Site of the Qing Dynasty Yan Zhi Gou Gold Mine

Site of the Qing Dynasty Yan Zhi Gou Gold Mine

Yan Zhi Gou is located in Jinguo Forest Farm, Mohe County, with geographical coordinates between 122°05′ and 122°34′ east longitude, and 53°15′ and 53°22′ north latitude. Also known as "Lao Gou" (Old Gully) or "Lao Jin Gou" (Old Gold Gully), it has been a gold mining hotspot since the late Qing Dynasty to the present. Yan Zhi Gou, also called Lao Jin Gou, is a 14-kilometer-long tributary of the E'mu'er River, world-renowned for its abundant gold deposits. It has been over 100 years since Yan Zhi Gou was discovered. Although the soil here has been sifted and panned dozens of times, gold can still be found, testifying to the richness of its gold reserves.

In 1877, an elderly Oroqen man digging a grave for his horse here discovered numerous gold veins and scooped up a handful of river sand from the bottom of Lao Gou, which was nearly half gold dust. This news quickly spread to areas such as Amur and Siberia in Russia, and Heilongjiang in China. A Russian named Seletkin personally came with mining experts to survey the Lao Gou valley.

After examination, the sand was found to contain 87.5% pure gold, 7.9% silver, and 4.6% other impurities. He then gathered a group of Russians to cross the Heilongjiang River and illegally mine gold in China. A large number of ethnic Chinese also joined in the illegal mining, with the number peaking at over 10,000. Between 1883 and 1884 alone, more than 219,000 taels of gold were stolen. During this period, Heilongjiang General Wen Xu repeatedly petitioned the imperial court to allow official mining. It was not until 1887 that the newly appointed Heilongjiang General Gongtang petitioned the Qing government to establish and oversee the Mohe Gold Factory. The Qing government accepted the proposal and instructed Viceroy Li Hongzhang to supervise the project, appointing Jilin provincial candidate magistrate Li Jinrong to manage operations. After conducting an on-site survey, Li Jinrong officially began mining operations in October 1888, founding the Mohe Gold Factory. In 1889 alone, the Qing government obtained 20,000 taels of gold from there, and in 1895, over 50,000 taels. Thanks to Li Jinrong’s integrity, diligence, and dedicated management, gold mining in Lao Gou reached its peak.

In 1890, Li Jinrong passed away. The Mohe Gold Mine he founded had fulfilled the Qing government's goal of developing resources and strengthening border areas. Upon the petition of Viceroy Li Hongzhang, Emperor Guangxu approved the construction of a memorial shrine for Li Jinrong near Shangdaopan in Mohe (now the site of Jinguo Forest Farm). The shrine housed a wooden statue of him and was built with wooden structures, but it was destroyed by the end of the Republic of China era.

In 1900, Russian bandits invaded, leading to the collapse of the Mohe Gold Factory. However, for over 100 years since the discovery of gold in Yan Zhi Gou, gold mining has never completely ceased. According to incomplete statistics, in 1908, 270,000 taels of gold were produced. In 1934, during Japan’s invasion of China, 117,600 taels of gold were looted. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, especially since the 1980s, gold mining in Mohe entered a period of rapid development. Two 100-liter medium-sized mechanized gold dredgers were invested in and built at the Yan Zhi Gou Lao Gou River Gold Mine. From 1989 to 1990, 25,000 taels of gold were produced. Since the 1990s, when private gold mining was permitted, small gold dredgers from Hunan were introduced to the area. Gold mining mainly falls into two categories: mechanized mining and manual panning. Mechanized mining is further divided into gold dredgers and large sluices, primarily relying on loaders and bulldozers. Manual panning is the most primitive method of gold prospecting. Tools typically include gold shovels, gold picks, gold axes, and gold hammers. Wooden troughs are nailed together, with felt placed at the bottom and ladder-like wooden frames added. Usually, two to three people operate the sluice, shoveling ore sand onto the sluice, pouring water to wash the sand, then scooping the heavy sand from the felt into a gold pan using a ladle, shaking it with water, and finally obtaining the gold dust.