Millionka

Millionka was the old Chinese quarter of Vladivostok, Russia. Located north of the city's railway station and next to the port of Vladivostok, Millionka is a neighbourhood densely occupied by three-storey buildings with secret courtyards. Once known as Vladivostok's Chinatown, the neighbourhood accommodated up to 50,000 Chinese residents, until Joseph Stalin demanded the neighbourhood be cleared in 1936. Today, as a major cultural heritage site of the city, it is being transformed into the centre of fashion and cafe life in Vladivostok.

History

Early Chinese settlement

Before the Russian colonisation of the Far East, the Chinese had established a frontier garrison, known as Haisenwai. The Manchu people, who ruled China during the Qing dynasty, claimed much of the region as their ancestral homeland, until the land was conceded to Russia in 1860. The first Russian settlement of the city was established in 1860 by Tsarist soldiers, after which the region soon developed into a city, which had a large number of Chinese.

In 1884, the population of Chinese in Vladivostok reached 3,909. The city council made up a plan to evict the Chinese and Koreans to a specialised Chinese-Korean settlement, or "Kitaysko-Koreyskaya slobodka", near Kuperovskaya Pad. In 1892, the plan was approved by the Governor-General of the Primorskaya Oblast P. F. Unterberger, yet most Chinese in the city refused follow the order to move. In these early years, the Chinese lived scattered across the city. Although the city tried to introduce a passport system for the Chinese on arrival, the local police were unable to enforce the system. As the chief of police complained in 1886,

Failed relocation

On 11 September 1899 ( O.S. 29 August 1899), the military governor of Khabarovsk province, Nikolai Chichagov, enacted a decree legalising the decision of the city council regarding the Chinese quarter. The evicted Chinese sent an appeal to the Senate against this decision. The latter consulted the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which recognised the right of towns to evict Chinese to special quarters no other than with the Emperor's permission. The Governor-General of Priamursk, Nikolai Grodekov, presented to the Emperor a justification containing resolutions of the city authorities and reports of the highest officials of the governor-general's office. On 12 October 1902 (O.S. 29 September 1902), Nicholas II granted the right to city councils of the Far East to restrict the residence of Asiatic nationalities in special districts. On this basis were issued acts of municipal authorities which provided for creation of the Chinese quarter for Vladivostok in 1906. The decision to relocate Chinese to a special Chinese settlement near Kuperovskaya Pad was opposed by Vladivostok fortress' commandant, who claimed that the foreigners might spy on military objects near the region.

Formation of Millionka

In 1897, as the number of Vladivostok Chinese amounted to 5,580 people, the Chinese population gravitated to Semenovsky Kovsh, or the modern-day Sportivnaya Gavan', where there was a Chinese market named Semenovskii Bazaar, also the city's second Chinese market. The residential houses for rent to the Chinese were constructed in the late 1890s, by either Russian landowners or Chinese merchants who leased the land. From then on, there soon formed an unofficial Chinese residential area to the east of the market. By the end of the 1910s, the majority of Vladivostok Chinese lived in quarters bordered by Semenovsky Bazaar and Amur Bay's shore to the west, by Svetlanskaya street to the south, by Aleutskaya street to the east and by the line stretching from the city abattoir (near modern sports complex Olimpiysky) along Lately Street (present-day Utkinskaya) to the north. This part of Vladivostok was known as large and small Millionka. Up until 1910, there were over 50,000 Chinese living in the Chinese quarter. As G. A. Sukhachova puts,

Chinese life in Vladivostok

From the late 1890s to early 1920s, half of the city's population were Asian, while the Chinese were the largest Asian group. 83.3% of the Chinese in the city were male, in a sharp contrast with the roughly gender balanced Korean and Japanese populations in the city. Many of the Chinese in Millionka only lived there for a short while for a seasonal work. The neighbourhood had its own small shops, theatres, opium dens, brothels, and hideouts for smugglers and thieves. The city's economy was heavily dependent on the services provided by the Chinese merchants and businessmen in the neighbourhood. Specifically, the retail services of the city were controlled by the Chinese, as they had more retail shops than Russians did.

