Heilongjiang
Heilongjiang, , formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. It is the northernmost and easternmost province of the country. The province is bordered by Jilin to the south and Inner Mongolia to the west. It also shares a border with Russia (Amur Oblast, Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Primorsky Krai and Zabaykalsky Krai) to the north and east. The capital and the largest city of the province is Harbin. Among Chinese provincial-level administrative divisions, Heilongjiang is the sixth-largest by total area, the 15th-most populous, and the second-poorest by GDP per capita. The province  takes its name (which in Chinese means "Black Dragon River") from the Heilong River (Chinese name of the Amur), which marks the border between the People's Republic of China and Russia. Heilongjiang contains China's northernmost point (in Mohe City along the Amur) and easternmost point (at the junction of the Amur and Ussuri rivers). Heilongjiang has significant agricultural production, and raw materials, such as timber, oil and coal. Etymology. "Heilongjiang" literally means Black Dragon River, which is the Mandarin name for the river better known by its Western name, the Amur River. Linguists suggested "Hei" ultimately comes from  Qara/Hara/Har, a common Altaic language cognate meaning "black". Among the Altaic languages, the Manchu name of the region is "Sahaliyan ula" (literally, "Black River"), from which the name of Sakhalin is derived, while the Mongolian name with the same meaning is "Qaramörin". The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It is formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". History. Ancient Chinese records and other sources state that Heilongjiang was inhabited by people such as the Sushen, Buyeo, the Mohe, Balhae, and the Khitan. Mongolic Donghu people lived in Inner Mongolia and the western part of Heilongjiang. Some names are  Manchu or Mongolian. The eastern portion of Heilongjiang was ruled by the kingdom of Balhae between the 7th and 10th centuries. The Jurchen Jin dynasty (1115–1234) that subsequently ruled much of north China arose within the borders of modern Heilongjiang. Heilongjiang as an administrative entity was created in 1683, during the Kangxi era of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, from the northwestern part of the Jilin province. This Heilongjiang Province only included the western part of today's Heilongjiang Province, and was under the supervision of the General of Heilongjiang (Sahaliyan Ula i Jiyanggiyūn) (the title is also translated as the  Military Governor of Heilongjiang; "jiyanggiyūn" is the Manchu reading of the Chinese word ; "military leader, general" and is cognate with Japanese "shōgun"), whose power extended, according to the Treaty of Nerchinsk, as far north as the Stanovoy Mountains. The eastern part of what's today Heilongjiang remained under the supervision of the General of Jilin (Girin i Jiyanggiyūn), whose power reached the Sea of Japan. These areas deep in Manchuria were closed off to Han Chinese migration. The original seat of the Military Governor of Heilongjiang, as established in 1683, was in Heilongjiang City (also known as Aigun or Heihe , or, in Manchu, Saghalien Ula), located on the Amur River. However, already in 1690 the seat of the governor was transferred to Nenjiang (Mergen) on the Nen River, and, in 1699, further south to Qiqihar. According to modern historians, the moves may have been driven by supply considerations: Nenjiang and Qiqihar are connected by a convenient waterway (Nen River) with southern Manchuria, whereas accessing Aigun (Heihe) would require either sailing all the way down the Sungari River until its confluence with the Amur and then up the Amur to Heihe, or using a portage over the Lesser Xing'an Mountains between  the Nen River valley and the Amur valley. An additional advantage of Qiqihar may have been its location at the junction of a northbound road (to Nenjiang) and a westbound one (to Mongolia), enabling its garrison to defend both against the Russians and the Ölöt Mongols. Little Qing Military presence existed north of Aigun. According to the 18th- and early-20th-century European sources, and the reports of the Russians in the 1850s, the farthest Qing "advance guard" post was at Ulusu-Modon (Ulussu-Mudan) ( "Wūlǔsūmùdān"), near the Amur River's famous S-shaped meander. (The post was on the left  (north) bank of the river, lost to the Russians in 1860.) In 1858 and 1860, the Qing government was forced to give up all land beyond the Amur and Ussuri Rivers to the Russian Empire, cutting off the Qing Empire from the Sea of Japan and giving Heilongjiang its present northern and eastern borders. At the same time, Manchuria was opened to Han Chinese migration by the Qing government. By the early twentieth century, due to the "Chuang Guandong", the Han Chinese had become the dominant ethnic group in the region. In 1931, Japanese forces invaded Heilongjiang. In 1932, the  Japanese completed their conquest of the province, which became part of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. In 1945, Japanese forces in Manchuria were defeated by the Soviet Army. During the Chinese Civil War, Soviet forces aided the Chinese communists. Heilongjiang became the first province to be completely controlled by the communists and Harbin the first major city to be controlled by them. At the beginning of communist rule, Heilongjiang