Ethnic Russians (russian: Pусские в Китае; ) or Russian Chinese, are one of the 56
ethnic groups
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
officially recognized in China.
Enhe Russian Ethnic Township is the only
ethnic township
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
in China designated for China's
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
minority. Russians have been living in China for centuries and are typically the descendants of the Russians who settled in China since the 17th century. Ethnic Russians in China are Chinese citizens. Many of them are descendants of Cossacks. There are currently over 16,000 ethnic Russians in China who have lived their entire life as Chinese citizens. In the census of 1957 there were 9,000 ethnic Russians. The 1978 census counted just 600 Russians, but the figure rose to 2,935 in the 1982 census and 13,504 in the 1990 census.
History
Russians in Harbin
The first generation of Russians built the city from scratch. By 1913, Harbin had become an established Russian colony for the construction and maintenance work on the
China Eastern Railway
The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, russian: Китайско-Восточная железная дорога, or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (als ...
. A record shows Harbin had a total of 68,549 people, most of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
n and
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
descent. There were a total of 53 different nationalities. Most of the Harbin population were of European descent. Most were ethnic Russian including a minority of Germans, Ukrainians, Jews and Poles.
In the decade from 1913 to 1923, Russia went through
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
, and the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
. In the 1920s Harbin was flooded with 100,000 to 200,000
White émigré
White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to the revolutionary Bolshevik commun ...
s fleeing from Russia. Harbin held the largest Russian population outside of the state of Russia.
Harbin Russians under Chinese control and Japanese occupation
With Russian influence in Harbin coming to end. The citizens in Harbin had to live under Chinese and Japanese control for the next several decades.
In 1920, the Republic of China announced that it would no longer recognize the Russian consulates in China. On September 23, China ceased relations with representatives of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
and deprived Russians of extraterritorial rights. The Chinese government took over control of the institutions in Harbin such as courts, police, prison, post office, and some research and educational institutions.
From 1932 to 1945, Harbin Russians had a difficult time under the Manchukuo régime, and the Japanese occupation. Some Harbin Russians initially thought the occupation was good, hoping that the Japanese would help them in their anti-Soviet struggles and provide protection from the Chinese, who were desperately trying to restore the sovereignty of Harbin.
Russians in Xinjiang
Russian migrations
During the 17th century, the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
launched several military actions against
Qing Empire
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
. In 1644, a Russian army was defeated by a Qing army, some of the captives were incorporated into the
Eight Banners
The Eight Banners (in Manchu language, Manchu: ''jakūn gūsa'', ) were administrative and military divisions under the Later Jin (1616–1636), Later Jin and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasties of China into which all Manchu people, Manchu households ...
. During the
Battle of Yagsi, nearly 100 Russians surrendered to the Qing authorities, 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 1 ...
authorized them to join the Bordered Yellow Banner. Their descendants exist to this day and are known as
Albazinians
The Albazinians (Russian: албазинцы; Simplified Chinese: 阿尔巴津人, Traditional Chinese: 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 ...
. From 1860 to 1884, many Russians came to
Hulun Buir
Hulunbuir or Hulun Buir ( mn, , ''Kölün buyir'', Mongolian Cyrillic: Хөлөнбуйр, ''Khölönbuir''; zh, s=呼伦贝尔, ''Hūlúnbèi'ěr'') is a region that is governed as a prefecture-level city in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. ...
panning for gold and in 1900, Russian troops entered China, destroyed several sentries. By 1907 there were already 1,000 households of Russian settlers in the
Ergun Right Banner.
The earliest Russian immigrants who came to
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
were the (кержаки in Russian,
Old Believers
Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow bet ...
), who were persecuted under the reign of
Peter the Great
Peter I ( – ), most commonly known as Peter the Great,) or Pyotr Alekséyevich ( rus, Пётр Алексе́евич, p=ˈpʲɵtr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ, , group=pron was a Russian monarch who ruled the Tsardom of Russia from t ...
for refusing to convert to 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 ...
. They sent four heralds to negotiate with the Kazakh chief Kala Usman and they were allowed to settle down in
Burqin. After several years, they also pioneered some settlements in
Kanas
Kanas Lake (, Xiao'erjing: كَانَاسِ خٗ; Mongolian: Ханас нуур; , USY: Қанас Көли) is a lake in Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang, China. The lake is located in a valley in the Altai Mountains, near the very northern tip of X ...
