Ruins of the Old City Where the Ningguta General Was Stationed

Ruins of the Old City Where the Ningguta General Was Stationed

The ruins of the old city where the Ningguta General was stationed are a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Era: Qing Dynasty

The ruins of the old city where the Ningguta General was stationed are located in Changting Town, Hailin City, Mudanjiang, Heilongjiang Province. It was a renowned stronghold in China’s northeastern frontier during the Qing Dynasty, established by the Qing government north of Shengjing (Shenyang) to administer the vast regions of the Heilongjiang and Ussuri River basins. The stationing and administrative sites of the Ningguta General were relocated twice and moved to three different locations, namely the old city of Ningguta, the new city of Ningguta, and Jilin Wula. In 1636, Vice Commander Wu Baha supervised the construction of the (old) Ningguta City. After 1640, the Ningguta General replaced the Nurgan Dusi to exercise jurisdiction over the Heilongjiang and Ussuri River basins, and the old city of Ningguta became a military center defending the northeastern frontier north of Shengjing. In 1666 (the fifth year of the Kangxi reign), the Ningguta General moved to the new city (within present-day Ning’an City), and the old city of Ningguta served as the station of the Vice Commander (later promoted to Commander) for 30 years.

Ningguta is not a “tower,” but the name of a city — a place of exile for criminals during the Qing Dynasty. The old city was located on the south bank of the Hailin River in Jiujie Town, west of present-day Anning County, Heilongjiang Province. Ningguta was a remote area; in ancient times, the environment was harsh, the climate extreme, with barren land unfit for growing crops — an ideal place for rehabilitating criminals. But if it wasn’t a tower, why was it called a “tower”? Legend has it that six brothers of the Qing imperial family once lived here. In the Manchu language, “six” is “ninggu” and “person” is “ta,” hence the ancient name “Ningguta.” Exiling criminals to Ningguta had two implications: first, to punish evil and promote virtue — making criminals endure hardship in a foreign land, reflecting on their misdeeds, and being cleansed by wind and sand; second, to contribute to the development of the Qing imperial family’s homeland. Although there were many remote and underdeveloped areas in Qing China, why was Ningguta the top choice for exile? The intention was clear: Ningguta was the birthplace of the Manchu people and the ancestral home of the Qing imperial family. Criminals sent here not only had to reclaim land, build roads and bridges to transform the region, but also endure hunger and serve local officials and Manchus as beasts of burden or servants, all to glorify their ancestors.

　　The practice of exiling criminals originated as early as the Tianfu era of the Later Jin during the Five Dynasties period, but it saw significant development during the Qing Dynasty, gradually establishing a comprehensive exile system with multiple designated exile sites. In the early years of the Shunzhi reign, the Great Qing Legal Code was formulated, detailing regulations on criminal exile, mainly covering the reasons and types of exile, the duration of sentences, and the living conditions of exiles. The “Great Qing Legal Code and Sub-statutes” published in the early Qianlong reign stipulated: “Robbers spared from death but reduced in sentence, those who robbed several households but confessed to only one, accomplices who turned in the ringleader and led to immediate capture, those who stole from graves twice… shall all be exiled to Ningguta and similar places.” Criminals sent to Ningguta were typically sentenced for ten years, after which their behavior was assessed. Those who showed remorse, reformed, and wished to return home could be granted permission. However, those sentenced to life imprisonment could never return to the interior unless specially pardoned by the emperor. According to historical records such as “General History of China” and “Draft History of Qing,” among those exiled to Ningguta were not only commoners and bannermen but also court officials. In the 12th year of the Shunzhi reign (1655), Deputy Censor Peng Changgeng of the Ministry of Personnel and First-Class Baron Xu Er’an praised Prince Regent Dorgon in a memorial and petitioned for his rehabilitation and restoration of titles. The emperor referred the matter to his ministers for secret deliberation, which resulted in a death sentence for both. But considering their past service, the emperor commuted their sentences to exile in Ningguta.

During the Qing Dynasty, countless “prominent families” were also exiled to Ningguta. During the Kangxi reign, the sensational cases of Dai Mingshi’s “Nanshan Collection” and Fang Xiaobiao’s “Records of Yunnan and Guizhou” involved three to four hundred people, including many innocent individuals such as the emperor’s favored Jiangsu Governor Zhang Boxing and the scholar Fang Bao. After reviewing the case, the emperor, moved by the large number of defendants and perhaps seeking good omens ahead of his 60th birthday, decided to execute only Dai Mingshi and spared his family. As for Fang Xiaobiao, since he had already passed away, he was not further investigated, but his son and family were exiled to Ningguta.

　　In addition to Ningguta, another place of exile during the Qing Dynasty was Shangyang Fort, located 20 kilometers east of Kai County, Liaoning Province. In the fourth year of the Shunzhi reign, during late autumn with chilly winds and drizzling rain, guards at the Nanjing city gate — then under Qing control — were inspecting travelers. Suddenly, in the belongings of a Guangdong monk named Han Ke, who was attempting to leave for the south, they discovered contraband: a manuscript titled “Record of Resistance,” chronicling the deeds of anti-Qing loyalists. The Qing authorities were shocked, immediately detained him, and subjected him to torture, but to no avail. Later, the Ministry of Justice sentenced him to exile beyond the passes to Shenyang for “using writing to interfere with current affairs.” Han Ke died in the bitter cold of exile in the sixth year of the Shunzhi reign. In the same year, Li from Gaomi Mountain, Shandong, angered by the laws of the time, wrote to the emperor and was sentenced to death. Later, considering his mitigating circumstances, the sentence was commuted to caning and a forced march to Ningguta; eventually, even the caning was waived, and he was exiled to Shangyang Fort. Whether Ningguta, Shangyang Fort, or other prisons of the Qing era, they were all means of punishing and suppressing criminals or rebels to protect the interests of the ruling class. They were products of feudal society, forms of criminal reform under imperfect legal systems, and disappeared along with the feudal dynasties.