Qiulin Lidaosi

In 1900 the Russian merchant Ivan Yakovlevich Churin founded the Qiulin trading company in Harbin's Xiangfang district, with an attached sausage workshop that marks the start of Harbin red sausage. In 1909 Qiulin opened a proper sausage house on West Commerce Street in Daoli, making Lithuanian-style sausage whose Russian name for "Lithuanian" gave the brand its "Lidaosi" name.

For more than a century Lidaosi red sausage has won Harbin with its rich garlic aroma and distinctive smoked character, a daily taste shared by Russian émigrés and locals alike; it was entered into the Guinness World Records in 2000 and stands as one of the most representative names of Harbin's food culture.

Its red sausage uses quality pork and beef, seasoned with garlic and black pepper, ground and filled into casings, then smoked over hardwood until the skin turns date-red and the inside stays juicy, the smoke and garlic mingling in a craft handed down from Russian sausage-making.

Qiulin Lidaosi is a Chinese time-honoured brand recognised by the Ministry of Commerce, and its red sausage craft is listed among the intangible cultural heritage representative items of Heilongjiang province.