,
Chuguchak
TachengThe official spelling according to (), as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Mongolian as Qoqak, is a county-level city (1994 est. pop. 56,400) and the administrative seat of Tacheng Prefecture, in northern Ili Kazakh A ...
and
Ili
Ili, ILI, Illi may refer to:
Abbreviations
* Irish Life International, part of Irish Life and Permanent
* Intuitive Logical Introvert, a personality type in socionics
* Influenza-like illness
* Iran Language Institute, a state-owned, non-profit ...
. In 1861, 160 Jirjaks entered the area of
Lop Nur
Lop Nur or Lop Nor (from a Mongolian name meaning "Lop Lake", where "Lop" is a toponym of unknown origin) is a former salt lake, now largely dried up, located in the eastern fringe of the Tarim Basin, between the Taklamakan and Kumtag deserts ...
to settle down.
Almost all the Jirjaks were devout Christians; they rarely communicated with other groups. According to the census in 1943, there were 1,200 Jirjaks in Bulqin and
Kaba. Many moved to Australia after the establishment of the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
In 1851, the
Treaty of Kulja
The Treaty of Kulja (also spelled Kuldja) () was an unequal treaty between Qing China and the Russian Empire, signed in 1851, opening Kulja ( Huiyuan and later Ningyuan) and Chuguchak to Sino-Russian trade. Prepared by the first Russian consul t ...
was established and many Russian merchants swarmed into
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
. The Russian merchants killed approximately 200 mineworkers at
Chuguchak
TachengThe official spelling according to (), as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Mongolian as Qoqak, is a county-level city (1994 est. pop. 56,400) and the administrative seat of Tacheng Prefecture, in northern Ili Kazakh A ...
, which enraged the local people, who burned the Russian trade circle down under the lead of two
Hui men Xu Tianrao and An Yuxian. As a result, the Russians forced the
Qing
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...
government to pay heavy
war reparations
War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war.
History
Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history.
R ...
. In 1871, the Russian Empire conquered the area of
Ili
Ili, ILI, Illi may refer to:
Abbreviations
* Irish Life International, part of Irish Life and Permanent
* Intuitive Logical Introvert, a personality type in socionics
* Influenza-like illness
* Iran Language Institute, a state-owned, non-profit ...
and many Russian merchants migrated there.
An anti-Russian uproar broke out when Russian customs officials, three Cossacks and a Russian courier invited local
Turki Muslim (Uyghur) prostitutes to a party in January 1902 in
Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
. This caused a massive brawl by the inflamed local Turki Muslim populace against the Russians on the pretext of protecting Muslim women because
anti-Russian sentiment
Anti-Russian sentiment, commonly referred to as Russophobia, is dislike or fear of Russia, the Russians, Russian culture. or Russian policy. The Collins English Dictionary defines it as intense and often irrational hatred of Russia. It is the ...
had built up. Even though morality was not strict in Kashgar, the local Turki Muslims clashed violently with the Russians before they were dispersed. The Chinese sought to end the tensions to avoid giving the Russians a pretext to invade.
After the riot, the Russians sent troops to Sarikol in Tashkurghan and demanded that the Sarikol postal services be placed under Russian supervision, the locals of Sarikol believed that the Russians would seize the entire district from the Chinese and send more soldiers even after the Russians tried to negotiate with the Begs of Sarikol and sway them to their side, they failed since the Sarikoli officials and authorities demanded in a petition to the Amban of Yarkand that they be evacuated to Yarkand to avoid being harassed by the Russians and objected to the Russian presence in Sarikol, the
Sarikolis did not believe the Russian claim that they would leave them alone and only involved themselves in the mail service.
When the
White Army
The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв ...
was defeated in the war against the
Bolsheviks
The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...
, many
Cossacks
The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...
and other refugees fled to Xinjiang under the lead of general
Ivanov
Ivanov, Ivanoff or Ivanow (masculine, bg, Иванов, russian: ИвановSometimes the stress is on Ива́нов in Bulgarian if it is a middle name, or in Russian as a rare variant of pronunciation), or Ivanova (feminine, bg, Иванов ...
