[2024 Heihe Attraction] Travel Guide for Aihuilishi Exhibition Hall (Updated Oct)

The Treaty of Aigun was signed under duress.

The Aigun Historical Museum is located on Sabusu Street, Aigun Town, Heihe City, Heilongjiang Province. It was established in 1974 and is the only museum in China that focuses on the history of the eastern territories of China and Russia. Under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, the Mongols, Ewenki, Daur, Oroqen, Manchu, Hezhe, and Feyaka in the Heilongjiang River Basin were severely invaded by Russian Cossacks. In order to protect national sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Qing government was forced to launch a counterattack in Yaksa and conducted diplomatic negotiations. In 1689, China and Russia signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk. The treaty was signed in Manchu, Russian, and Latin, with the Latin version being the official text signed by both parties. The treaty demarcated the eastern borders of China and Russia, and legally established that the vast areas of the Heilongjiang and Ussuri River Basins, including Sakhalin Island, belonged to China. After the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed, the Qing government took various measures to strengthen the management of the vast territories south of the Outer Khingan Mountains, north of the Heilongjiang River, and east of the Ussuri River. In the peaceful environment of about a century and a half, the social economy of the Heilongjiang River Basin developed steadily, and Aigun developed into a central city in the middle and upper reaches of the Heilongjiang River. By the second half of the 19th century, the Qing Dynasty had declined and was in a difficult situation both at home and abroad. Faced with another invasion of the Heilongjiang River Basin by the powerful neighbor Russia, it was no longer able to defend and resist. In 1858, the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Aigun with Russia, causing China to lose more than 1 million square kilometers of land. The scene of the signing of the Treaty of Aigun was strictly designed according to the records of the Qing Dynasty archives and Russian records. The Treaty of Aigun caused China to lose about 600,000 square kilometers of territory north of the Heilongjiang River and south of the Outer Khingan Mountains, and designated the Chinese territory east of the Ussuri River as jointly managed by China and Russia. At that time, the Qing government refused to approve the treaty. On October 18, 1860, after the Old Summer Palace was burned down by the Anglo-French Allied Forces, the Treaty of Beijing was signed between China and Russia on November 14 of the same year, and the Qing government recognized the Treaty of Aigun. ⏳Recommended duration: The Aigun Historical Museum is open for free. The recommended visit duration is 1-2 hours.