Many commodities from the rest of the world are available in the stores that lined the Central Avenue, Harbin's most exotic street. The commodities include furs from Russia, woolen cloths from Britain, perfume from France, medicine from Germany, cotton cloths from Japan, oil from the United States, clocks and watches from Switzerland, granulated sugar from Java, gunny bags from India, and dry and fresh fruits from various countries. The street was nothing short of an international commodity fair.

 The street's history

The Central Avenue in 1910	The Central Avenue in the 1930s

The avenue, heavily influenced by the West, has its unique history. In 1898, a great number of workers from neighboring provinces poured into Harbin to start the large-scale construction of the city and its railway system.

Originally, the area was an ancient watercourse with desolate and low-lying grassy marshlands. On the muddy marshlands Central Avenue eventually came into being because carts repeatedly transported equipments for constructing railways here.

By 1900, the street, also called China Street, took shape. At each crossing, a wooden bridge was built for pedestrians to cross the street. When it was fine, vehicles usually stirred up a cloud of dust along the street; when it was rainy, the street was quite muddy.

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