. Some of them rioted in
Ili
Ili, ILI, Illi may refer to:
Abbreviations
* Irish Life International, part of Irish Life and Permanent
* Intuitive Logical Introvert, a personality type in socionics
* Influenza-like illness
* Iran Language Institute, a state-owned, non-profit ...
and
Chuguchak
TachengThe official spelling according to (), as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Mongolian as Qoqak, is a county-level city (1994 est. pop. 56,400) and the administrative seat of Tacheng Prefecture, in northern Ili Kazakh A ...
, but were finally suppressed by the Chinese warlord
Yang Zengxin
Yang Zengxin (; March 6, 1864 – July 7, 1928) was the ruler of Xinjiang after the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 until his assassination in 1928.
Life
Yang Zengxin was born in Mengzi, Yunnan Province, in 1864. Though a Han Chinese, he had c ...
. Part of them later joined the
Guihua soldiers recruited by the Xinjiang government.
From 1931 to 1938, the
Soviet
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, ...
government forced a lot of Chinese and their Russian relatives to move to China. More than 20,000 Russians entered China through the Crossings of Xinjiang and after 1941, many refugees fled to Xinjiang.
Xinjiang Russians under the reign of Yang Zengxin, Jin Shuren and Sheng Shicai
Under the reign of Yang Zengxin, the Russians in Xinjiang were mainly divided into 3 parts: some of the refugees had joined the Chinese nationality, were called "Guihua ren" (, lit. "Naturalized people") and had to fill out applications and write volunteer certificates. Yang ordered officials from various regions to distribute land for them, and gave them farm animals and seeds. Some had joined the USSR nationality. Others refused to join either nationality.
[''Eluosi zu jian shi'', p.18.]
In 1928, when
Jin Shuren
Jin Shuren (; c. 1883–1941) was a Chinese Xinjiang clique warlord who served as Governor of Xinjiang between 1928 and 1933.
Biography
Jin Shuren was born in Yongjing, Hezhou, Gansu. He graduated at the Gansu provincial academy and th ...
came to power, he strengthened supervision and taxation of the Russians. Freedom of movement and trade were curtailed. According to the records from ''Xinjiang Gazette'', from 1930 to 1931 there were 207 Russians who went through the Guihua procedure in
Ürümqi
Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...
and 288 in Chuguchak.
In 1933, Jin abdicated. In 1935, the 2nd People's Congress was held and the Guihua people were officially recognized as a minority group of Xinjiang.
Besides damage done by previous European explorers,
White movement bandits escaping from the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
were responsible for vandalizing much of the Buddhist art at the
Mogao Grottoes
The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gans ...
. They had caused trouble in
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, but were defeated when they tried to attack Qitai. The Governor of Xinjiang,
Yang Zengxin
Yang Zengxin (; March 6, 1864 – July 7, 1928) was the ruler of Xinjiang after the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 until his assassination in 1928.
Life
Yang Zengxin was born in Mengzi, Yunnan Province, in 1864. Though a Han Chinese, he had c ...
, arranged for them to be transported to Dunhuang at the Mogao Grottoes, after talks with Governor Lu Hongtao of Gansu. The bandits wrote profanities on Buddhist statues, destroyed or damaged paintings, gouging out eyes and amputating the limbs of the statues, in addition to committing arson. This damage can still be seen to this day.
In 1931, the
Kumul Rebellion
The Kumul Rebellion (, "Hami Uprising") was a rebellion of Hami, Kumulik Uyghurs from 1931 to 1934 who conspired with Hui people, Hui Islam in China, Chinese Muslim Gen. Ma Zhongying to overthrow Jin Shuren, governor of Xinjiang. The Kumul Uygh ...
broke out in Xinjiang and the Province Army was defeated by
Ma Zhongying's troops. So Jin Shuren ordered
Zhang Peiyuan to form the Guihua army. The conscripted Russians were organized as the 1st Guihua Cavalry under the regimental commander Mogutnov. Later the cavalry were expanded into two groups, with Antonov and Bapingut as the commanders. Zhang Peiyuan commanded the Guihua Army and the Province Army finally defeated Ma's army, reoccupied Zhenxi and raised the siege of
Hami
Hami (Kumul) is a prefecture-level city in Eastern Xinjiang, China. It is well known as the home of sweet Hami melons. In early 2016, the former Hami county-level city was merged with Hami Prefecture to form the Hami prefecture-level city with t ...
