abbr. for Heilongjiang province 黑龍江|黑龙江[Hei1 long2 jiang1]
Pictograph of a person whose face has been tattooed, now written as 墨. In ancient China criminals were punished by having their faces permanently marked. Later writers reanalyzed the character as a chimney being blackened by fire, so the bottom component was written to look like 炎 (flame).
《說文》：“黑，火所熏之色也。从炎上出囦。囦古字。”
tattoo the face for a crime committed