Churin & Co. ( elisted is the largest

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...

, the capital of

Heilongjiang Province Heilongjiang is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country and contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the confluence of the Amur and Ussu ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Established in 1867, the company has a history of over 150 years. The company invented Hongchang sausages in 1909, a staple in the local Russian-influenced cuisine. The then state-owned Churin was broken into two when the retail part (and the stock code) was privatized in 2004, forming the Churin Group (). The food industry part was subsequently privatized as Qiulin Lidaosi (; more etymologically Churin-Litovsk) in 2007. The two descendants have been in conflict since 2011, when Churin Group expelled Qiulin Lidaosi products from its stores and formed its own food manufactory.

History

Russian roots

Qiulin Group's history goes back to 1867, when Ivan Yakovlevich Churin (October 16, 1833April 30, 1895), a Russian who was born in

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

, opened a store in

Nikolayevsk-on-Amur Nikolayevsk-on-Amur () is a town in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia located on the Amur River close to its liman in the Pacific Ocean. Population: 17,815 (2024); History Medieval and early-modern history In the late Middle Ages, the people living al ...

. In 1882, he established Churin & Co. () in

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

, with his business partners Касьяновы, Бабинцевы, Писаревы, and Мамонтовы. As the

Chinese Eastern Railway The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, , or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (also known as Manchuria). The Russian Empire constructed the line from 1897 ...

was completed in 1904, Churin expanded his business to

with the same name (, "Churin foreign trading Co."). The current building of the company's department store is from 1904. Later his business further expanded to Lushun and

Yingkou Yingkou ( zh, s=, t=, p=Yíngkǒu) is a coastal prefecture-level city of central southern Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, on the northeastern shore of Liaodong Bay. It is the third-smallest city in Liaoning with a total area of , a ...

Move to China

After the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

in 1917, Churin moved its headquarters to

in 1923. During the 1930s, it established branches in

Dalian Dalian ( ) is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China (after Shenyang ...

Mukden Shenyang,; ; Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly known as Fengtian formerly known by its Manchu name Mukden, is a sub-provincial city in China and the provincial capital of Liaoning province. It is the province's most populous city with a p ...

Changchun Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin, Jilin Province, China, on the Songliao Plain. Changchun is administered as a , comprising seven districts, one county and three county-level cities. At the 2020 census of China, Changchun ha ...

, Siping,

Jilin ) , image_skyline = Changbaishan Tianchi from western rim.jpg , image_alt = , image_caption = View of Heaven Lake , image_map = Jilin in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_al ...

Heihe Heihe (; ; Russian language, Russian: Хэйхэ) is a prefecture-level city of northern Heilongjiang province, China, located on the Sino-Russian border, Russian border, on the south bank of the Amur River, Amur (Heilong) River, across the r ...

and

Hailar Hailar District, formerly a county-level city, is an urban District (China), district that serves as the seat of the prefecture-level city Hulunbuir in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Hulunbuir, due to its massive size, is a city in administr ...

. It became controlled by

Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

in 1937, and was under Japanese management in 1941. File:Vladavostak.jpg,

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

store, an old picture File:Владивосток, перекрёсток Светланской и Алеутской, 2012-06-14.jpg, Vladivostok store, a recent picture File:Магазин купца Чурина, Уссурийск.JPG,

Ussuriysk Ussuriysk () is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Primorsky Krai, Russia, in the valley of the Razdolnaya River. The city is north of Vladivostok, the administrative center of the krai, and about from both the China–Russia bo ...

store After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Churin was owned by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1947, and was returned to China under state ownership in 1953. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

its name was changed to "The East Is Red" Department Store, but was changed to its original name in 1984. Qiulin Group was registered in the

Shanghai Stock Exchange The Shanghai Stock Exchange (, SSE) is a stock exchange based in the city of Shanghai, China. It is one of the three stock exchanges operating independently in mainland China, the others being the Beijing Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock ...

in 1996, and was acquired by Dalian's

Dashang Group Dashang Group (), headquartered in Dalian, Liaoning Province, China, operates department stores, Xinmate (New Mart) supermarkets and other retail business. It is the largest retailer in Northeast China. General Dashang Group with its headquarte ...

in the same year.

Breakup and conflict

Churin was broken apart during privatization, with the retail part going to "Churin Group" and the food industry part (meat processing and confectionery) going to "Qiulin Lidaosi". The two tolerated each other until 2011, when Churin Group founded a "Churin Food" to replace the products supplied by Qiulin Lidaosi, producing

kvass Kvass is a fermented, cereal-based, low-alcoholic beverage of cloudy appearance and sweet-sour taste. Kvass originates from northeastern Europe, where grain production was considered insufficient for beer to become a daily drink. The first wr ...

and Hongchang. In the same year, Qiulin Lidaosi expanded its operations by producing kvass and

dalieba Dalieba (; ; ) or Lieba is a Chinese bread similar to Russian rye bread available in Northeast China. Russian influence in Northeast China Northeast China, at one time known as Manchuria, was considerably influenced by Russian culture, as Russi ...

. Conflict between the two entities resurfaced in 2020, when Churin Group's trademark application "秋林集团 Churin Group" was rejected due to similarity with Qiulin Lidaosi's trademark "秋林 Qiulin". Around the same time, Churin Group came under investigation due to mismanagement, culminating in the termination of its SHSE ticker on March 26, 2021, for continued losses.

Churin Group

Retail

Churin Group owns the following retail locations: * The original Harbin store, close to Museum of Heilongjiang Province Station ( 博物馆站) of Line 1 * A store in

Jilin City Jilin City, Mandarin pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kirin (, International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA:/ki.rin/) is the second-largest city and former capital of Jilin province in northeast China. As of th ...

Jilin Province Qiulin Group
(in Chinese) Churin Group's Department Store has a large food department, which is especially well known for its Russian-style

bread Bread is a baked food product made from water, flour, and often yeast. It is a staple food across the world, particularly in Europe and the Middle East. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cu ...

, called

Dalieba Dalieba (; ; ) or Lieba is a Chinese bread similar to Russian rye bread available in Northeast China. Russian influence in Northeast China Northeast China, at one time known as Manchuria, was considerably influenced by Russian culture, as Russi ...

( 大列巴) and

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

Kielbasa Kielbasa (, ; from Polish ) is any type of meat sausage from Poland and a staple of Polish cuisine. In American English, it is typically a coarse, U-shaped smoked sausage of any kind of meat, which closely resembles the ''Wiejska'' ''sausage'' ...

called Hongchang, ( 红肠). Various other types food are sold in other cities within

Northeast China Northeast China () is a geographical region of China, consisting officially of three provinces Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang. The heartland of the region is the Northeast China Plain, the largest plain in China with an area of over . The regi ...

References

External links

Qiulin Group
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130161949/http://www.qlgroup.com.cn/ , date=2020-11-30 (Beware: Automatic music) Companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange Department stores of China Companies based in Harbin