. In 1932, the peasants of
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
rebelled under the lead of Makhsut, but were beaten down by Guihua Army. Near the Chinese New Year Eve of 1933, the capital Ürümqi was besieged by Ma Shimin's units during the
Battle of Urumqi (1933)
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
,
Jin Shuren
Jin Shuren (; c. 1883–1941) was a Chinese Xinjiang clique warlord who served as Governor of Xinjiang between 1928 and 1933.
Biography
Jin Shuren was born in Yongjing, Hezhou, Gansu. He graduated at the Gansu provincial academy and th ...
formed the 2nd Guihua Cavalry and repulsed them.
The Guihua soldiers were unhappy with Jin's arrears of military expenditures. Several Jin dissenters persuaded
Pappengut and Antonov to launch a coup d'état, and they occupied the city defense command on the afternoon of April 12. Later Jin Shuren fled to the outskirts. At the same night, they established the Interim Sustain Committee and sent liaison officers to contact
Sheng Shicai
Sheng Shicai (; 3 December 189513 July 1970) was a Chinese warlord who ruled Xinjiang from 1933 to 1944. Sheng's rise to power started with a coup d'état in 1933 when he was appointed the ''duban'' or Military Governor of Xinjiang. His rule o ...
. Later that night Jin's troops fought back, but were finally defeated and Jin had to return to give up his office, more than 70 Russians died in that battle.
When Ma Zhongying heard that the coup had taken place in Xinjiang, he promptly led the army to the west and sent his general Ma Heying to Altay. In May 1933, the Russian and Kazakh peasants of Bulqin armed themselves to fight against Ma's army, but were forced to give ground. Sheng ordered Guihua colonel Helovsky to reinforce them, and defeated Ma Heying after two days. In June 1933, Sheng Shicai and Ma Zhongying fought a decisive battle at
Ziniquan, Ma was defeated, and was forced to flee to
Turpan
Turpan (also known as Turfan or Tulufan, , ug, تۇرپان) is a prefecture-level city located in the east of the autonomous region of Xinjiang, China. It has an area of and a population of 632,000 (2015).
Geonyms
The original name of the cit ...
.
Zhang Peiyuan then defected and joined forces with Ma Zhongying. Together, they almost defeated Sheng Shicai at the
Battle of Urumqi (1933–34). During the
Soviet invasion of Xinjiang, however, the Soviets intervened on the side of the Provincial government and the Guihua White Russians, and Ma Zhongying ended up in control of southern Xinjiang while the provincial government controlled the north.
Georg Vasel, a German Nazi agent, was told “Must I tell him that I am a Russian? You know how the Tungans hate the Russians.” by his driver, a White Russian when meeting
Tungan (
Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
)
Ma Zhongying.
In the 1930s, during the
Kumul Rebellion
The Kumul Rebellion (, "Hami Uprising") was a rebellion of Hami, Kumulik Uyghurs from 1931 to 1934 who conspired with Hui people, Hui Islam in China, Chinese Muslim Gen. Ma Zhongying to overthrow Jin Shuren, governor of Xinjiang. The Kumul Uygh ...
, the traveler Ahmad Kamal was asked by "Turki" (Uighur) men if the veils donned by Turki women in Xinjiang were also worn by women in America (Amerikaluk).
The label of "whores" (Jilops) was used for Russian (Russ) and American (Amerikaluk) women by Turki men when what these women wore in public while bathing and the fact that no veil was worn by them was described by Ahmad Kamal to the Turki men.
''Chinese swines and Russ infidels'' was a saying by Turki Muslims (Uyghurs) in Xinjiang.
Anti Russian hatred was spouted by Tungans (Hui Muslims) to the adventurer Ahmad Kamal in Xinjiang.
Ahmad Kamal saw Russians in the bazar at Aksu.
he saw Russian soldiers and Russian girls in the bazar at Urumchi.
In the summer of 1934, when the war ended pro tempore, Sheng retracted the Guihua Headquarters, and selected about 500 Russians to form the 6th Cavalry to quarter at Ürümqi. In 1937, the Cavalry and the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
finally defeated Ma Hushan's troops during the
Islamic rebellion in Xinjiang (1937)
In 1937 an Islamic rebellion broke out in southern Xinjiang. The rebels were 1,500 Uighur Muslims led by Kichik Akhund, who was tacitly aided by the new 36th Division, against the pro-Soviet provincial forces of the puppet Sheng Shicai.
St ...
