Harbin's Russia Proximity Creates E-commerce Success

Harbin, the capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, is building a "cloud valley" in an attempt to seize Internet technology opportunities.

The "cloud valley" refers to the cuting-edge web technology of cloud computing and will consist of a large number of companies involved in the Internet sector, such as e-commerce and big data firms.

Since it was founded in November 2010, more than 300 tech companies have moved to the valley, which is in Harbin South New Industrial City, part of the Harbin Economic and Technological Development Zone.

So far, the valley has 13 key projects with a total investment of 31 billion yuan ($5 billion).

Leading telecom companies China Mobile, China Unicom and Towngas Telecom signed up to build large data centers in the valley.

By the end of 2015, the valley hopes to have the capability to manage 1 million servers.

In 2012, the valley was upgraded into a national demonstration center for e-commerce and several e-commerce companies moved in.

These include dhgate.com and sagabuy.com, which feature cross-border trade with Russia, as well as bdhtrade.com and 51sole.com, which sell agricultural products.

A complete e-commerce industrial chain, including online payment and logistics, has taken shape in the valley.

With its close proximity to neighboring Russia, the valley has mapped out an ambitious plan to build a large logistics storage center for e-commerce companies in the northern part of China.

The center will greatly reduce transportation time to Russia.

Currently, there are more than 20 e-commerce and logistics companies that target the Russian market in the valley. So far this year, 1,600-ton cargos in 80 chartered flights have been delivered from Harbin to Yekaerinburg in Russia.

The number of flights is expected to reach 100 by the end of the year, which will bring the total export volume to more than $200 million.


Cultural Industry
The cultural industry is also a backbone sector for Harbin South New Industrial City.

More than 300 leading companies in the fields of advertising, printing, publishing and new media have a presence in the city. The annual sales of these companies reached nearly 10 billion yuan.

The city gave priority to a series of key projects including an animation industrial base, a digital library, a printing industrial park and an advertising industrial park.

The advertising industrial park was designated as a pilot zone for the modern service industry by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and Ministry of Finance in 2012.

More than 300 advertising companies are registered in the park. The total revenue of the park reached 2.2 billion yuan last year, which accounted for more than two thirds of the revenue of all advertising companies in Harbin.

With its regional proximity to Russia, many advertising companies in the park have forged cooperation with peers in the country.

Advertising for companies engaged in foreign trade with Russia has become a profitable business.

The animation industrial base in the city has also embarked on a fast development track.

The base boasts 90 percent of all the animation companies in Harbin. Many firms, such as Pinggo Cultural Media Co and New Ocean Technology, have begun to make their presence felt in the global animation industry.