The Zeya (Russian: Зе́я; from indigenous Evenki word "djee" (blade); Chinese: 结雅; Manchu: ᠵᡳᠩᡴᡳᡵᡳ
ᠪᡳᡵᠠ, Mölendroff: jingkiri bira) is a northern, left tributary of the Amur in Amur Oblast, Russia. It is 1,242 km (772 mi) long, and has a drainage basin of 233,000 km (90,000 sq mi). The average flow of the river is 1,810 m/s (64,000 cu ft/s).
The Duchers (Russian: дючеры or дучеры) was the Russian name of the people populating the shores of the middle course of the Amur River, approximately from the mouth of the Zeya down to the mouth of the Ussuri, and possibly even somewhat further downstream. Their ethnic identity is not known with certainty, but it is usually assumed that they were a Tungusic people, related to the Jurchens and/or the Nanais.
The name of this ethnic group is sometimes also written in English as "Jucher".
Aigun (simplified Chinese: 瑷珲; traditional Chinese: 璦琿; pinyin: Ài Hún; Manchu: ᠠᡳ᠌ᡥᡡᠨ aihūn; Russian: Айгунь, romanized: Aigun) was a historic Chinese town in northern Manchuria, situated on the right bank of the Amur River, some 30 kilometres (19 mi) south (downstream) from the central urban area of Heihe (which is across the Amur from the mouth of the Zeya River and Blagoveschensk).
The Chinese name of the town, which literally means "Bright Jade", was a transliteration of the Manchu (or Ducher) name of the town. The current Mainland Chinese pronunciation Ài Huī does not reflect this, unlike the Taiwanese pronunciation which still follows the Old National Pronunciation Ài Hún.
Blagoveshchensk (Russian: Благовещенск, IPA: [bləɡɐˈvʲeɕːɪnsk], lit. 'City of the Annunciation') is a city and the administrative center of Amur Oblast, Russia. It is located at the confluence of the Amur and the Zeya Rivers, opposite the Chinese city of Heihe.
The Amur has formed Russia's border with China since the 1858 Aigun Treaty and the 1860 Treaty of Peking. The area north of the Amur belonged to the Manchu Qing dynasty by the Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689 until it was ceded to Russia by the Aigun Treaty in 1858.