Qiqihar[a] (also spelledTsitsihar) is the second-largest city in theHeilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, while the total population of the prefecture-level city was shrinking to 4,067,489 as of the 2020 census (5,367,003 as of 2010).[1] In 2024, the total registered population of the city will be 5.06 million.[2] Among them, the rural population is 3.165 million.These are mainlyHan Chinese, though the city is also home to thirty-four minorities includingManchus,Daur, andMongols.[3] Numerous wetlands are close to Qiqihar, including theZhalong Nature Reserve, famous in China for being home to numerousred-crowned cranes.
"Qiqihar" is aDagur word meaning "border" or "natural pasture".[3] The name Qiqihar comes fromManchu:ᠴᡳᠴᡳᡥᠠᡵ, Möllendorff:Cicihar, Abkai:Qiqihar,IPA: /t͡ɕʰi.t͡ɕʰi.χar/.
Qiqihar is one of the oldest cities in the northeast of China. The region was originally settled by nomadicDaur andTungus herdsmen. The city's original name wasBukui (卜奎), the Chinese transcription of a Dagur word meaning "auspicious".[4] The city's oldest mosque, theBukui Mosque, predates the foundation of the city by seven years.[5] During theImperial Russian eastward advance to the Pacific, Qiqihar became a major garrison center in 1674. In 1691, a stronghold was constructed in Qiqihar because the Qing government campaigned against theMongols.[6]
Around 1700 it was a centre forRusso-Chinese trade. A military depot with barracks and an arsenal was set up there, and many convicted criminals were exiled to the area. Heilongjiang Martial was domiciled in Qiqihar City in 1699.[3] Qing China had initially intended to keep the far-northernHeilongjiang province as a semi-pastoral area, separate from the wider Chinese agricultural economy, so it did not allow seasonal urban migrants, such as those fromHebei andShandong who wished to participate in the Qiqiharfur trade, to own farms or develop the land.
After theRussian Empire seizedOuter Manchuria according to theTreaty of Aigun and theConvention of Peking, the Qing decided to lift the various restrictions on settlement that it placed onNortheast China and on Heilongjiang residency in particular, in 1868, 1878, and 1904. It enlistedHan Chinese to help to teach the localSolon people farming techniques, provide materials and tax exemptions to convert them from hunting.[7] In 1903, the completion of theChinese Eastern Railway made Qiqihar a centre for communications between China and Russia. A network of lines radiating from Qiqihar was extended into the northwestern part of Heilongjiang Province includingJiagedaqi andManzhouli in the late 1920s.
In 1931, Japan used afalse flag attack, known as theSeptember 18 Incident, to justify moving itsGuandong Army to capture major cities in Northeast China that month, starting withShenyang,Changchun, thenJilin City. GeneralMa Zhanshan was ordered to act as Governor and Military Commander-in-chief of Heilongjiang Province on 10 October. General Ma declined a Japanese ultimatum to surrender Qiqihar on 15 November. However, after their success in theJiangqiao campaign, the Japanese began their occupation of Qiqihar on 19 November.[8]Liaoning fell in December, andHarbin in February; the puppetManchukuo government of the Japanese-occupied territory under GeneralZhang Jinghui established Qiqihar as its administrative center and of Longjiang province. Qiqihar became a major military base for the Guandong Army and its economic importance also grew rapidly. During the occupation, theImperial Japanese Army establishedUnit 516 in Qiqihar for research intochemical warfare.[9] A majormustard gas tank left over from theSecond Sino-Japanese War buried underground was accidentally damaged in August 2003, causing 43 injuries and one death.[10]
Map including Qiqihar (labelled as CH'I-CH'I-HA-ERH (TSITSIHAR)齊齊哈爾) (AMS, 1955)