included only the western portion of the present-day province, and had its capital at Qiqihar. The remaining area was the province of Songjiang; its capital was Harbin. In 1954 , these two provinces were merged into present-day Heilongjiang. During the Cultural Revolution, Heilongjiang was also expanded to include Hulunbuir League and some other areas previously in Inner Mongolia; this has since mostly been reversed. Geography. Heilongjiang is a land of varied topographies. Much of the province is dominated by mountain ranges such as the Greater Khingan Range and Lesser Khingan Range, Zhangguangcai Mountains, Laoye Mountains, and Wanda Mountains. The highest peak is Datudingzi Mountain at , located on the border with Jilin province. The Greater Khingan Range contains China's largest remaining virgin forest and is an important area for  China's forestry industry. The east and southwest of the province, which are relatively flat and low in altitude, feature the Muling River, the Naoli River, the Songhua River, the Nen River, and the Mudan River, all tributaries of the Amur, while the northern border forms part of the Amur valley. Xingkai Lake (or Khanka Lake) is found on the border with Russia's Primorsky Krai. Climate. A humid continental climate (Köppen "Dwa" or "Dwb") predominates in the province, though areas in the far north are subarctic (Köppen "Dwc"). Winters are long and bitter, with an average of in January , and summers are short and warm to very warm with an average of in July. The annual average rainfall is , concentrated heavily in summer. Clear weather is prevalent throughout the year, and in the spring, the Songnen Plain and the Sanjiang Plain provide abundant sources of wind energy. The province's largest cities include Harbin, Qiqihar, Mudanjiang, Jiamusi, Daqing, Jixi, Shuangyashan, Hegang, Qitaihe, Yichun, and Heihe. Transport. Roads. Heilongjiang boasts an extensive road network. As of October 2020, it has 165,989 km of expressways, highways and other roads. The Beijing - Harbin Expressway is the most significant expressway corridor to the  province, which begins at the Heilongjiang - Jilin border and ends within the Harbin Ring Expressway. The Harbin - Tongjiang Expressway runs northeast and it links far-flung counties within the jurisdiction of Harbin, Jiamusi and other major counties in Northeast Heilongjiang. Near the end of Harbin - Tongjiang Expressway, Jiansanjiang–Heixiazi Island Expressway branches off the main expressway at Jiansanjiang and connects many state-owned farms at the far east of the province before ending near the Sino-Russian border. The Suifenhe - Manzhouli Expressway is another major corridor, it runs southeast to northwest and connects some of the most significant population centers  of the province, including Mudanjiang, Harbin, Daqing and Qiqihar, before ending at the Heilongjiang - Inner Mongolia border. The Hegang - Dalian Expressway runs between Hegang and the Heilongjiang - Jilin border in East Heilongjiang, is another major expressway that facilitates the transportation of lumber and coal. Railways. There are 60 railway lines of around including a section of the Asia-Europe Continental Bridge. The Harbin–Dalian High-Speed Railway, completed in 2012, stretches from Harbin, Heilongjiang's capital, to Dalian in Liaoning province via Changchun and Shenyang comprising 23 stops. It is expected to transport 37 million passengers per year by 2020  and 51 million by 2030. Airports. Major airports include Harbin Taiping International Airport, Qiqihar Airport, Mudanjiang Airport, Jiamusi Airport and Heihe Airport. Harbin International Airport is capable of handling six million passengers every year and connects to over 70 domestic and international cities. Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge. The Tongjiang-Nizhneleninskoye railway bridge was proposed in 2007 by Valery Solomonovich Gurevich, the vice-chairman of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia. The railway bridge over the Amur River will connect Tongjiang with Nizhneleninskoye, a village in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. The Chinese portion of the bridge was finished in July 2016 . In December 2016, work began on the Russian portion of the bridge. Completion of structural link between the two sides of the bridge was completed in March 2019. Opening to rail traffic has been repeatedly delayed, with the December 2019 estimate being "the end of 2020", and then 3rd quarter of 2021. Administrative divisions. Heilongjiang is divided into thirteen prefecture-level divisions: twelve prefecture-level cities (including a sub-provincial city) and one prefecture: These 13 prefecture-level divisions are subdivided into 128 county-level divisions (65 districts, 20 county-level cities, 42 counties, and one autonomous county). Those are  in turn divided into 1,284 township-level divisions (473 towns, 400 townships, 58 ethnic townships, and 353 subdistricts). Politics. List of Secretaries of the Chinese Communist Party Heilongjiang Committee: List of Governors: Economy. Heilongjiang's GDP has been rising steadily since 2003, growing 37% from 2003 to 2007. The value of the private economy reached RMB234 billion in 2006 and accounted for 37.6 percent of the GDP. In that year, the tax revenue from private enterprises hit RMB20.5 billion. Private enterprises in Heilongjiang led the overall economic growth of the province. Many leading private enterprises have begun