ABSTRACT
Located at latitude 44° 040 to 46° 400 N, Harbin is the coldest capital city with the highest latitude in China. Thus, it is famously known as ‘Ice City’. To some extent, its harsh climate is the source of the city’s wealth. The magical ice and snow are attracting more and more visitors from both home and abroad, and Harbin has become the most popular winter tourist city in China. After all, the harsh climate is also a severe test for the survival and developmental abilities of human beings. The inhabitants of Harbin have to spend extra money on dealing with the freezing conditions, such as purchasing heavy clothes, cleaning the ice and snow from the roads and putting on hold outdoor construction projects in winter. Among these expenditures, the biggest and most immediate one is heating costs. In Harbin, the average temperatures in 66 days are usually lower than -22°C
in wintertime, with a minimum temperature of -38.1°C. For about 6 months every year, the stipulated heating period is 183 days in total from 25 October to 25 April. Therefore, heating is a necessity for residents in Harbin, and is also an important task and responsibility for government at all levels. To maintain ‘warm and cosy rooms in the season of ice and snow’, a giant heating system is required. At present, there are 365 registered heat supply enterprises and 2,775 boilers for residential heating, which consume 3.9 million tons of coal every year. The total heating cost in Harbin is 2.12 billion yuan every year, with a unit price of 34.55 yuan per square metre of residence (usable floor area). Currently, heating charges are collected through two channels: 90 per cent of the charge is borne by the unit of each worker or cadre, and the other 10 per cent is borne by the worker or cadre him/ herself. State-owned enterprises or institutions provide each worker or cadre with a heating subsidy of 10 yuan per month. The difficulty in collecting heating charges is a noticeable problem in the
urban heat supply of Harbin. Up to now, the uncollected heating charges have reached as high as 1.5 billion yuan. The low rate of heating charge collection has resulted in heavy debts and burdens and low credits of heat supply enterprises, which makes it difficult for companies to operate normally and has led to lack of maintenance of equipment, huge energy consumption, low thermal efficiency and potential safety hazards. In Harbin
Boiler Heating Company, there is even a boiler that has been in operation ever since the anti-Japanese War period. The conflict between the high demand for heat supply and the large sum of uncollected heating charges is currently confronting CPC Harbin Committee and Harbin Municipality.