. And later it was disbanded, all the Guihua soldiers became ordinary people. The White Russians again sided with the Soviets during the
Ili Rebellion
The Ili Rebellion () (Üch Wiläyt inqilawi) was a Uyghur separatist movement backed by the Soviet Union against the Kuomintang government of the Republic of China in 1944. After the start of the rebellion, the rebels established the Provision ...
in 1944.
During the Ili Rebellion, American telegrams reported that the Soviet secret police threatened to assassinate Muslim leaders from Ining and put pressure on them to flee to "inner China" via Tihwa (Ürümqi), White Russians grew fearful of Uyghur Muslim mobs as they chanted, "We freed ourselves from the yellow men, now we must destroy the white.
After World War II
In the last days of World War II the
USSR entered the war against Japan and invaded western China. In doing so, Soviet forces encountered, to their surprise, Russian
Old Believer
Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow bet ...
villages. Many of the Old Believer men were taken back to Russia and imprisoned. Those who stayed found their way of life drastically changed and they often sought ways to leave China. The
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
and
World Council of Churches
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...
learned of the Old Believers' plight and came to their aid, helping them gather in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
and prepare for resettlement. Those from
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...
and some from
Sinkiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
went to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Others from Sinkiang went to
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and a few went to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. The receiving countries offered them refugee assistance, including land, equipment, building materials and food.
One group aboard a ship stopped for a few days in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, which since 1905 had been the center of a large community of
Spiritual Christians
Spiritual Christianity (russian: духовное христианство) is the group of belief systems held by so-called ''folk Protestants'' (), including non-Eastern Orthodox indigenous faith tribes and new religious movements that emerge ...
from Russia. The ''Pryguny'' who recently immigrated via Iran rushed to the port and offered to host the Old Believers at their homes and prayer halls. In the process, addresses were exchanged. Later, once settled in South America, the elders used these addresses to contact potential sponsors, and eventually came to Los Angeles, with recommendations to go north to
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
. ''Pryguny'' in Oregon agreed to advise them in settlement. Later on, the Sinkiang Old Believers in South America also joined the growing Old Believer community in Oregon. Therefore, a number of Russian Old Believers now live in
Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...
, Oregon.
Some Russians found employment and remained in China: as late as 1969,
an Australian journalist in the region identified a "Kazakh
cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
regiment of the People's Republic of China — Chinese Cossacks — stationed in the foothills of the
Tien Shan
The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...
".
Russians at the Argun
The Tryokhrechye ( rus, Трёхречье, p=trʲɵxˈrʲet͡ʃjɪ ‘Three-River Country’,
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
: 三河, ''Sānhé'' id.) designates a region of former Russian settlement in the Northeast of
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
, in the present-day city-prefecture of
Hulunbuir
Hulunbuir or Hulun Buir ( mn, , ''Kölün buyir'', Mongolian Cyrillic: Хөлөнбуйр, ''Khölönbuir''; zh, s=呼伦贝尔, ''Hūlúnbèi'ěr'') is a region that is governed as a prefecture-level city in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. ...
, at the border with
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, of roughly 11,500 km
2 size. It takes its name from the three rivers
Gan
The word Gan or the initials GAN may refer to:
Places
*Gan, a component of Hebrew placenames literally meaning "garden"
China
* Gan River (Jiangxi)
* Gan River (Inner Mongolia),
* Gan County, in Jiangxi province
* Gansu, abbreviated ''Gā ...
, Derbul and Khaul that descend from the heavily forested
Khingan Mountains
The Greater Khingan Range or Da Hinggan Range (; IPA: ), is a -long volcanic mountain range in the Inner Mongolia region of Northeast China.
It was originally called the Xianbei Mountains, which later became the name of the northern branch of th ...
in the East and join the border river
Argun in the West. In the North, there are dense
Taiga
Taiga (; rus, тайга́, p=tɐjˈɡa; relates to Mongolic and Turkic languages), generally referred to in North America as a boreal forest or snow forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests consisting mostly of pines, spruce ...
forests, in the South – the open steppe around
Hailar
Hailar District, formerly a county-level city, is an urban district that serves as the seat of the prefecture-level city Hulunbuir in northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. Hulunbuir, due to its massive size, is a city in administrative terms only, ...
. While the region is naturally separated from
Manchuria
Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...
by the Khingan, it is quite open to Russian territory across the Argun as the river freezes in winter and presents many fords and islands even in summer.
