Site of the Qing Dynasty Zijin Gou Gold Mine

　　Zijin Gou is situated in Jingu Forest Farm, Mohe County, with geographical coordinates between 122°05′ and 122°34′ east longitude, and 53°15′ to 53°22′ north latitude. Also known as “Laogou” or “Old Gold Gully,” it has been a gold mining hotspot since the late Qing Dynasty to the present day. Also referred to as the Old Gold Gully, it stretches 14 kilometers in length and is a tributary of the Ermu’er River, renowned worldwide for its abundant gold production. Having been discovered over 100 years ago, the sands here have been sifted and panned dozens of times, yet gold can still be found—testament to the extraordinary richness of its gold deposits.

　　In 1877, an elderly Oroqen man digging a grave for his horse in the area discovered numerous gold veins and scooped up a handful of river sand from the bed of Laogou, which was nearly half gold dust. This news quickly spread across the Russian regions of Amur and Siberia, as well as Heilongjiang in China. A Russian named Serebryakov personally led a team of mining experts to survey the Laogou valley.

　　After analysis, it was found to contain 87.5% pure gold, 7.9% silver, and 4.6% other impurities. He then gathered a group of Russians to illegally cross the Heilongjiang River and mine gold in China. A large number of ethnic Chinese also joined in the illegal mining, peaking at over ten thousand people. Between 1883 and 1884 alone, more than 219,000 taels of gold were illicitly extracted. During this period, Heilongjiang General Wensu repeatedly petitioned the imperial court to authorize official mining operations. It wasn’t until 1887 when the newly appointed Heilongjiang General Gongtang petitioned the Qing government to establish and oversee the management of the Mohe Gold Mine that the Qing government approved the proposal. The task was assigned to Viceroy Li Hongzhang of Zhili, who appointed acting prefect Li Jinyong of Jilin to oversee operations. After conducting an on-site survey, Li Jinyong officially began mining operations in October 1888, founding the Mohe Gold Mine. By 1889, the Qing government had extracted 20,000 taels of gold from the site, and by 1895, the yield reached over 50,000 taels. Thanks to Li Jinyong’s integrity, diligence, and tireless efforts, gold mining in Laogou reached its golden age.

　　In 1890, Li Jinyong passed away, but the Mohe Gold Mine he founded had fulfilled the Qing government’s mining objectives — boosting local prosperity and borderland development. Upon the recommendation of Viceroy Li Hongzhang, Emperor Guangxu granted permission to build a memorial shrine for Li Jinyong near Shangdaopan in Mohe (now the location of Jingu Forest Farm). The shrine featured a wooden statue of him, housed in a timber structure that was destroyed by the end of the Republican era.

　　In 1900, during the invasion by Russian bandits, the Mohe Gold Mine was disbanded. However, for over 100 years since the discovery of gold in Zijin Gou, mining activities never ceased. According to incomplete statistics, in 1908, the gold output reached over 270,000 taels. 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 and built at the Laogou River Gold Mine in Zijin Gou. From 1989 to 1990, the annual gold output reached 25,000 taels. Since the 1990s, after private gold mining was permitted, small gold dredgers from Hunan were introduced. Gold mining mainly falls into two categories: mechanical and manual. Mechanical mining includes gold dredgers and large sluices, primarily relying on loaders and bulldozers. Manual mining represents the most primitive form of gold panning, using tools such as gold shovels, picks, axes, and hammers. Miners often construct wooden troughs, line the bottom with felt, and create ladder-like wooden grids. Usually, two or three people operate the sluice, shoveling ore sand onto the trough, pouring water to wash the material, then collecting the heavy sediment deposited on the felt. This sediment is scooped into a gold pan, rinsed with water, and finally, the gold particles are retrieved.