to emerge. The  province's three major private enterprises, namely the Heilongjiang Sunflower Medicine Ltd, Qitaihe Yidaxin Coal Co., and Heilongjiang Yiyang Group, each contributed more than RMB100 million in tax revenue in 2007. During the first decade of this century, many private investors were involved in large construction projects in Heilongjiang. In 2006, 928 large projects absorbed private capital of RMB5 million each, and 101 projects attracted RMB100 million each within the province. In line with the central government's policy to revitalize the Northeast, Heilongjiang also restructured its six pillar industries, namely equipment manufacturing, petrochemicals, food processing, energy, pharmaceuticals, and forest  and timber processing. In 2017, Heilongjiang's nominal GDP was 1.62 trillion yuan (ca. US$240 billion), with an annual growth rate of 12.2%. Its per capita GDP was 42,699 yuan (US$6,324). In 2006 the per capita disposable income of urban residents in Heilongjiang reached 11,581 yuan (US$1,667), a rise of 13% from the previous year. The per capita net income of rural residents in the province reached 4,856 yuan (US$700), a rise of 17.5% from 2007. Agriculture. Heilongjiang is home to China's largest plantations of rice, corn and soybeans, with a total of of grain  plantation area, including of rice plantation and of corn. Heilongjiang has vast tracts of black soil (chernozem), one of the most fertile soil types. Since the early 20th century, cultivation in the black soil belt has expanded by almost 100-fold, and after the 1960s agriculture in the region transformed to modern agriculture with heavy mechanization and an increase of fertilizer use. Heilongjiang is one of the Asia's leading production areas for japonica rice, known for high quality brand rice varieties. The introduction of cold-resistant varieties, favorable policies and climate change have all contributed to a significant increase  in rice production in recent years. Commercial crops grown include beets, flax, sunflowers. Heilongjiang is also an important source of lumber for China. Pine, especially the Korean pine and larch are the most important forms of lumber produced in Heilongjiang. Forests are mostly found in the Greater Khingan Mountains and Lesser Khingan Mountains, which are also home to protected animal species such as the Siberian tiger, the red-crowned crane, and the lynx. Herding in Heilongjiang is centered upon horses and cattle; the province has the largest number of milk cows and the highest production of milk among all the  province-level divisions of China. Industry. Heilongjiang is part of northeast China, the country's traditional industrial base. Industry is focused upon coal, petroleum, lumber, machinery, and food. Due to its location, Heilongjiang is also an important gateway for trade with Russia. Since a wave of privatization led to the closure of uncompetitive factories in the 1990s, Manchuria has suffered from stagnation. As a result, the government has started the Revitalize Northeast China campaign to deal with this problem, promoting the private sectors as the preferred method of economic reform. Petroleum is of great importance in Heilongjiang, and the Daqing  oilfields are an important source of petroleum for China. Coal, gold, and graphite are other important minerals to be found in Heilongjiang. Heilongjiang also has great potential for wind power, with potential capacity for 134 gigawatts of power production. Demographics. The majority of Heilongjiang's population is Han Chinese, while other ethnic minorities include the Manchus, Koreans, Mongols, Hui, Xibe, and Hezhen. Excludes members of the People's Liberation Army in active service. Source: Religion. Most of Heilongjiang's residents are either non-religious or practice Chinese folk religions, including Taoism. Manchu shamanism is practiced by many Manchu people. Chinese  Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism have an important presence in the province. Culture. Heilongjiang's culture is part of a culture of Northeast China that is relatively homogeneous across this region, known in Mandarin Chinese as "Dongbei" (the northeast). Media. Heilongjiang Television and Harbin Economy Radio serve as broadcasters. Tourism. Harbin, the provincial capital, is a city of contrasts, with Chinese, Russian, and eclectic worldwide influences clearly apparent. Bukui Mosque, a national heritage site, is the largest glazed-tile building in the province. Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant churches as well as synagogues dot the city. The long, cold winter  is the backdrop for its famed ice sculpture exhibitions. In 2007 already the 8th Ice and Snow World opened to visitors in Harbin. More than 2,000 ice sculptures were on display at the annual event. Wudalianchi Lakes are a series of five lakes formed between 1719 and 1721 when volcanic eruption shaped one section of a tributary of the Amur into five interconnected lakes. The second lake in particular is renowned for its irregular geological sights. Lake Jingbo, in Ning'an County, is a section of the Mudan River that has been narrowed and shaped by volcanic eruption into a series  of sights, including the Diaoshuilou Falls. The province has a zoological park called "Harbin Siberian Tiger Park". Sports. Heilongjiang is in the forefront of promoting winter sports and winter-featured sports industry in China. For example, it is promoting bandy as an Olympic sport.