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Harbin city: A blending of nature and modernity

TAWFIQUE ALI, back from Harbin, China
Wetlands, gardens and rivers are all fondly preserved in China's Harbin city, where ambitious development activities are in progress to rebuild it into a high-tech global metropolis of economic and cultural vibrancy.
It showcases a wonderful melange of nature and urbanisation.
In the cases of Dhaka and other cities in Bangladesh, unfortunately though, political avowals have proved hollow in conserving rivers, wetlands and lakes against ruthless destruction through grabbing and pollution in the name of urban development.
Even judicial activism time and again about saving the country's bounteous natural treasures, including rivers, has gone unheeded.
Harbin's municipal government religiously manifests efforts in the meticulously designed development endeavour to conserve all available ecological resources in the very heart of an unfolding cosmopolitan city, unlike what one experiences in Dhaka.
Harbin, fondly called the City of Ice, is the capital of Heilongjiang province and located in the heart of northeast China. It is one of China's 10 largest cities and a cradle of
breathtaking natural beauty and diverse cultural wealth with a thriving economy.
Wetlands in Harbin include Sun Island, Binjiang, Jinhewan, Mouth of Hulan, Volga Manor and Baiyupao while the river Soghua meanders through the city.
Sun Island offers the beauty of water and cloud as its theme. The 11-square km natural wetland of the island lies between the old (south) and new (north) towns of Harbin. A branch of the river Songhua, it harbours fish and water birds.
It appeared like an enchanting oasis in autumn, during a recent visit, in the heart of the urban setting now dotted with many high-tech underconstruction development structures.
It is the only wet grassland by the river in the city centre in China.
Sun Island is a set of green fields, blue water, white sand, delicate fragrance of blooming flowers that pleasantly welcome a visitor during summer and autumn. It symbolises awe-inspiring tranquillity and a dreamy beauty that beckons one in winter.
According to Liu Bow Lin, a local government (municipal) official for Sun Island, it is off-limits to visitors, the goal being to preserve its pristine
beauty and ecology against pollution, fishing, and the preying of birds. lYees in the wetland include May Tree and MulberryTYee.
The 578-square km Botanical Garden with many creeks is located south of the Songhua.
A 3.5-square kilometre area of the garden, once a wasteland, is dedicated to research work on plant development suitable for wetlands.
A total of 122 plant species and 190 animals have so far been found suitable for the wetlands, say officials of the garden.
The government's aim is to turn the wasteland into a garden in five years. It is designed to restore and conserve ecology. One-third of the garden is water body.
The local government (municipal party committee) has embarked on developing Binjiang Wetland, 18 kilometres away from the city. It will have a 161-km long ecological corridorin the Yu Dai river bay.
Across a six-square kilometre area is located Volga Manor, surrounded by the beautiful river Ashi. It is a 6-lakh square metre park in Harbin's Xiangfang district. The combination of forests, lakes, grassland, and the manor with buildings erected on the patterns of classical Russian architec-
ture makes it a much-coveted tourist attraction.
Lin Duo, mayor of Harbin city, said while meeting the representatives of Asian media in Harbin that the river Songhua is one of the four biggest rivers in China.
It provides the people of Harbin with drinking water and fish, hydro electricity, irrigation for one lakh hectares of agricultural land and watertransportation.
On its south bank, three parks— Nine-Station Park, Stalin Park and Dawai Park— together form the longest park along a river in China.
The 1000-km long river that has formed 2.70 lakh hectares of wetland in Harbin flows 466 kilometres through Harbin territory.
A special committee headed by the mayor is responsible for ensuring that the river is protected against pollution and encroachment.
The river, however, suffered a pollution debacle with highly toxic benzene in November 2005 due to blasts at a petrochemical plant in neighbouring Jilin province.
A purification effort with carbon powders, sedimentation and absorption went into restoring the river to its natural appearance.