After the defeat of Japan, the Democratic Regime Qiqihar Municipal Government was established, under the administration ofNenjiang Province. Japanese forces inNortheast China surrendered to theSoviet Union while other Japanese forces in the rest of China surrendered to the Nationalist government.[11][12] From March to May, Soviet troops progressively withdrew from their positions, giving thePeople's Liberation Army more notice than theNational Revolutionary Army so that the former could occupy more positions in the context of theChinese Civil War.[13] Qiqihar was controlled by the Communists on April 24, 1946, along with other important regional cities like Changchun, Jilin City, and Harbin. Qiqihar was established as the capital of Heilongjiang Province after the foundation of People's Republic of China in 1949. However, after Songjiang Province was merged into Heilongjiang Province, the provincial capital was transferred toHarbin in 1954. During the first five-year plan of China from 1951 to 1956, many factories including Beiman Special Steel Co. and China First Heavy Industries were aid-constructed by theSoviet Union inFularji District, making Qiqihar an important centre of equipment manufacturing industry in Northeast China. In 1984, Qiqihar was designated to be one of the 13 Larger Municipalities in China by theGeneral Office of the State Council.[14]
Qiqihar is located along the middle and lower reaches of theNen River and the hinterland of Songnen Plain, which is adjacent to theGreater Khingan Range and Hulunbuir Prairie. Bordering prefecture cities are:
The city's metro area is located 359 km (223 mi) from the provincial capital ofHarbin, 282 km (175 mi) from Baicheng, 139 km (86 mi) from Daqing, and 328 km (204 mi) from Suihua. The total area under the city's jurisdiction is 42,289 km2 (16,328 sq mi). The region's elevation above sea level is generally between 200 and 500 m (660 and 1,600 ft).[15]
Qiqihar has a cold,monsoon-influenced,humid continental climate (KöppenDwa), with four distinct seasons. It has long, bitterly cold, but dry winters, with a 24-hour average in January of −18.1 °C (−0.6 °F). Spring and fall are mild, but short and quick transitions. Summers are very warm and humid, with a 24-hour average in July of 23.3 °C (73.9 °F). The average annual precipitation is 415 millimetres (16.3 in), with over two-thirds of it falling from June to August. The annual mean is 4.38 °C (39.9 °F). With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 56% in July to 73% in February, the city receives abundant sunshine, with 2,839 hours of bright sunshine annually. Extreme temperatures have ranged from −39.5 °C (−39 °F) on January 8 1956 to 42.1 °C (108 °F) on 26 June 1980. Unusually for a place with such cold winters, it has never experienced a temperature of -40 degrees (C/F) or lower.[16]
Climate data for Qiqihar, elevation 147 m (482 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1951–present)
There were 2,044,598 males, accounting for 50.27%. There were 2,022,891 women, accounting for 49.73%. The sex ratio (with females as 100, the proportion of males to females) decreased from 102.00 in theSixth national census in 2010 to 101.07.[22]
Qiqihar is a heavily industrialized city involved in manufacturing.
In 2009, the city's 95 large-scale equipment manufacturing enterprises, with total assets of 30.6 billion yuan, accounting for the city's industrial enterprises above designated size of 46.5% of total assets, the number of employees 5.2 million, accounting for the city's industrial enterprises above the size of 45.6% of the total number of employees. The main business income of 25.57 billion yuan, industrial added value of 8.05 billion yuan, profits of 1.96 billion yuan, 1.03 billion yuan of taxes, respectively, year on year growth of 2.9%, 3%, 19.6% and 22.3%, accounting for the city's industrial enterprises above designated size were 40.6%, 40%, 44.3% and 31.7%, respectively.
^Matsusaka, Yoshihisa Tak (2003).The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904-1932. Harvard East Asian Monographs. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center.ISBN978-0-674-01206-6.
^Zarrow, Peter (2005).China in war and revolution, 1895 - 1949. Asia's transformations. London New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.ISBN0-415-36447-7.
^Heinzig, Dieter (2004).The Soviet Union and communist China 1945-1950: the arduous road to the alliance. Armonk, N.Y: M.E. Sharpe. p. 100.ISBN978-0-7656-0785-0.
^National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China (December 2012).《中国2010年人口普查分县资料》 (in Simplified Chinese). China Statistics Press.ISBN978-7-5037-6659-6.
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