Qiqihar, also known as Hecheng, is a prefecture-level city under the jurisdiction of Heilongjiang Province. Approved by The State Council, Qiqihar is an important industrial base in China, a central city in western Heilongjiang and an important commodity grain base in Northeast China. The city has jurisdiction over 7 municipal districts, 8 counties and 1 county-level city, with a total area of 42,469 square kilometers. According to the seventh census data, as of midnight on November 1, 2020, the permanent population of Qiqihar was 4,067,489. In 2021, the GDP of Qiqihar reached 122.45 billion yuan, an increase of 6.6% over the previous year.

Qiqihar is located in northeast China, Songnen Plain in northeast China, at the confluence of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Mongolia provinces, Daqing and Suihua in the east, Baicheng City in Jilin Province in the south, Hulun Buir in Inner Mongolia in the west, and Heihe and Greater Khingan Mountains in the north.

Qiqihar is a national historical and cultural city, with both Angangxi civilization and industrial civilization. There are not only ethnic folk culture and religious culture, but also hundreds of years of diaspora former residence, standing people's former residence and other diaspora frontier culture. There are relics of official offices that effectively controlled the border areas, such as Heilongjiang General's Mansion, General's Yamen and Military Inspector's Office, as well as historical and cultural relics such as Tazicheng, the Golden Great Wall and Centennial Middle East Railway Station. Qiqihar Zhalong Nature Reserve has the reputation of "the world's largest wetland and the hometown of Chinese cranes".
In 2016, Qiqihar was listed as one of the first batch of national comprehensive pilot areas for new urbanization. In October 2020, it was awarded the national model city (county) of double support.