History and introduction to Hailar
The name Hylar comes from the river. As early as the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, this was an important military town for the Qing government to guard the border. Known as Hulunbuir City because it is located on the Hulunbuir Grassland, it was an important gateway to the northern part of the Qing Empire after the signing of the Sino-Russian Nerchinsk Boundary Treaty. It has played a huge historical role in defending the 1,000-kilometer-long Sino-Russian border. The underground location of Hulunbuir City allows it to exert a huge radiation effect. At the beginning of the city's founding, there were several roads leading to Qiqihar, Heishantou, Gubeikou, Zhangjiakou, Kulun (today's Ulaanbaatar), Aershan, and Jilalin that could be used by vehicles and horses. The Ganzhuer Temple Fair, which was an unprecedented event on the grassland, was made possible by the smooth flow of these ancient roads. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the construction and opening of the Middle East Railway and the invasion of foreign capitalist economies such as Russia, Japan, Germany, and the United States, this place entered a new period of business development, and a trade market was opened outside Hulunbuir City. In 1907, it was officially opened as a commercial port open to foreigners. When the station was built due to the construction of the Dongqing Railway, it was named "Langlang" station, which is the transliteration of Hailar. Later, with the development of new streets, the popularity of Hailar station gradually increased, and the name "Hulunbuir City" was replaced.
The Hailar River was written as "Haile'er" in "History of Liao", and "Hailaer River" in "History of Yuan". Later, it was also translated into Chinese as "Hailaer River", "Heli", etc. . There are different opinions on what it means. There are four popular theories for a long time:
The first and most popular one is the meaning of "wild leeks". The textual researchers also use the "Mongolian-Chinese Dictionary" as evidence, saying "Haliyar" is a place where wild leeks grow. There are large areas of wild leeks here, and the river is also called Hailar.
The second view means "water flowing down". People who hold this view use Jian Bozan's "Inner Mongolia Visits to Ancient Times" as a basis, and it seems to have some truth.
The third statement means "peach blossom water", which is roughly similar to the previous statement, but goes a step further. They believe that the Mongolian words "melt" and "melt snow" are also pronounced as "Haile". "In spring, the ice and snow on the western slope of Daxinganling melt away, and the water merges into the river Haile, hence the name of the river, which means "Peach Blossom Water".
The fourth theory means "black", but its explanation is that the grass on both sides of the Hailar River is lush and dark green. Looking from a distance, it looks like a black-green streamer between the blue sky, white clouds and green land. So it is also called the meaning of ink.
These four statements all have certain reasonable elements, especially the fourth statement is closer to the truth, but they are not accurate about its true meaning. The reason is simple. The name of this kind of river appeared in history more than 1,000 years ago. At that time, the owners here were primitive Mongolians. When naming rivers and mountains in ancient times, they did not carefully cite scriptures, let alone consult the famous works of later generations. They named them based on general characteristics. For example, the Yellow River is called because of its yellow color; the Nenjiang River is called because of its clear water; and the Heilongjiang River is called because it was bred in the black soil and formed a rolling black water. Our Hailar River was named Hailar by our ancestors who spoke the original Mongolian language because of its black water color.
The Hailar River originates from the Greater Khingan Mountains, has a total length of more than 700 kilometers, flows into the Ergun River, and flows into Heilongjiang. It is one of the main sources of Heilongjiang. The area above Yakeshi in the Hailar River has large undulations, good vegetation, rapid water flow, and clear river water. When the river water enters the Hulunbuir grassland, it begins to slow down. The flat grassland makes the river course twists and turns, and the river water overflows and spreads. The penetration increases and the side erosion force increases. Especially below the confluence with the Yimin River, that is, behind the current urban area of Hailar, the terrain is open and flat, the river grass is dense and dark green, and the reeds are connected in pieces. The river water connects a series of blisters and lakes, and the river flow rate is only 100 meters per second. You can walk only a few centimeters. The reeds, aquatic plants and humus that have been soaked in the water all year round dye the water even darker. Even the catfish and crucian carp that grow here are black. As early as more than 1,000 years ago, the primitive Mongolians saw this water as black as ink, and naturally the name "Hailaer" came into being.
The Hailar River is a mother river with a long history. As early as 20,000 to 30,000 years ago, there were ancient human activities here. The ancient humans living on the Hulunbuir Prairie at that time were called "Zhalainuoer people" by the archaeological community. Since 1934, more than 20 ancient human fossils have been discovered in Zhalainuoer Coal Mine. Although no ancient human fossils have been unearthed in Hailar City yet, there is no doubt that the Zhalainuoer people were active here.
Not only because the Hailar River and Dalai Lake are connected, they should belong to the same activity range according to the laws of human life, but there is also archaeological evidence to show that at that time, human society belonged to the Late Paleolithic period, and the ancient humans living here were not extinct. Mammoths, woolly rhinos, Northeastern bison and other ancient creatures still exist, and humans use them as prey. In the Hailar area, a large number of such paleontological fossils have been found in both the Beishan and Dongshan borrow fields. As early as the "Cultural Revolution", the Heilongjiang Museum collected and excavated a large number of paleontological fossils here. Many of the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, and northeastern bison fossils currently on display in the Heilongjiang Museum were unearthed in Hailar City. In 1985, scattered mammoth fossils were discovered in the Dongshan borrow site. Archaeologists once found traces of human hacking on a fossil, which fully proved that this was the place where ancient human activities occurred during the Paleolithic period.
Entering the Holocene (about 10,000 years ago), the climate, landforms and biota in the Hailar region were basically similar to today, and humans have also entered a new period of development. In archeology, during the transition period from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic, there was the Mesolithic Age. Currently, the archaeological community regards the microliths from Hailar Xishan (also known as Songshan) as the representative of the Mesolithic Age, which was between 6,000 and 10 years ago. For 000 years, a group of primitive humans who used fine stone tools and entered the civilized era lived in Hylar. They held stone tools, fought tenaciously with nature, lived in primitive clan society, and created the Mesolithic culture.
When the Central Plains entered the Neolithic Age, the primitive people living in Hylar also entered a new historical period and created the glorious Hack culture. Jade wares, important symbols of human civilization, appeared, productivity developed, advanced technologies were promoted, composite tools were applied, civilization emerged, and microlithic tools reached their peak.