- Harbin Russians
The term Harbin Russians or Russian Harbinites refers to several generations of
Russians who lived in the city ofHarbin , a major junction city on theChinese Eastern Railway (CER), from approximately 1898 to the mid-1960s.The people in the
Soviet Union used the terms "KVZhDist" ( _ru. КВЖДист, "person of the China Eastern Railway") and "Harbinets" (Харбинец, "Harbinite/person from Harbin") to refer to a person with any type of ties to the China Eastern Railway.Timeline
Settlement
The first generation of Harbin Russians were mostly the builders and employees of the
Chinese Eastern Railway . They moved to Harbin in order to work on the railroad. At the time Harbin was not an established city. The city was almost built from scratch by the builders and early settlers. Houses were constructed, furniture and personal items were brought in from Russia. After theRusso-Japanese War , while many Russians left Harbin, a lot of long-time residents decided to stay. By 1913, Harbin had become an established Russian colony for the construction and maintenance work on theChina Eastern Railway . A record shows Harbin had a total of 68,549 people, most of which are ofRussia n and Chinese descent. There were a total of 53 different nationalities. Along with Russian and Chinese, there are 45 spoken languages used in Harbin at the time. Only 11.5% of all residents were born in Harbin.World War I and the October Revolution
In the decade from 1913 to 1923, Russia went through
World War I , the Russian Revolution, and theRussian Civil War . In the 1920s Harbin was flooded with 100,000 to 200,000 Russian White émigrés fleeing from Russia. They were mostly officers and soldiers involved in theWhite movement , members of the White governments inSiberia andRussian Far East . There were both the "intelligentsia " and ordinary people. Harbin held the largest Russian population outside of the state of Russia.On
September 8 ,1920 , theChinese Republic announced that it would no longer recognize the Russian consulates in China. OnSeptember 23 China ceased relations with representatives ofImperial Russia and deprived Russians of extraterritorial rights. Overnight Russians in China found themselves stateless. Shortly afterward, the Chinese government took over control of the institutions in Harbin such as courts, police, prison, post office, and some research and educational institutions.In 1924, an agreement was signed in
Beijing regarding the control of theChina Eastern Railway . The agreement stated that only Soviet and Chinese citizens could be employed by the CER. This meant the Harbin Russians had to choose not only their nationality, but also their political identity. Many Harbin Russians took Soviet citizenship for patriotic reasons. However, there were also Harbin Russians who remained stateless and eventually was let go from CER. Gradually, the national and the political identity of the Harbin Russians split the group into opposing sides. This led to a strongSoviet Union presence in Harbin.Japanese occupation
In the mid-1930s, the Japanese occupied
Manchuria , and turned it into thepuppet state ofManchukuo . In 1935, theSoviet Union sold its share of theChina Eastern Railway toJapan viaManchukuo . In the spring and summer of 1935, thousands of Harbin Russians went on trains with their passports and belongings, and left for theSoviet Union .From 1932 to 1945, Harbin Russians had a difficult time under the Manchukuo régime, then the Japanese occupation. Some Harbin Russians initially thought the occupation was good, in hoping the Japanese would help them in their anti-Soviet struggles, and provide protection from the Chinese, who were desperately trying restore the sovereignty of Harbin.
Many Harbin Russians returned to the
Soviet Union after 1935. Nearly all of them were arrested during theGreat Purge (1936–1938), charged with espionage and counter-revolutionary activity according to theNKVD Order no. 00593 ofSeptember 20 ,1937 .Some Harbin Russians moved to other cities such as
Shanghai ,Beijing ,Tianjin ,Qingdao , and eventually left China. By the 1930s, Shanghai's Russian community had grown to 25,000. [http://www.talesofoldchina.com/shanghai/cultures/t-russ.htm]After World War II
In 1945, after the
Soviet Army occupied Harbin, the Soviets sent all those Harbin Russians whom they identified as White Guardists and those who had collaborated with the Japanese authorities tolabor camps .After 1952, the Soviet Union initiated a second wave of repatriation of Harbin Russians. By the mid-1960s virtually all Harbin Russians had left Harbin. There were several Russian connections in Australia resulting from refugees leaving Harbin.
ee also
*
Ethnic Russians in China
*Shanghai Russians
*Albazin Cossacks
*Chinese Eastern Railway Zone External links
* [http://www.tarasovsaga.com The Tarasov Saga]
* [http://www.ourmedia.org/node/197098 Gary Nash Russian Emigre Interview]
* [http://www.ourmedia.org/node/197026 Russian Emigre Radio Documentary]References
*Mara Moustafine. "Secrets and Spies: The Harbin Files". A Vintage Book series,
Random House , Australia Pty Ltd, 468 pp.
*Wolff, David. "To the Harbin Station: The Liberal Alternative in Russian Manchuria, 1898-1914." Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1999.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.