Qiqihar

Qiqihar (simplified Chinese: 齐齐哈尔; traditional Chinese: 齊齊哈爾; pinyin: Qíqíhāěr; Manchu: Cicigar ᠴᡳᠴᡳᡤᠠᡵ), alternate spelling Tsitsihar, is one of the 13 Larger Municipalities in China, and the second largest city in the Heilongjiang province, in the region of Manchuria. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 979,517 inhabitants, while the total population of the prefecture-level city was 5,367,003 at the 2010 census. These are mainly Han Chinese, though the city is also home to 34 minorities including Manchu, Daur, and Mongolians. Close to Qiqihar are numerous wetlands and the Zhalong Nature Reserve, famous in China for being home to numerous red-crowned cranes.

Qiqihar in The War That Came Early
Tsitsihar was a city in the Empire of Manchukuo. Although Manchukuo was officially neutral during Japan's war against the Soviet Union, it was used to funnel invading Japanese troops into Siberia. For this reason, the Soviets bombed Tsitsihar and Harbin. The civil government of Manchukuo issued a protest at this violation of their neutrality.