Aihui District

Aihui 爱辉区
District
Aihui Location in Heilongjiang
Coordinates: 50°14′28″N 127°29′36″E
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Heilongjiang
Prefecture-level city	Heihe
Township-level divisions	9 subdistricts 8 towns 1 township 1 ethnic township
District seat	Huayuan Subdistrict (花园街道)
Area
• Total	1,443 km2 (557 sq mi)
Elevation	134 m (440 ft)
Population
• Total	197,240
• Density	140/km2 (350/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code	164300
Area code	0456

Aihui District (simplified Chinese: 爱辉区; traditional Chinese: 愛輝區; pinyin: Àihuī Qū) is an administrative district and the seat of the prefecture-level city of Heihe, Heilongjiang Province, People's Republic of China. It is located on the right (south-western) bank of the Amur River, across which is Blagoveshchensk, Amur Oblast, Russia. According to the prefectural government, the land area of Aihui District is 1,443 km² (557 sq mi), the population is 197,240 people.

Administrative divisions

Aihui is divided into four subdistricts, three towns, five township, and three ethnic townships:

Subdistricts:

• Huayuan Subdistrict (花园街道), Xing'an Subdistrict (兴安街道), Xixing Subdistrict (西兴街道), Hailan Subdistrict (海兰街道)

Towns:

• Xigangzi (西岗子镇), Aigun (瑷珲镇), Handaqi (罕达汽镇)

Townships:

• Xingfu Township (幸福乡), Sijiazi Manchu Ethnic Township (四嘉子满族乡), Kunhe Daur and Manchu Ethnic Township (坤河达斡尔族满族乡), Shangmachang Township (上马厂乡), Zhangdiyingzi Township (张地营子乡), Xifengshan Township (西峰山乡), Xinsheng Oroqen Ethnic Township (新生鄂伦春族乡), Erzhan Township (二站乡)

Demographics

About 18,500 persons (9.4% of the entire population) belong to ethnic minorites (Manchu, Hui, Daur, Oroqen etc.).

Dawujia village, home of some of the last remaining native Manchu language speakers, is located in Aihui District.

History

Main article: Aigun

The district's Aigun Town (瑷珲, Aihun), and for more than two centuries since its founding in the 1680s was one of the most important towns of Northern Manchuria.

In 1913 Aigun became the county seat of the newly created Aigun County (瑷珲县, Aihun xian), which was in December 1956 renamed Aihui County (爱辉县). On November 15, 1980, Heihe City was created, and on June 6, 1983, Aihui County was abolished, being merged into the Heihe City.

To further complicate the situation, in 1993 the former Heihe City (a county-level administrative unit) was reorganized into Aihui District (also a county-level unit), while the former Heihe Prefecture (黑河地区) became Heihe Prefecture-level City (which consists of Aihui District and a number of counties). This administrative division has been in effect ever since.