History
Heihe, formerly Aihui or Aigun, is among one of the five oldest cities in Heilongjiang Province, along with Tsitsihar, Yilan, Acheng and Hulan. Human being started to settle in Heihe region as early as the Paleolithic Age. Later it became home to local tribes. During the Qing Dynasty, Heihe was the first place troops sent to Heilongjiang were stationed. The predecessor of today's Heihe was the town established in 1683 some 30 km south of the modern city site (in today's Aihui District) and was known as Aigun, Heilongjiang, or Saghalien Ula. (The two last names both mean "the Black Dragon River" - the name for the Amur River in Chinese and Manchu, respectively). Aigun was the capital (the seat of the Military Governor) of Heilongjiang Province from 1683 to 1690, before the capital was moved to Nenjiang (Mergen). Later the governor office was transferred to Qiqihar. However, Aigun 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.
Aigun was visited ca. 1709 as a part of a nationwide Sino-French cartographic program by the Jesuits Jean-Baptiste Régis, Pierre Jartoux, and Xavier Ehrenbert Fridelli, who found it a stronghold, serving as the base of Manchus controlling the Amur River basin. The Aigun Treaty was concluded at Aigun in 1858. According to this treaty, the left bank of the Amur River was conceded to Czarist Russia.
On November 15, 1980, Heihe City was established, administerring two county-level cities and three counties.
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