From powerhouse to poor relation

The northeast was once China's industrial heartland and drove the country's development, but a decline in manufacturing and an economic slowdown have resulted in a rapidly aging society as young people move south to look for work and a higher standard of living. Zhou Huiying reports from Harbin.

During the last century, the northeast was one of the first regions in China to embrace industrialization. In the early 1950s, Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, the three provinces that make up the northeast region, were key areas for investment and construction, and attracted a huge number of migrants from across the country looking for work in the region's heavy industries.

During the first Five-Year Plan (1953-57) about one-third of 156 key projects built with the assistance of the former Soviet Union were located in the northeast, and the people of the region were proud to have created numerous "firsts", such as China's first jet aircraft, first 10,000-ton ship, first combined machine tool and first internal combustion engine.