While soils on the left (Russian) bank of the Argun are poor, those in the Trekhrechye are fertile, enabling agriculture as known in Russia proper. Forests in the East provided wood and game, the steppe to the South offered ample pasture.
The Argun river served as a
Sino-Russian border since the 1689
treaty of Nerchinsk
The Treaty of Nerchinsk () of 1689 was the first treaty between the Tsardom of Russia and the Qing dynasty of China. The Russians gave up the area north of the Amur River as far as the Stanovoy Range and kept the area between the Argun River ...
but was hardly policed in a meaningful way. While the Russians erected Cossack posts (''
ostrogi'') in the
Transbaikal
Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykalye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia.
The steppe and ...
region, the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
was for a long time not interested in development of their side of the border.
After the
Decembrist revolt
The Decembrist Revolt ( ru , Восстание декабристов, translit = Vosstaniye dekabristov , translation = Uprising of the Decembrists) took place in Russia on , during the interregnum following the sudden death of Emperor Al ...
of 1825, political prisoners were sent to the
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 ...
area. Some of them are said to have escaped from
Katorga
Katorga ( rus, ка́торга, p=ˈkatərɡə; from medieval and modern Greek: ''katergon, κάτεργον'', "galley") was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union). Prisoner ...
(
penal labor) across the river and to have married
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
women. Since the 1870s,
Cossacks
The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...
began grazing their cattle on the Chinese side, first along the Khaul river which is closest to Russia, only a day's ride away from the Russian settlements. They erected simple shelters for haymaking in summer and autumn and for hunting in winter. Already before 1900, some of these cattle stations began to coalesce into the first villages, like ''Manerka'' (Russian: Манерка) at the lower Khaul.
These settlers were tolerated by Chinese officials, usually themselves from nomadic groups (e.g.
Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
,
Solons The Solon people () are a subgroup of the Ewenki (Evenk) people of northeastern Asia. They live in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Heilongjiang Province, and constitute the majority of China's Ewenki.
Terminology and classification
T ...
).
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...
, who would have preferred farming like the Russians, were at first not allowed to settle here. Around 1900, there were only a few Chinese shopkeepers in the area, selling alcohol and tobacco. The latter became much more profitable after the introduction of customs controls in 1900 and especially with the end of the 50-
verst
A verst (russian: верста, ) is an obsolete Russian unit of length defined as 500 sazhen. This makes a verst equal to .
Plurals and variants
In the English language, ''verst'' is singular with the normal plural ''versts''. In Russian, the no ...
free trade zone along the border.
The Qing authorities unsuccessfully tried to encourage Han farmers to settle there but from 1905 they replaced indigenous officials with Han men, much to the chagrin of the Mongols. After the
revolutionary turmoil of 1911, China struggled to reassert control of the Hulunbuir area which was partially achieved in 1915, fully only in 1920.
The Russian civil war and its aftermath
The
Russian civil war
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
and its aftermath changed the make-up of the Trekhrechye Russian community. Four waves of immigrants might be distinguished: (1) Cossacks who had lived just on the Russian side on the Argun and now settled down on the Chinese side; (2) other refugees of the civil war from the remainder of Transbaikalia, many hoping to return soon; (3) the largest wave: refugees from
Soviet collectivization
The Soviet Union introduced the collectivization (russian: Коллективизация) of its agricultural sector between 1928 and 1940 during the ascension of Joseph Stalin. It began during and was part of the first five-year plan. Th ...
, starting in 1929 (Russian: Тридцатники ''tridtsatniki'', "1930-ers"); (4) laid-off employees of the
Eastern Chinese Railway which was run largely by Russians up until that time. As a result of this, ethnic Russians represented more than 80% of this region's population in the late 1930s and early 40s.
The Cossack settlers organized an administration of their own, consisting of village elders, with a chief elder in the village of Suchye (Russian: Сучье), where there was also a Chinese district chief. Chinese authorities attempted to assimilate the emigrants in the 1920s by introducing passports, raising taxes, prohibiting Orthodox feast days. When the archbishop of Harbin visited Dragotsenka in 1926, he was arrested.
