Hvlan

Hulan grew into a Qing garrison town north of the Songhua. In 1683 the government established eight karun guard posts in the Hulan River basin. The town itself was built in 1734, when more than five hundred Manchu, Solon, Daur and Han-banner troops were transferred from Qiqihar, Boduna and other garrisons. Its early population therefore reflected the different communities serving within the banner system.

Military provisioning soon gave the settlement further substance. A naval battalion was established in 1736 together with the Hengji granary. The following year, Heilongjiang general Nasutu obtained approval to establish official farms at Hulan, recruiting cultivators and their families from the Shengjing banners. Each cultivator was allotted land and two thatched rooms; ten cultivators formed a farm. Forty farms were initially established, increasing to fifty in 1742. These fields, stores and military households formed the foundations of the eighteenth-century town.