"On the map of northeastern Asia regional economic cooperation, Heilongjiang Province will play its roles as a great passageway, a labor reservoir and a prime tourism and investment destination," said Heilongjiang Governor Li Zhanshu.

With an area of 450,000 sq km, equal to that of a medium-sized country, Heilongjiang is the sixth-largest province in China.

Its 25 ports and railway system link with the rest of the country and neighboring Russia, North Korea and Mongolia, making it the passageway between China and other northeast Asian countries.

Heilongjiang has one of the three major black soil zones in the world. It has one-tenth of the nation's farmland. It is the top grain producer of any province and the second in livestock numbers. Its harvests of rice, soybeans and organic produce all rank first in the country.

In addition to meeting domestic demand, its agricultural products are also sold in Japan, South Korea, Mongolia and Russia.

As one of China's important manufacturing centers, the province ranks first in the production of petroleum, petrochemicals, power station equipment and aircraft. Its biomedicine industry and furniture manufacturing are also competitive in both domestic and foreign markets.

A labor reservoir

Heilongjiang has a large urban and rural labor force, with more than 5 million surplus workers ready to serve markets outside the province.

Since it began programs to revitalize its aging industries and build a new socialist countryside at the turn of the century, the province has encouraged rural laborers to work in Russia, Japan, South Korea and other countries to find new job opportunities.

In 2007, about 690 million yuan was remitted back to the province by 45,000 workers in overseas markets.

It also has one of the best natural environments in China with large forests, grasslands, wetlands and a moderate temperature free from natural disasters.

Li said the snow-covered winter and the cool summer are the province's special attractions for tourists.

"In the winter tourists can ski at many skiing areas in the province and in the summer they can raft on the rivers and have an adventure in the dense forests," the governor said.

In 2007, Heilongjiang's tourism revenues for the first time accounted for 6 percent of its total gross domestic product.

In the same year the province saw the arrival of more than 1.41 million overseas tourists, with the number of tourists from Russia, South Korea and Japan increasing significantly.