At its height, there were 21 Russian villages in the Three-River Country, with ''Dragotsenka'' (Russian: Драгоценка, modern ''Sanhexiang'' ) as its political and socioeconomic center. Dragotsenka counted only 450 inhabitants in 1933 but grew to 3,000 in 1944. Only half of those inhabitants were Russians whereas there lived 1,000 Chinese and 500 Japanese. (Most of the other villages were almost exclusively inhabited by Russians.) There was also a 500-strong garrison nearby. It was the seat of the head cossack, responsible for the Russians in the area, as well as the seat of regional police and a Japanese military mission. There was a small power station, a refinery for vegetable oil, a steel-rolling mill, a dairy factory, auto repair shops, saddleries, leather and felt factories, a post and telegraph office, a bank, and branches of national trading houses. Most of the Chinese worked in small own businesses. The Russian community could find here its only high school in the area, the seat of the Russian Association and the local branch of the nation-wide ''Office for the Russian Emigrants' Affairs'' (BREM) which published the weekly newspaper ''The Cossack Life'' (Russian: Казачья Жизнь).
To Soviet visitors of the late 1940s, the Tryokhrechye villages seemed like curious, almost museum-like images of life in prerevolutionary Siberia. The villages were grouped around long straight streets and consisted of
blockhouses
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stron ...
made of
larch
Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...
wood, facing south, with ocher-painted floors. A similar archaism prevailed in religion and customs. 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 ...
continued to play a central role. In addition to St. Peter and Paul's Church in Dragotsenka, there were nine other village churches and one monastery. With regards to traditions, people would e.g. strew flour into their hallways nine days after
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
and check the next morning whether their dead parents had returned. On
Whitmonday, the Cossacks washed and consecrated their horses.
During the
Soviet intervention for the Chinese Eastern Railway, the Red Army led punitive expeditions into the Tryokhrechye in August and September 1929. It was reported that 150 emigrants were killed, and that there was a wave of refugees to
Harbin
Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...
. For some time before,
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
units had made small-scale raids onto Soviet territory. The Russian diaspora proved to be well-connected: The Russians of
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
pleaded to US
President Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Grea ...
in a telegram to put an end to "the bloody nightmare of the Red henchmen".
Japanese occupation and World War II
In this climate of
anti-Soviet
Anti-Sovietism, anti-Soviet sentiment, called by Soviet authorities ''antisovetchina'' (russian: антисоветчина), refers to persons and activities actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the ...
fear, the Three-River Russians initially welcomed the
Japanese invasion. In December 1932, they greeted the new "era of order and justice" and promised their cooperation. Japan permitted a certain degree of cultural autonomy for minorities like the Russians, mainly to counter the numerically dominant Han Chinese in their new puppet state,
Manchukuo
Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Northeast China, Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 afte ...
. Russian language propaganda of Manchukuo painted local life in idyllic colors.
This initial optimism by weakened by strict Japanese surveillance. The main tool for this was the BREM with which they had to register. In 1944 the BREM district for the
Khingan (incl. Tryokhrechye) was the second largest by members (21,202) after Harbin (39,421). The BREM organized local propaganda and indoctrination, especially for Russian youth, and the celebrations for March 1, Manchukuo's national holiday. From 1937 onwards, control of the border region was intensified, and from the 1940s, traveling to and settling in the region required a permit. This increased the isolation of the community.
The small Russian community beyond the Argun drew a disproportionate interest of Japanese imperial researchers: ethnographers, anthropologists, agronomists. The number of their publication exceeds the Russian and Chinese ones by far, and much of what we know about the community comes from Japanese research. They idolized the Cossacks and their way of dealing with the harsh climate, drawing potential conclusions for the settlement of Japanese in Manchuria.
With the Soviet invasion in 1945, the secret service (
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
) entered the area and arrested about a quarter of the male population, esp. the larger number of the ''tridtsatniki'', who were deported to the
Gulag
The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...
. The other residents received Soviet passports. In autumn 1949, the farms of the remaining Russians were
forcibly collectivized. Most of them were repatriated to the Soviet Union over the following years, with the last significant wave going to
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
in 1955–56; Chinese farmers took over the vacated areas. Most of the Russians who stayed, emigrated to
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
or
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
after the Chinese government permitted them to do so in 1962. The very few remaining Russians relocated back to the left riverbank 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 goal ...
. Soviet citizens were not harassed but those of mixed ancestry (''polukrovtsy''‚ half-bloods‘) were accused of espionage, often tortured and killed. Speaking Russian was forbidden during this time.
