Harbin (Chinese: 哈尔滨  Hā'ěrbīn) is the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang province in the northeastern region of the People's Republic of China.[5] Holding sub-provincial administrative status,[6] Harbin has direct jurisdiction over nine metropolitan districts, two county-level cities and seven counties. Harbin is the eighth most populous Chinese city and the most populous city in Northeast China.[7] According to the 2010 census, the built-up area made of seven out of nine urban districts (all but Shuangcheng and Acheng not urbanized yet) had 5,282,093 inhabitants, while the total population of the sub-provincial city was up to 10,635,971.[4] Harbin serves as a key political, economic, scientific, cultural, and communications hub in Northeast China, as well as an important industrial base of the nation.[8]