SUSU Historians Studied the Images of China and the Chinese in Late Imperial Russia

Historians of South Ural State University have studied the features of the representation of the images of the state of China and the Chinese in one of the most popular publications of pre-revolutionary Russia—the Niva magazine. Based on the analysis of texts and illustrations from the second half of the XIX—early XX centuries, the authors traced the dynamics of the images of China and the Chinese, identified the main plots and events that shaped the perception of China and its residents. The research was published in the journal Bygone Years (Q2).

Senior Researcher of the Migration Research Laboratory Andrei Avdashkin, Associate Professor Tatyana Raeva, and Professor Igor Sibiryakov studied the images of China and the Chinese in late imperial Russia using the example of the Niva magazine.

"The experience of working in the framework of this research project showed us how stable many negative ethnic images are over a long time, and how quickly positive images that do not receive constant information support are destroyed. The nature of this phenomenon can become a subject for our next project," Igor Sibiryakov said.

The team concluded that the publishers, editors, and authors failed to form integral images of China and the Chinese pre-revolutionary Russian public as a whole. Different, sometimes mutually exclusive, ideas about them depending on the Russian and world socio-political context of the second half of the XIX—early XX centuries. Some elements updated and came to the fore, or, on the contrary, went to the periphery. It partly explains the inconsistency of public opinion in Russia about China, and especially to the problem of organizing the work of Chinese migrants.

All this correlated with the dynamics and flexibility of Russian policy in the Far East and its representation in the public space of the empire. The images of the Chinese state and the Chinese were multifaceted and dynamic, but each time they embodied the bright features of the other. Its instrumental role was to form its own identity among broad strata of the population of the Russian Empire. The visual and anthropological characteristics of the Chinese played a significant role in Niva's publications.

"The experience of studying modern migration from China has shown that the reaction of Russian society to the presence of the other in the person of the Chinese demonstrates some historical continuity. Images and language of description developed a century and a half ago, find their application in modern realities. Our task is to identify these dynamics, explain what influenced them, and determine the mechanisms that form the image of others in Russian history (in this case, using the example of immigrants from Asian countries). The Chinese are the first example of massive contact between Russian society and cross-border labor migrants. In this regard, it is important for us to understand the role of these contacts in the formation of the cognitive matrix of the image of others in modern Russia," said Andrey Avdashkin.

The attention of historians of the IMSGN, representing the laboratory of migration research and the Department of Domestic and Foreign History, focuses on migration from Asian countries in the 19th-21st centuries, cultural history, and various dimensions of mobility in Eurasia.

South Ural State University is a university of digital transformations, where innovative research is carried out in most of the priority areas of development of science and technology. Following the strategy of scientific and technological development of the Russian Federation, the university focuses on the development of large scientific interdisciplinary projects in the field of the digital industry, materials science, and ecology. In the Year of Science and Technology, SUSU won the competition for the Priority 2030 program. The university performs the functions of a regional project office of the Ural interregional scientific and educational center.

More information:
DOI 10.13187/bg.2021.4.1898

Provided by South Ural State University