Aigun ( zh, s=瑷珲, t=璦琿, p=Ài Hún;
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...
: ''aihūn''; ) was a historic
Chinese town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
in northern
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
, situated on the right bank of the
Amur River
The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...
, some south (downstream) from the central urban area of
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 ...
(which is across the Amur from the mouth of the
Zeya River
The Zeya (; from indigenous Evenki word "djee" (blade); zh, 结雅; mnc, m= , Mölendroff: jingkiri bira) is a northern, left tributary of the Amur in Amur Oblast, Russia. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . The average flow of the rive ...
and
Blagoveschensk).
[Aihui Town]
on Google Maps
The Chinese name of the town, which literally means "Bright Jade", was a transliteration of the Manchu (or
Ducher) name of the town. The current Mainland Chinese pronunciation Ài Huī does not reflect this, unlike the Taiwanese pronunciation which still follows the Old National Pronunciation Ài Hún.
Today the former city of Aigun is called Aihui Town ( ''aihūn hoton'') and is part of
Aihui District, which in turn is part of the prefecture-level city of Heihe. Heihe is one of the major cities in
Heilongjiang
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 Us ...
Province.
History
The predecessor of Aigun was a town of the indigenous
Ducher people of the Amur Valley, located on the left (northeastern - now Russian) bank of the
Amur River
The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...
. The site of this town, whose name was reported by the Russian explorer
Yerofey Khabarov as Aytyun () in 1652, is currently known to archaeologists as the Grodekovo site (), after the nearby village of Grodekovo. It is thought to have been populated since around the end of the 1st or the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD.
[Амурская область: История НАРОДЫ АМУРСКОЙ ЗЕМЛИ]
(Amur Oblast - the History. The peoples of the Amur Land)
Some sources report a Chinese presence on the middle Amur – a fort existed at Aigun for about 20 years during the Yongle era on the left (northwestern) shore of the Amur downstream from the mouth of the Zeya River. This Ming Dynasty Aigun was located on the opposite bank to the later Aigun that was relocated during the
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
.
[ Numerous later editions are available as well, including on]
on Google Books
Du Halde refers to the Yongle-era fort, the predecessor of Aigun, as ''Aykom''. There seem to be few, if any, mentions of this project in other available literature.

The Ducher town was probably vacated when the Duchers were evacuated by the
Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...
Chinese
Qing Dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
to the
Sungari or
Hurka in the mid-1650s.
[ In 1683-85 the Manchus re-used the site as a base for their campaign against the Russian fort of Albazin.
After the capture of Albazin in 1685 or 1686, the Manchus relocated the town to a new site on the right (southwestern) bank of the Amur, about downstream from the original site.][E.G.Ravenstein, ''The Russians on the Amur''. London, 1861]
Full text
can be found on Google Books. Pages 18,48. The new site occupied the location of the former village of a Daurian chief named Tolga.[ The city became known primarily under its Manchu name Saghalien Ula Hotun or Hoton (]Manchu
The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic peoples, Tungusic East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized Ethnic minorities in China, ethnic minority in China and the people from wh ...
: ''Sahaliyan Ula Hoton''),[ Jean-Baptiste Du Halde]
''Description géographique, historique, chronologique, politique, et physique de l'empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie chinoise, enrichie des cartes générales et particulieres de ces pays, de la carte générale et des cartes particulieres du Thibet, & de la Corée; & ornée d'un grand nombre de figures & de vignettes gravées en tailledouce'', Vol. 4
(La Haye: H. Scheurleer, 1736). Pp. 18-19. and sometimes also under the Chinese translation of this name, Heilongjiang Cheng (). Both names mean " Black River City", but by the 19th century the name "Aigun" again became more current in the western languages.
For a number of years after 1683, Aigun served as the capital (the seat of the Military Governor) of Heilongjiang Province, until the capital was moved to Nenjiang (Mergen) in 1690, and later to Qiqihar
Qiqihar (also spelled Tsitsihar) is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang 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, w ...
. Aigun, however, remained the seat of the Deputy Lieutenant-General (''Fu dutong''), responsible for a large district covering much of the Amur Valley within the province of Heilongjiang as it existed in those days.
As a part of a nationwide Sino-French cartographic program, Aigun (or, rather, Saghalien Ula hoton) was visited ca. 1709 by the Jesuits
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
Jean-Baptiste Régis, Pierre Jartoux, and Xavier Ehrenbert Fridelli, who found it a well-defended town, serving as the base of a Manchu river fleet controlling the Amur River region. Surrounded by numerous villages on the fertile riverside plain, the town was well provisioned with foodstuffs.[
]
It was at Aigun in May 1858 that Nikolay Muravyov concluded the Aigun Treaty, according to which the left bank of the Amur River
The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...
was conceded to Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
.
During the Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, was an anti-foreign, anti-imperialist, and anti-Christian uprising in North China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, by the Society of Righteous and Harmonious F ...
of 1900, for a few weeks Aigun was the center of military action directed against the Russians
Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...
. On July22, Aigun was captured by Russian troops.
In 1913 Aigun became the county seat of the newly created Aigun County (, ''Àihuī Xiàn''), which was renamed Aihui County (, ''Àihuī Xiàn'', the pronunciation remained unchanged) in December 1956.
The Manchus of the Chinese capital Peking (now known as Beijing) were influenced by the Chinese dialect spoken in the area to the point where pronouncing Manchu sounds was hard for them, and they pronounced Manchu according to Chinese phonetics, while in contrast, the Manchus of Aigun could both pronounce Manchu sounds properly and mimick the sinicised pronunciation of Peking Manchus, since they learned the Pekinese pronunciation from either studying in Peking or from officials sent to Aigun from the capital, and they could tell them apart, using the Chinese influenced Pekinese pronunciation when demonstrating that they were better educated or their superior stature in society.
On November15, 1980, 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 ...
City was created, and on June6, 1983, Aihui County was abolished and merged into the Heihe City.
Commemoration
There are a number of historical sites in today's Aihui Town (30 km south of downtown Heihe) related to the historical Aigun. They include Aihui Ancient City (), Aihui Heroic Defenders' of the Fatherland Garden (, ''Àihuī Wèiguó Yīngxióng Yuán''), and Aihui History Museum (, ''Àihuī Lìshǐ Chénliè Guǎn'').
References
External links
*
{{coord, 49.978, N, 127.490, E, display=title
Township-level divisions of Heilongjiang
Populated places established in 1684
Boxer Rebellion
Geography of Heilongjiang
1684 establishments in China
Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Heilongjiang