the Russian Empire, it was founded as a stop on the China Eastern Railway, which was a branch of the Trans Siberian that cut time for trains traveling from Moscow to Vladivosto by a few days. It didn't have to skip all the way around the top of Manuria. And this city was founded and originally built by the Russian Empire, which is why you can still see a lot of very Russian looking buildings, very European architecture, especially here on Jongyang Street, which is the central central street here in Hubbin.

[00:24:00]And in the 1920s and 30s actually after the Soviet revolution and the foundation of the USSR, a lot of people fled, especially a lot of artists and people that weren't were part of the gentry class and perhaps weren't looked upon very fondly in the early USSR. And a lot of them fled to here in Harbin. Harbin actually became home to one of the largest Russian immigrant populations in the world for a very long time. These days, it's Russian history can still be seen everywhere, but not so much with people apart from a few tourists, but more in the architecture and then the shops everywhere selling Russian goods and uh hats and pictures of bears, >> chocolates everywhere, chocolates everywhere stuff. Literally Russian shops and it seems to be everywhere.

[00:24:57]Every single step of the way on this train.

[00:25:00]>> Exhibi Maxim.

[00:25:17]Lots of sausages everywhere.

[00:25:20]Apparently, Harbin sausage is famous here in China. That and the old gala, the big bread.

[00:25:37]>> That's why I thought the city center has very cli. It's quite cozy. The outskirts of the city are so different. when you're driving in >> China. China >> so built up. So many tall buildings.

[00:25:53]>> Yeah.

[00:25:53]>> Made me feel actually quite uh tiny and empty. Made me feel a bit sad driving through it.

[00:26:01]>> Just rows and rows and rows of uniform blocks of flats, wasn't there? Just 20, 30, 40 stories high.

[00:26:08]>> I find it a bit intimidating at times.

[00:26:10]>> Yeah, it is.

[00:26:11]>> But it's completely different vibe here.

[00:26:12]Very busy.

[00:26:13]>> Look at the hats and the traffic. Oh, funky.

[00:26:25]>> I really want to see the main attraction here, the church.

[00:26:31]>> Hopefully. I I mean, assuming we're going in the right direction.

[00:26:35]>> Let's see.

[00:26:37]>> Yeah, look at these buildings here.

[00:26:41]Interesting.

[00:26:45]And Harbin, if you didn't know, is also home to the ice festival, ice and snow festival each year. It's really famous here in China for that. And uh yeah, just outside the city, there's like massive ice sculptures here. So um we have to come back in the winter for that.

[00:27:02]>> Lamo Ruski.

[00:27:27]some big bread.

[00:27:30]>> It literally I mean it's nothing like Russian bread, is it? But it is [ __ ] massive. Imagine that's what Chinese people think you guys eat. They just think you eat a massive [ __ ] loaf of bread >> and sausages >> and sausages.

[00:27:57]Fascinating to see the layers of the city that have changed here. got the old city, the old Russian buildings here.

[00:28:04]And then behind you've got a slightly newer generation of Chinese buildings, and then behind that, you got the highrises and the brand new flats. So interesting. Everything's completely layered in this city, especially here in the center. It's a real mix of the old and the new on top of one another.

[00:28:23]So interesting.

[00:28:24]>> They seem to be selling bread literally everywhere here.

[00:28:28]All different kinds of bread.

[00:28:30]>> Also, I think we're in we're in bread China, right? In the north of Asia in general, >> they eat more bread.

[00:28:36]>> They eat more bread.

[00:28:37]>> Yeah. Across the rest of China, they eat more rice.

[00:28:40]>> Exactly. Here, it's more like central Asia and Shinjang as well.

[00:28:45]>> Beijing area as well.

[00:28:46]>> Yeah.

[00:29:09]Look, you can see on this building 1916 right at the top.

[00:29:16]It's the year it was built.

[00:29:19]>> You know what's significant about that is that that was built. That would have been finished at the time that Russia was fighting in World War I. At the time that Russia, Sarus, Russia was about to concede and break into civil war.

[00:29:35]At the time when the October Revolution was about to start, the changes of foot as that is just finishing in the world.

[00:29:47]>> So much stuff around. It's mental. Oh, Julia.

[00:29:54]Julia Russian restaurant. I'm inviting everyone. If you didn't know, I had a restaurant in >> You didn't know either, man?

[00:30:00]>> I didn't know either. No, but learn something new every day, right?

[00:30:16]>> You know, I find really fascinating.

[00:30:19]is that this is just another example here in China of what we've seen all over actually of that period of time in Chinese history that's thought of as such a dark period of time you know coming off of their century of humili humiliation as they call it here when they were making concessions left right and center to European powers European powers that basically rose over the preceding 200 years out of nowhere to rule pretty much the entire world and whether it was down in Hong Kong, concessions being made to the British, Macau, some of the French and Russian concessions along the certain rivers throughout the country or this up here in Harbin. There's evidence of that period of time all over the country. And we couldn't be in a more different period right now, right? We're in a period of time where China is back on top of the world and in the ascendancy and a country that's walking with its head held very high again.

[00:31:23]It's almost to be honest when you read a lot of history, especially Asian history, it's just reclaiming the position that historically it had for centuries and centuries until Europeans really kind of took over the world and then followed by the US. You know what's fascinating is that once you come here, you can feel it. The vibe is very different here than to what it's like in Europe, especially like Western Europe. The atmosphere and you can just feel it, you know, when you arrive in a place. I don't really know how that happens, but >> you said that you feel the same way.

[00:32:03]Just feel it.

[00:32:04]>> It feels like here everything's possible again, right? Yeah, people are positive.

[00:32:09]Yeah, you see the difference in life.

[00:32:12]>> Let's cross over the road really quickly.

[00:32:16]>> You feel life's getting better. I feel like people are positive about the future.

[00:32:20]>> Yeah.

[00:32:28]>> Which is something you don't feel when you're in in Europe, right?

[00:32:32]>> Unfortunately, not right now. No.

[00:32:50]How about this for contrast? You got the most Asian of Asian malls here with bright lights and signs everywhere, food restaurants, and then a 3D imaging. And then opposite >> the old world.

[00:33:07]>> So fascinating.

[00:33:09]Such a contrast.

[00:33:13]>> Pretty buildings.

[00:33:14]>> It is See all the people taking pictures in costumes.

[00:33:40]>> Wouldn't be China without that.

[00:33:42]>> Oh yeah.

[00:33:56]And on this beautiful note, we're heading into rural China tomorrow morning and we still need to wash our pants and socks. So, let's head back and do that. Won't wash itself.