Organized by the Cluster of Excellence at the University of
Heidelberg, a series of conferences in 2008, 2009, and 2010 has
explored a broad range of issues concerning Northeast China
-specifically Harbin - in the early 20th century. The last
conference of this series, "Daily Life and Urban Spaces in
Northeast Asian Border?Towns, 1900 to 1950," took place in
Heidelberg from November 25 ?to 27, 2010. The organizers, Frank
Grüner (Heidelberg), Susanne?Hohler (Heidelberg), and Sören
Urbansky (Freiburg), remarked at ?the conference opening that
the focus was to compare and analyze?the social history of urban
spaces in border towns and border ?regions of Northeast Asia
(Russia and Soviet Far East, Siberia, ?Northeast China,
Mongolia, Korea, and Japan) during the first half of ?the 20th
century. This area and timeframe represents a complex history of
competing powers and diverging colonial interests. Japan, the
Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, China, the United States, and
other Western powers have pursued their o