Russian Consulate in Qiqihar

You could see two creamy yellow brick construction houses alongside the No.1 Entrance of the current Longsha Park for around hundred meters.

The houses have double pitch spires, the coigns and window traceries on the dry walls are both creamy yellow and white, which look simple and fresh matched with the traditional wood carvings in the south room and anteroom. Although they are not grand, they are endowed with the unique exotic features. The origin of the buildings should be traced back to 1899, shortly after the start of construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, Russia sent Krotev to Heilongjiang as a Negotiator who stayed in Qiqihar permanently. Russian Government approved to establish consulates in Harbin and Qiqihar on December 19, 1906. They established the Consulate in Cangxi Park (the present Longsha Park) on May 23, 1907. The officials stationed in the Consulate including consulate, vice-consul, doctor, secretary and interpreter. The Consulate administered the railway stations in all counties of Longjiang Railway and the railway stations from Boketu East to Duiqingshan Railway Station alongside Chinese Eastern Railway. At that time there were only more than 300 Russian emigrants, so that the Consulate didn't have much businesses. The Consulate was announced to be closed on September 27, 1920. The two wing-houses with total building area of 380.27m2 are historical witnesses for the colonial culture during the period that was the end of Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China.

A patriotic story is related to the building as well. In the 30 th year of Guangxu's Reign, Heilongjiang Governor Cheng Dequan felt that there was no scenic spot in the border city and he assigned Zhang Chaoyong to preside in building a park. Therefore, the Eminent Writer and secretary Zhang Chaoyong of Cheng Dequan flatten the land, excavate channels, build long bridge and make worm corridors at Guangjicang in the west of the city. He successively built pavilions, halls and flowerbeds etc and a public park with preliminary scale were constructed within a half year. At that time, the celebrities gathered together in the park every festival to sing and chant in the park and to add luster for the park . However, the Russian Government demanded to establish the Russian Consulate in Qiqihar in the park and forcibly occupied half area of the park and they dug a deep entrenchment as boundary, built high fences and built Russian style buildings in the yard. The arbitrary behavior of Russian Government greatly outraged Qiqihar citizens. Zhang Chaoyong, the sponsor of the park, was filled with more indignations and he gave himself an alias of Semi-Park Graybeard to express his strong patriotic passion. Later the area of the park occupied by the Russian Government was resumed finally after many negotiations between the Chinese authority and the Russian Government and the completeness of the park was maintained.

Until now, the Russian style building standing solely and upright amongst the pavilions, terraces and towers, which looks like a wild flower quietly blossoming in the gorgeous blossoming plum garden. But we still would like to memorize it, not only for the larruping beauty of the building but also for that a section of history and an old man named Zhang Chaoyong should be memorized.

Publishes at : 07-12-22 18:19

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