Harbin Russians

This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (May 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The term Harbin Russians or Russian Harbinites (Russian: Русский Харбин, romanized: Russky Kharbin, Chinese: 哈尔滨白俄; pinyin: Hā'ěrbīn bái'è; lit. 'Harbin White Russians') refers to several generations of Russians who lived in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. Russian settlers were responsible for turning Harbin into a Russian city with the majority of the population being from Russian ethnic groups, from approximately 1898 to the mid-1960s. Harbin, a major junction city on the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER), came successively under the control of the Qing dynasty, under Russia's sphere of influence, the Republic of China, Japanese puppet state Manchukuo and the People's Republic of China in this period.

The people in the Soviet Union used the terms "KVZhDist" (Russian: КВЖДист, "person of the China Eastern Railway" Russian: КВЖД) and "Harbinets" (Харбинец, "Harbinite/person from Harbin") to refer to a person with any type of ties to the China Eastern Railway.