![Simeon (Du)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Simeon_%28Du%29.jpg)
The Albazinians (Russian: албазинцы;
Simplified Chinese
Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to:
Mathematics
Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example
* Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...
: 阿尔巴津人,
Traditional Chinese
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...
: 阿爾巴津人) are one of the few groups of Chinese of Russian descent. There are approximately 250 Albazinians in China who are descendants of about fifty Russian
Cossacks from
Albazin
Albazino (russian: Албазино́; ) is a village ('' selo'') in Skovorodinsky District of Amur Oblast, Russia, noted as the site of Albazin (), the first Russian settlement on the Amur River.
Before the arrival of Russians, Albazino belo ...
on the
Amur River that were resettled by the
Kangxi Emperor
The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to ...
in the northeastern periphery of
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
in 1685.
Albazin
Albazino (russian: Албазино́; ) is a village ('' selo'') in Skovorodinsky District of Amur Oblast, Russia, noted as the site of Albazin (), the first Russian settlement on the Amur River.
Before the arrival of Russians, Albazino belo ...
was a Russian fort on the Amur River, founded by
Yerofey Khabarov
Yerofey Pavlovich Khabarov or Svyatitsky (russian: Ерофе́й Па́влович Хаба́ров (Святи́тский), ; the first name is often spelled Ярофей (Yarofey) in contemporary accounts; 1603 – after 1671), was a Russia ...
in 1651. It was stormed by
Qing troops in 1685. The majority of its inhabitants agreed to evacuate their families and property to
Nerchinsk
Nerchinsk ( rus, Не́рчинск; bua, Нэршүү, ''Nershüü''; mn, Нэрчүү, ''Nerchüü''; mnc, m=, v=Nibcu, a=Nibqu; zh, t=涅尔琴斯克(尼布楚), p=Niè'ěrqínsīkè (Níbùchǔ)) is a town and the administrative ce ...
, whereas several young Cossacks resolved to join the Manchu army and to relocate to Beijing. See
Sino-Russian border conflicts
The Sino-Russian border conflicts (1652–1689) were a series of intermittent skirmishes between the Qing dynasty of China, with assistance from the Joseon dynasty of Korea, and the Tsardom of Russia by the Cossacks in which the latter tried ...
.
Initiatives
Much uncertainty surrounds their migration to China. It is believed that, upon their arrival to the imperial capital, the Albazinians met the descendants of 33 Cossacks that had been captured by the Chinese in 1667 and several Cossacks that had settled in Beijing as early as 1649 and had become the parishioners of the
South Roman Catholic Cathedral in the city. The veracity of this oral tradition about the pre-Albazinian Russian diaspora in China is open to question.
The Albazinians formed a separate contingent of the imperial guard, known as the "unit of the yellow-stripe standard". Their first leader was Ananiy Uruslanov or Ulangeri, a Tatar in the employ of the Manchu. The Russian surnames Yakovlev, Dubinin and Romanov were rendered in Chinese as Yao (姚), Du (杜) and Luo (
Simplified Chinese
Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to:
Mathematics
Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example
* Simplification of algebraic expressions, ...
: 罗,
Traditional Chinese
A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays ...
: 羅). The Qing gave permission for
Solon
Solon ( grc-gre, Σόλων; BC) was an Athenian statesman, constitutional lawmaker and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic Athens.Aristotle ''Politics'' ...
widows to marry the Albazinians. They married with Mongol and Manchu women. The women available for marriage to the Albazinians were criminals from Beijing's jails. Their priest, Maxim Leontiev, was allowed to hold
divine service in a deserted
Lamaist shrine. An old icon of
St. Nicholas
Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day Demre ...
, evacuated by the Cossacks from Albazin, was placed in this unusual church, dedicated to the Holy Wisdom.
The Albazinian company was placed into the Manchu Bordered Yellow Banner and lived in the northeast of the "Tartar city" in Beijing. The Albazians were made into a
Baoyi company, not a military company.
Although the descendants of the Cossacks intermarried with the Chinese and gradually lost their command of the Russian language, the
Russian Orthodox Church
, native_name_lang = ru
, image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg
, imagewidth =
, alt =
, caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia
, abbreviation = ROC
, type ...
regularly sent missions to Beijing, starting in 1713. As a result, the Albazinians came to form the core of the
Chinese Orthodox Church
The Chinese Orthodox Church () is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox church in China. It was granted autonomy by its mother church, the Russian Orthodox Church, in 1957.
Earlier forms of Eastern Christianity
Christianity is said to have entered Ch ...
