From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the city. For the river known in Chinese as Heihe, see
Ejin River.
Heihe (Chinese: 黑河; pinyin: Hēihé; "Black River") is a city in Heilongjiang, China.
It is located at 50°14′42″N 127°28′54″E / 50.245°N 127.48167°E / 50.245; 127.48167, on the Russian border, on the south bank of the Amur River, across the river from the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk. Heihe has a population of about 113,000.
[edit] History
The predecessor of today's Heihe was the town established in 1683 some 30 km south of the modern city site[1] (in today's Aihui District) and was known as Aigun, Heilongjiang, or Saghalien Ula. (The two last names both mean "the Black River" - the name for the Amur River in Chinese and Manchu, respectively). From 1683 to 1690 Aigun was the capital (the seat of the Military Governor) of Heilongjiang Province.[2]
[edit] Economy and transportation
Today Heihe, which forms a free-trade zone with Blagoveshchensk, is a major centre of Sino-Russian trade. Many Russians and Chinese take advantage of Visa-free travel between the cities, which has spurred large unofficial trade between China and Russia. Some inhabitants of Blagoveshchensk have purchased apartments on the Chinese side, as living costs are much lower.
Transportation between Blagoveshchensk and Heihe is by boat in the summer and by bus over the frozen river in the winter; when the ice is too weak to carry buses, the route is operated by hovercrafts.
[edit] Administrative Divisions
[edit] References
- ^ The Ancient City of Aigun
- ^ Edmonds, Richard Louis (1985). Northen Frontiers of Qing China and Tokugawa Japan: A Comparative Study of Frontier Policy. University of Chicago, Department of Geography; Research Paper No. 213. pp. 115-117. ISBN 0-89065-118-3.
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