Harbin, capital city of China's northernmost Heilongjiang province, was ranked as one of the happiest cities in China in 2021. 
 
Hosted by Oriental Outlook magazine and the Liaowang Institute of the Xinhua News Agency, the selection evaluated cities nationwide based on a variety of indicators, including employment, incomes, public safety, education, transportation and healthcare.
 
In recent years, Harbin has been pursuing green development and focusing on pollution prevention and control.
 
The number of days with good or excellent air quality in the city increased from 282 days in 2016 to 310 days in 2021, and the PM2.5 concentration dropped to 37 micrograms per cubic meter, the lowest since monitoring records began.
 
In the same period, Harbin added 51 parks, with a total of 95 parks open to the public for free.
 
Meanwhile, 1.16 million mu (666,666.67 hectares) of trees were planted, with the city's forest coverage rate stabilizing at 46 percent.
 
Harbin was also selected as a national water ecological civilization city and an international wetland city.
 
From 2016 to 2021, to improve living standards, Harbin implemented a total of 219 practical projects, and the proportion of fiscal expenditures spent on people's livelihoods remained above 80 percent each year.
 
Problems related to relocating and resettling sheds, obtaining real estate certificates, controlling garbage siege, developing public medical facilities and protecting historical buildings have been mostly resolved.
 
Over a five-year period, Harbin renovated 27.33 million square meters of old residential communities and shantytowns with 50,600 households.