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Explore the region
About Flood Control Monument
Built the following year, it combines a sculpted tower with a semicircular colonnade that opens toward the Songhua riverfront. Figures and reliefs describe the collective effort, while water-related features at the base refer to historical flood levels. The monument is most legible when viewed with the river behind it: the broad waterfront explains the event that the ceremonial architecture commemorates.
The tower was commissioned by Harbin's municipal Communist Party committee and city government at a cost of 127,000 yuan, built by the Harbin No. 2 Construction Engineering Company (哈尔滨市第二建筑工程公司) from 1958. The government weighed three possible sites before mayor Lu Qi'en (吕其恩) chose aligning the colonnade with the embankment-top road near Central Street (中央大街), later deciding that the tower's front would face that street.
Builders purchased over 7,000 kilograms of fire-resistant clay for the sculpture molds, briefly causing a local shortage, and had five tons of white cement flown in from the Suzhou Cement Factory (苏州水泥厂) for the colonnade's washed-stone finish. During construction the planned height was raised from 21.9 meters to 22.5 meters after experts judged the original design too low for its surroundings.
The rooftop figures were changed from a woman representing a farmer to a man for the farmer and a woman, modeled on a student athlete, for an intellectual; a worker's hand pose was also revised after concern it could be misread. The relief, made by an art academy under sculptor Wang Ximin (王熙民), shows 24 figures of workers, farmers and soldiers. The tower was completed in 1958, and its inauguration ceremony was held on 6 September 1960.
What to look for
- The tower's crowning figures and relief panels about flood defence.
- The semicircular colonnade and the flood-level references around the base.
Background & history
The Harbin People's Flood Control Victory Memorial Tower, also known as the Flood Control Victory Memorial Tower or the Flood Control Memorial Tower, is one of the municipal cultural relics protection units of Harbin. It is located in Daoli District, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. In 1957, Harbin faced the threat of a major flood. Local residents worked to build embankments and successfully held back the flood. Government authorities decided to build a memorial tower on the Songhua River embankment to commemorate the event. The top and body of the tower contain human figures and reliefs, respectively, depicting scenes of resistance against the flood. The design plan underwent several revisions during construction. The memorial tower was completed in 1958 and became one of Harbin's landmark buildings. It narrowly escaped destruction during the Cultural Revolution. Later, the Flood Control Memorial Tower underwent several rounds of repairs. In 1995, it became a municipal cultural relics protection unit of Harbin, and in 1997 it was visited by Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
Excerpt from Wikipedia: Harbin Flood Control Victory Memorial Tower · Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected introductory sentences; formatting simplified. Background information, not current visitor-service advice.
The surrounding area
Provincial capital base for Central Street, architectural history, music and seasonal ice displays.
Location & getting there
Getting to Flood Control Monument
Go to the northern end of Zhongyang Street, where it meets Youyi Road and the Songhua River in Daoli District.
- Use the public square and riverside promenade to move between the monument and the water.
Combine your visit
Suggested order within this visit:
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Tower base and reliefs
Read the historical narrative and water-level references.
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Semicircular colonnade
See how the monument frames its square.
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Stalin Park riverfront
Finish beside the river that gives the memorial its setting.
This sequence is an editorial suggestion based on the features described in the sources. Access to individual buildings or areas should be checked locally; no travel time or shared admission is implied.
Find Flood Control Monument
防洪胜利纪念塔 · 哈尔滨市
The pin marks the area, not the entrance.
More places nearby
Approximate straight-line distances between map pins, not travel distances.
Zhaolin Park 兆麟公园
Less than 1 km awayZhaolin Park layers a historic city garden with the memorial and burial place of resistance leader Li Zhaolin. Its bridges, small hills and pavilions reward a slow circuit: Kuahong Bridge is one of the named garden structures…
View guide →Songhua River Bridge 滨洲铁路桥步行段
Less than 1 km awayHarbin's old Songhua River railway bridge preserves the iron-truss form of the Chinese Eastern Railway era. Its conversion to a pedestrian crossing lets visitors read the repeating steel framework at close range while looking…
View guide →Zhongyang Street 中央大街
1 km awayZhongyang Street is an architectural walk as well as a shopping street. Its rounded stone paving runs toward the Songhua River through façades associated with Harbin's early international trading community. At No. 89, the Modern…
View guide →Sources & visit information
The linked encyclopedia sources support background and place descriptions. Current opening hours, ticket prices, booking rules and transport schedules have not been independently verified for this guide. Confirm them with the venue or operator before travelling.
- Wikipedia: 哈爾濱市人民防洪勝利紀念塔 ↗
- Chinese Wikipedia: 哈爾濱市人民防洪勝利紀念塔 (revision 94248401, 2026-09-08) ↗
- English Wikipedia: Harbin Flood Control Victory Memorial Tower (revision 1369006196, 2026-08-12) ↗
Visitor information adapted and edited from Wikipedia contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 93958369.
Background paragraphs translated and condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "哈爾濱市人民防洪勝利紀念塔", Chinese Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 94248401.
Background paragraphs condensed from Wikipedia contributors, "Harbin Flood Control Victory Memorial Tower", English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision 1369006196.