The whole neighbourhood was extremely overcrowded and had poor ventilation and low levels of hygiene, which often caused local health authority to condemn the situation of the Chinese quarter in the city centre. For example, in Semenovskaia Street. House No. 5 alone, there were 59 apartments with 300 to 350 tenants. The actual number of people living in the neighbourhood could double the official figure. After a cholera outbreak in 1890, the local government described "the extreme overcrowding and the impossible sanitary situation" in the Chinese quarter. The Chinese in the city were described as a threat to public health:
Although the local Russian government frequently attempted to expel the Chinese from the city and to limit the activities of the Chinese, such attempts were in vain, as the Chinese remained beyond the reach of the city's official and legal establishment. After the Bolsheviks took over the city in 1922, the new government considered the Chinese to be "aliens harmful from the political point of view." As the Soviet government banned free commercial enterprises in 1929, many Chinese left the city. The Soviet officials often described the neighbourhood as a hub for narcotics trafficking, opium dens, and prostitution networks, considering the area to be unsanitary, dangerous, and a massive fire hazard, which were then used as an excuse to deport the Chinese residents.

Liquidation and closure

On 17 April 1936, the Soviet Politburo resolved to liquidate Millionka. The operation began in May 1936, as the Primorsky Krai NKVD searched and arrested undocumented tenants, criminals and brothel keepers in Millionka, expelling all other Chinese residents from the neighbourhood and confiscating all properties that belonged to Chinese citizens. In May and June 1936, the Chinese consulates twice intervened in the Soviet crackdown in Millionka as the crackdown on crimes and illegal immigration raised panic among the local Chinese. The Central Committee of All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) further discussed the liquidation of Millionka on 17 June 1936, with a draft response to Chinese diplomats approved. Considering the negative impact of the between the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic, which China deemed as a separatist government, the Soviet Politburo ordered the local government to avoid leaving the impression that the operation targeted Chinese and to finish the liquidation of Millionka by the end of 1936. The municipal authority of Vladivostok also promised to provide legal Chinese residents with alternative accommodations. According to Chinese diplomatic documents, from late 1935 to early 1937, the Soviet government deported several batches of Chinese. However, with the war between China and Japan escalated in 1937, the Soviet Union resumed its massive deportation of Asian populations. By the end of 1930s, there was no Chinese left in Millionka. According to Solzhenitsyn, there were 63,000 Chinese being sent to forced labour camps where they died.

Legacy

After the deportation, Millionka became a ghost town. Shop signs were pulled down. Bordellos and all the other businesses had gone. There was no sign that the Chinese had lived in the neighbourhood. For half a century, only Soviet citizens lived in Vladivostok, until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. On 8 June 2010, corpses of Chinese people, suspected to be victims of the Great Purge, were re-discovered in Millionka. In recent years, the neighbourhood was branded as Vladivostok's “Arbat” by the local tourist authorities, where there are upscale restaurants and boutique hotels, although there is no mention of the history of the old Chinatown.

In popular culture

* 1966 – Millionka appears in its former guise in '' No Password Necessary,'' a movie based on the novel of the same name by Julian Semyonov.
* 1969 – a number of episodes of the TV series '' Bonivur's Heart'' take place in Millionka.
* 1977 – Valentin Pikul in his novel ''Richness'' compares Millionka with Khitrovsky market of pre-revolutionary Moscow.
* 2006 – A free newspaper ''Millionka'' started to be distributed in Vladivostok.
* 2008 – Alexander Tokovenko published a historical novel named ''Vladivostok's Millionka''.
* 2010 – Artist Pavel Shugurov and a group of 33+1 studio created 7 concrete bas-reliefs ''Residents of Millionka'' in the city centre.
* One of the first organisations of FC Luch Vladivostok fans is called Millionka.

See also

* Ethnic Chinese in Russia
* Deportation of Chinese in the Soviet Union

References

External links

Chinese in Peril in Russia: The "Millionka" in Vladivostok, 1930-1936
Wilson Center

Exploring the old Chinatown in the heart of Vladivostok
The Travel Show by BBC

Remembering “Millionka” – Vladivostok’s Chinatown Badlands
{{Chinatowns in Asia

History of Vladivostok
Culture in Vladivostok
Chinatowns in Asia