. In 1831,
Ioakinf Bichurin reported that there were 94 Albazinians in the capital of China. Other Russian travellers noted that, apart from their faith, the Albazinians were thoroughly Sinicized and bore little physical resemblance to the Russians. By the end of the 19th century, their number was estimated at 1,000.
The
Boxer Rebellion entailed the persecution of all Christians and Europeans in China. The Russian Orthodox Church claims that 222 Orthodox Chinese were martyred on 11 June 1900, including Father Mitrofan, who was later declared a holy
martyr
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...
. An Orthodox chapel used to mark the burial place of the
Chinese Orthodox martyrs in Beijing. It was destroyed in 1956 at the urging of the Soviet ambassador in China. Although several Albazinian families found it reasonable to move to the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
during the
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
, the bulk of them still reside in Beijing and
Tianjin
Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
.
Later history
After the first siege of
Albazin
Albazino (russian: Албазино́; ) is a village ('' selo'') in Skovorodinsky District of Amur Oblast, Russia, noted as the site of Albazin (), the first Russian settlement on the Amur River.
Before the arrival of Russians, Albazino belo ...
in 1685, most of the Cossacks were allowed to return to Russian territory at Nerchinsk, but nearly 45 of them decided to surrender to the Manchus. Many of these had native wives or concubines who were not allowed to leave the Manchu realm. They were sent to Beijing where they joined about 70 other Russians who had previously been captured or defected. They were enrolled in the seventeenth company of the fourth regiment of the
Bordered Yellow Banner
The Bordered Yellow Banner () was one of the Eight Banners of Manchu military and society during the Later Jin and Qing dynasty of China. The Bordered Yellow Banner was one of three "upper" banner armies under the direct command of the emperor ...
and given space in the northeast corner of the Tatar City of Peking (at a different place from the
O-lo-ssu Kuan). This was a 'household' rather than line unit and had non-combat duties like bow-making. Some were used as messengers to Nerchinsk. Since most were illiterate they were of little use as translators or sources of intelligence.
[from Patrick G. March,'Eastern Destiny:Russia in Asia and the North Pacific,1996, Chapters 5,6,12]
They were given an old Buddhist prayer house which was turned into the church of Saint Nicholas. The priest was Maxim Leonov who had been captured on the Amur in 1673 along with seventy other men. The Russian government was apparently unaware of the Saint Nicholas church, since, during the
Ides mission of 1692 they asked permission to build an Orthodox church in Peking. When
Tulishen went to Russia in 1712 he carried a request for a new priest, Father Maxim having died a year or so before. He returned with an
archimandrite
The title archimandrite ( gr, ἀρχιμανδρίτης, archimandritēs), used in Eastern Christianity, originally referred to a superior abbot (''hegumenos'', gr, ἡγούμενος, present participle of the verb meaning "to lead") wh ...
and nine lesser clerics (to serve a congregation of about 50). By the time of the Izmailov mission in 1722, only one priest and three junior clerics survived. The fifth article of the
Treaty of Kyakhta
The Treaty of Kyakhta (or Kiakhta),, ; , Xiao'erjing: بُلِيًاصِٿِ\ٿِاكْتُ تِيَوْيُؤ; mn, Хиагтын гэрээ, Hiagtiin geree, along with the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689), regulated the relations between Imperial ...
authorized the permanent presence of a church, a priest with three assistants and six students to learn the local language. One of these, Alexei Leontev, helped negotiate the 1768 convention of Kyakhta.
See also
*
Russians in China
Ethnic Russians (russian: Pусские в Китае; ) or Russian Chinese, are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized in China. Enhe Russian Ethnic Township is the only ethnic township in China designated for China's Russian minori ...
*
Harbin Russians
The term Harbin Russians or Russian Harbinites refers to several generations of Russians who lived in the city of Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. Russians and other Europeans settlers were responsible for turning Harbin into a European city with th ...
*
Russians in Hong Kong
Notes
References
Encyclopaedia of Cossackdom (USA, 1966-70)* D. Pozdnyayev. ''Orthodoxy in China (1900-1997)''.
равославие в Китае (1900-1997 гг.) Moscow, 1998.
* Serebebrennikov, J. J.; ''The Albazinians;'' China Journal, Vol. 17 (1932), p. 10-13
* Zizevskaya E.S.
The Albazinians in China'. Vladivostok, 2005.
{{Immigration to the People's Republic of China
Russian sub-ethnic groups
Social groups of Russia
Eastern Orthodoxy in China
Ethnic groups in China
Russian diaspora in China
History of Beijing
History of the Cossacks in Russia
Cossack diaspora
*
History of Christianity in China
1685 establishments in China