When the Chinese Eastern Railway opened in 1903 it named a station Qiqihar, but built it 29 kilometres from the city, at Ang’angxi; the Heilongjiang authorities then built a light railway to join the two, which opened in 1909.
一九零三年中东铁路通车时,铁路当局设了一座叫”齐齐哈尔”的车站,却把它建在距城二十九公里的昂昂溪;黑龙江地方当局随后修了一条轻便铁路把两地连起来,一九零九年通车。
Qiqihar is a Daur word meaning frontier or natural pasture. The Qing built a walled city at the Bukui post station in 1691, and in 1699 the Heilongjiang General moved his seat there, making Qiqihar a longstanding administrative centre of Heilongjiang; it remained the provincial capital until the seat of government moved to Harbin in August 1954.
“齐齐哈尔”是达斡尔语,意为”边疆”或”天然牧场”。清廷一六九一年在卜奎驿站建城,一六九九年黑龙江将军移驻此地,使齐齐哈尔长期成为黑龙江地区的行政中心;直到一九五四年八月,黑龙江省会才迁往哈尔滨。
Ma Zhanshan fought the Japanese at the Nen River bridge in November 1931, and Japan occupied Qiqihar on 19 November. Manchukuo made it a city in 1936, Soviet forces took it on 19 August 1945, and Communist forces took it on 24 April 1946.
一九三一年十一月,马占山在嫩江桥与日军作战,日军于十一月十九日占领齐齐哈尔。伪满洲国一九三六年设市,苏军一九四五年八月十九日进入该市,东北民主联军一九四六年四月二十四日解放该市。
Gas in the Ground
地下的毒气
The railway’s western line reached Ang’angxi in 1900, and the station that opened there in 1903 was called Qiqihar Station, although it stood 29 kilometres from the General’s seat, according to Baidu Baike. The Qi-Ang light railway opened on 26 September 1909, according to imharbin.com’s history of Ang’angxi, and the Soviet Union returned the main line to China in 1952.
据百度百科介绍,中东铁路西线一九零零年铺轨到昂昂溪,一九零三年在那里开通的车站被命名为”齐齐哈尔站”,而它距黑龙江将军驻地有二十九公里。据昂昂溪历史的介绍,齐昂轻便铁路一九零九年九月二十六日通车;苏联于一九五二年把中东铁路干线归还中国。
On 4 August 2003 diggers at a construction site in the Beijiang Garden estate unearthed five metal barrels of Japanese wartime mustard gas, and one person died and 43 were poisoned, according to China News Service. They held a mixture of mustard gas and Lewisite, and the Japanese army’s chemical-warfare Unit 516 had been based in Qiqihar, according to Nandu Weekly.
据中国新闻网报道,二零零三年八月四日,齐齐哈尔北疆花园小区的工地挖出五个侵华日军遗弃的芥子气金属桶,造成一人死亡、四十三人中毒。据《南都周刊》报道,桶内是芥子气与路易氏气的混合毒剂,日本关东军的化学战部队”516部队”曾以齐齐哈尔为大本营。
Japan paid ¥300 million in December 2003, which it called handling money, according to Nandu Weekly. Forty-eight victims and relatives sued in Tokyo in January 2007, and the District Court recognised the abandonment and the harm but dismissed the claim in May 2010 as an isolated case, according to PLA Daily. The Tokyo High Court upheld the dismissal in September 2012, according to China National Radio.
据《南都周刊》报道,日本政府二零零三年十二月拿出三亿日元,日方称之为”处理费”。据中广网报道,四十八名受害者及家属二零零七年一月向东京地方法院提起诉讼;据中国军网报道,东京地方法院二零一零年承认遗弃化学武器及其造成的伤害,却以该事件是”个案”为由驳回了诉讼请求。据中国之声报道,东京高等法院二零一二年九月维持了驳回的判决。
Cranes, Crops and a Shrinking Count
鹤、庄稼与不断减少的人口
The Zhalong reserve, covering 210,000 hectares across Qiqihar and Daqing, was listed as a wetland of international importance in 1992. It holds six of China’s nine crane species, and its wild red-crowned cranes number nearly 300, according to the Heilongjiang government.
据黑龙江省人民政府介绍,扎龙自然保护区跨齐齐哈尔、大庆两市,面积二十一万公顷,一九九二年被列入国际重要湿地名录;保护区内有中国九种鹤类中的六种,野生丹顶鹤数量近三百只。
According to Qiqihar’s 2025 statistical communiqué, GDP reached ¥140.21 billion, up 3.5 percent, with services at 53.4 percent. Grain output was 25.42 billion jin, up 4.1 percent, of which 16.39 billion jin was corn, and tourism brought 55.01 million visits, up 20.3 percent, and ¥37.13 billion in spending, up 21.5 percent.
据齐齐哈尔市二零二五年统计公报,全年地区生产总值一千四百零二点一亿元,增长百分之三点五,第三产业占百分之五十三点四。全年粮食产量二百五十四点二亿斤,增长百分之四点一,其中玉米一百六十三点九亿斤;全年接待游客五千五百零一万人次,增长百分之二十点三,旅游总花费三百七十一点三亿元,增长百分之二十一点五。
The resident population fell from 5,367,003 at the 2010 census to 4,067,489 at the 2020 census, down 24.21 percent, according to census figures cited by Baidu Baike. In 2024 the city recorded 15,512 births and 29,196 deaths, and its registered population was 4.936 million at the end of 2025, according to its communiqués.
据百度百科引述的人口普查数据,全市常住人口从二零一零年人口普查时的五百三十六万七千零三人,降至二零二零年的四百零六万七千四百八十九人,下降百分之二十四点二一。据齐齐哈尔市统计公报,二零二四年全市出生一万五千五百一十二人、死亡二万九千一百九十六人,二零二五年末户籍总人口为四百九十三点六万人。
The Harbin–Qiqihar high-speed line opened on 17 August 2015, cutting the fastest journey from about three hours to 85 minutes, according to Xinhua.
据新华社报道,哈齐高铁于二零一五年八月十七日开通,两地最快运行时间由约三小时缩短至八十五分钟。
Ang’angxi’s station building, dating from 1903 and originally named Qiqihar Station, has served as the waiting hall for international passengers on the K19/20 Beijing–Moscow train. Its wooden footbridge is the only surviving Chinese Eastern Railway-era wooden footbridge on the Binzhou line, according to imharbin.com.
昂昂溪站始建于一九零三年的站房,最初名为”齐齐哈尔站”,曾作为北京至莫斯科K19/20次国际列车旅客的候车厅。据哈尔滨本地网站imharbin.com介绍,站内木质天桥是滨洲线上唯一留存的中东铁路时期木质天桥。