Shanghai Russians
Current status
The 1957 census counted 9,000 ethnic Russians in China, while the 1978 census counted just 600. That number rose again to 2,935 in the 1982 census and 13,504 in the 1990 census, mostly in northern
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
and
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...
. Some of them live in
Enhe
Enhe Russian Ethnic Township () is an ethnic township in Northeast Inner Mongolia under the administration of Ergun City. The township along the banks of the Argun River. Enhe is the only ethnic township in China designated for China's Russian ...
and
Shiwei, the only Russian ethnic townships in China. There continues to be disagreement over the number of ethnic Russians living in China.
Statistics as of the 2002 Census.
Pink designates native region.
Notable people
*
Lin Hu, lieutenant general, deputy commander of the
PLA Air Force
The People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF; ), also known as the Chinese Air Force (中国空军) or the People's Air Force (人民空军), is an aerial service branch of the People's Liberation Army, the regular armed forces of the Peo ...
*
Elizabetha Pavlovna Kishkina (; russian: Елизабета Павловна Кишкина), the wife of
Li Lisan
Li Lisan (; November 18, 1899 – June 22, 1967) was a Chinese politician, member of the Politburo, and later a member of the Central Committee.
Early years
Li was born in Liling, Hunan province in China in 1899, under the name of Li R ...
, niece of the last
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
of pre-Bolshevik
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
*
Chiang Fang-liang
Faina Chiang Fang-liang (, born Faina Ipat'evna Vakhreva (russian: Фаина Ипатьевна Вахрева, be, Фаіна Іпацьеўна Вахрава; 15 May 1916 – 15 December 2004) was the First Lady of the Republic of China ...
(; russian: Фаина Ипатьевна Вахрева), the
First Lady
First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...
of the
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
in 1978–88
*
Nikolai Ivanovich Lunev (; russian: Николай Иванович Лунёв), deputy to the tenth
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...
*
Misha Ge
Mikhail Tszyunovich Ge (born 17 May 1991) is an Uzbekistani former competitive figure skater. He is the 2017 Internationaux de France bronze medalist. In addition to this, he has won nine international medals and four Uzbekistani Figure Skating ...
(), the figure skater of Russian, Chinese, and Korean descent, had Chinese nationality from 2001 to 2010.
See also
*
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 ...
*
Shanghai Russians
The Shanghai Russians, a sizable part of the Russian diaspora, flourished in Shanghai, China between the World Wars. By 1937 an estimated up to 25,000 Russians lived in the city; they formed the largest European group there by far. Most of them ...
*
Russians in Hong Kong
Russians in Hong Kong form one of the territory's smaller groups of expatriates and a minor portion of the worldwide Russian diaspora. Many Russians from China passed through Hong Kong in the 1950s through 1970s on their way to resettlement i ...
*
China Far East Railway
The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, russian: Китайско-Восточная железная дорога, or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (als ...
*
Chinese Eastern Railway Zone
The Chinese Eastern Railway or CER (, russian: Китайско-Восточная железная дорога, or , ''Kitaysko-Vostochnaya Zheleznaya Doroga'' or ''KVZhD''), is the historical name for a railway system in Northeast China (als ...
*
Grigory Semyonov
*
Chinese Tatars
Chinese Tatars ( zh, s=塔塔尔族, t=塔塔爾族, p=Tǎtǎ'ěrzú; tt-Cyrl, Кытай татарлары, translit=Qıtay tatarları) form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.
The number of ...
*
Burhan Shahidi
Burhan Shahidi ( ug, بۇرھان شەھىدى, برهان شهيدي, translit=Burhan Shehidi; zh, s=包尔汉·沙希迪, t=包爾漢·沙希迪, p=Bāo'érhàn·Shāxīdí; russian: Бурхан Шахиди; tt-Cyrl, Борһан Шәһид ...
*
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 ...
*
China–Russia relations
China–Russia relations, also known as Sino-Russian relations, are the international relations between the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation. Diplomatic relations between China and Russia improved after the dissolution of t ...
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
*Smith, Nicol (1940). ''Burma Road: The Story of the World's Most Romantic Highway'' The Bobbs-Merrill Company, New York (34–35)
*Zissermann, Lenore Lamont (2016), ''Mitya's Harbin; Majesty and Menace'', Book Publishers Network,
External links
Security service investigation followed Orthodox priest's deportation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Russians In ChIna
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
Ethnic groups officially recognized by China