The Middle East Railway architectural complex

The Middle East Railway architectural complex

Construction of the Middle East Railway began in August 1897 and was fully completed and opened to traffic in February 1903. The main line of the railway stretches from Manzhouli in the west, through Harbin, to Suifenhe in the east, while a branch line runs southward from Harbin, passing through Changchun and Shenyang, all the way to Lüshunkou, with a total length of nearly 2,500 kilometers. Alongside the construction of the railway, a large number of public and civilian buildings such as station buildings and bridges were also constructed, distributed across Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning provinces along the line, most of which are located within Heilongjiang Province.

Numerous historical buildings remain along the Middle East Railway. These structures were mostly designed by Russians and built using Chinese labor and materials, and have been preserved as important linear cultural heritage sites of the 20th century. On May 25, 2006, six sites consisting of seven buildings at the former Hailin Station of the Middle East Railway were announced by the State Council as part of the sixth batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level. In 2013, the Middle East Railway buildings distributed in Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were collectively included in the list of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level.

Further reading:

· Sixth Batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level