The Qing Dynasty's development of Heilongjiang --- Jingqi Huitun
The return of the Jingqi to Tun, which began to be implemented during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, was an important policy implemented by the Qing government. During the Jiaqing, Daoguang and Guangxu periods, the Qing court successively moved to Beijing to more than 3,700 idle banner households, a total of more than 15,000 people, to Lalin, Acheng, Shuangcheng, Hulan and other places in Heilongjiang Province today to carry out agricultural production and practice Manchu cavalry archery, which is of great significance to the local development.
In fact, the original intention of Jingqi Huitun was mainly to solve the livelihood problem of the Eight Banners stationed in Beijing. After the Qing Dynasty settled the Central Plains, it adopted a policy of "benevolence" for the banner people, and all the necessities of life were supplied by the state, and successively established the land distribution system and the grain system, the purpose of which was to enable them to live without worry, devote themselves to military warfare, and ensure the stability of the Qing Empire's political power. However, from the middle of the Kangxi Dynasty, with the stability of the regime, the population of the banner people increased sharply, and by the 60th year of the Kangxi reign (1721), it had risen from 346931 men in the fifth year of Shunzhi (1648) to 696681. At the same time, because the Qing government strictly forbade the bannermen to engage in agriculture, industry, and commerce, the ordinary bannermen did not have any additional income except for the armor and errands, resulting in their living conditions in a state of continuous deterioration. By the early years of Qianlong, some middle- and lower-class banner people had fallen into the situation of "having no money and food, no industry, and no capital to make a living". This not only caused a crisis in the Eight Banners system, but also directly affected the rule of the Qing government. To this end, from the Kangxi Dynasty to the Qianlong Dynasty, the Qing court adopted measures such as the Han army issuing the flag, the Eight Banners and the non-upright flag people sending the flag for the people, setting up well fields, rewarding silver taels, redeeming * flag land, and establishing raising soldiers to alleviate the livelihood problems of the Eight Banners, and spent a huge amount of money for this. However, the results have been insignificant, and what is more serious is that these measures have further fueled the dependence of the officers and men of the Eight Banners, and the livelihood problem has not been completely solved.
In the early years of Qianlong, some people of insight in the government began to discuss how to fundamentally solve the problem of the banner people not doing anything about production, and finally they agreed that in order to raise a long-term plan for the members of the Eight Banners, it was necessary to establish a "permanent production" for them, and replace "official support" with "self-support". However, the problem was that at this time, the Manchu rulers had already established a solid rule in the Central Plains, and the practice of seizing Han land by force and distributing it to the Manchus by force at the beginning of the dynasty was no longer appropriate. After field investigations, the Qing court finally selected Lalin, Acheng and other places in today's Heilongjiang Province as the places for tuntian, and put them into action from the ninth year of Qianlong (1744). For this process, from the perspective of immigration, it should be a kind of government immigration that the Qing rulers used official power and financial resources to guide, organize, and enforce. Compared with a series of measures to treat the symptoms but not the root cause, such as increasing military salaries, this obviously has its positive side. If we exclude other factors and examine it from a purely historical perspective, then the Qing Dynasty's move to relocate the Jingqi should be said to be a historical event worthy of affirmation, and objectively, it promoted land reclamation and economic development in the resettlement area. For a long time, in order to monopolize the natural resources of Northeast China and maintain the inherent customs of the Manchus, the Qing court imposed a ban policy on Northeast China, including Heilongjiang, artificially restricting the injection of economic factors such as advanced production technology and business methods into Heilongjiang from the mainland, and seriously hindering the development process of the local economy. The return of the Beijing Banner to Tun from the early years of Qianlong gave Heilongjiang a good opportunity for the development of various undertakings and became the beginning of the inlandization of its frontiers.
In order to do a good job in the idle relocation of the Beijing Banner, the Qing government invested a large amount of start-up funds and equipment necessary for economic development in the Huitun District in advance, and only used 114,829 taels of silver for the 500 households in the Beijing Banner to manage the premises, livestock, and iron tools that were relocated in the 21st year of Qianlong (1756). In addition, the Qing court also used state power to organize manpower to reclaim a large number of wastelands into farmland, which was beyond the reach of the Han people in the eastern part of the country. However, due to the idleness of the Jingqi and the long-term residence in Beijing, the cultivated land was reclaimed and reclaimed. As a result, the labor force skilled in agriculture became their most urgent need at this time, which attracted the arrival of Han immigrants who were dozens of times larger than the banner people seeking a way out, so that the barren land in the area was developed more rapidly. For example, in the thirteenth year of Yongzheng (1735), "Alchuka and Lalin reclaimed 4,908 yuan of banner land", and by the forty-fifth year of Qianlong (1780), "the flag land has increased to 36,278 yuan", and the land increased by 31,370 yuan in nearly half a century. By the time of Daoguang, more than 2 million acres of mature land had been developed in Bethune, Shuangcheng, Lalin and Alchuka.
The arrival of a large number of Manchu and Han immigrants gradually changed the extensive farming method of the local residents of "changing places from year to year and sowing when it rains", and adopted advanced technologies such as "intermittent rest" and "crop rotation" in the interior, which greatly increased crop yields compared with before. By the end of Jiaqing, the grain output of Alchuka, Shuangcheng and other places was already "a land of harvest in a bumper year, eight or nine city stones"; In an ordinary year, "more than five or six stones are harvested per grain plant". Later, the food produced not only met local needs, but also exported a large amount of surplus grain. So far, Lalin, Wuchang, Shuangcheng, Acheng, Hulan and other places are still the most important grain producing areas in Heilongjiang Province.
With the increase of population and the development of agriculture, in order to meet the needs of life, a variety of handicraft workshops closely related to people's lives have also come into being. The most prominent is the "pot". "The pot burner, the place of steaming wine." Huitun area is rich in high-quality liquor raw materials - sorghum, and people like to drink, therefore, the output of liquor is extremely high, Tongzhi six years (1867), only Lalin alone exported 111632 catties of liquor, tax money 44.5 taels. The prosperity of the wine-making industry shows that the grain output in Huitun District at that time could not only meet the needs of food and pay taxes, but also had a large surplus. In addition, soybeans, wheat and other agricultural products have also promoted the establishment and development of oil extraction workshops and flour processing workshops.
The return to Beijing has also greatly promoted the development of Heilongjiang's cities and towns. In the Huitun area, due to the arrival of the Beijing Banner and the influx of a large number of displaced people, not only did the hazel mang become fertile land, but also the prosperous scene of "more and more people stationed in Manchuria, denser residents, traders and livestock, and unexpected gatherings", so that the sparsely populated border areas in the past formed a dotted village settlement. In the past, the location of the yamen of the banner keepers has gradually developed into modern cities such as Acheng (Alchuka), Wuchang (Lalin is now part of Wuchang City), Shuangcheng (Shuangcheng) and other modern cities, driven by these cities, the adjacent areas are also developing day by day, and it is in this way that Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province, gradually emerged.