這項研究涵蓋了歷史華人移民在俄羅斯遠東地區,其經濟基礎,社會組織,以及俄羅斯人在社會調查數據的反應。詳細的分析顯示,中國移民保持與祖國的密切聯繫,並保存傳統的社會結構的許多特點。這項研究也包含,在現代條件下的中國移民在俄羅斯的評估及其未來可能的趨勢。 Already under the reign of Ch’ing Dynasty the territory of Southern Siberia and Russian Far East was accessible to the inhabitants of Ch’ing empire. Since the expansion of Russian rule to the Far East after 1860 this land has become the natural arena for the various activities of people from China’s North-East region. Russian-Chinese local trade has also got a strong impetus for development. As a result by the turn of the 20th century Russia’s Far East has become a home for about 150 thousand Chinese migrants at a time. Chinese in Vladivostok numbered around 30.000. With the strengthening of political and economic ties after the disintegration of the USSR the number of Chinese migrants in Russian Far East has increased drastically reaching 230 thousand people at a time (some estimations give much higher figures: 400-700 thousand) . Most of them were not permanent residents, though, but workers on temporary contracts. The turnover of the China-Russia local trade in this area has reached 10000 million US dollars. This trade brought some economic benefits to Russia but it had some negative consequences as well and this gave rise to the new wave of the “Yellow Peril” fears in Russia, particularly in the Far East. These fears were related partly to the possible domination of Chinese migrants on Russian labor market and partly the increase of Chinese population in general. The analysis of the actual state of Chinese migration in Russia has led the author to conclude that these fears lack substantial ground. The new law on immigration adopted in 2007 completely bans small retail sales by the foreigners and increases control over illegal immigration. As of now most Chinese migrants in Russia whose number amounts to 300 thousand, are engaged in retail trade.
This study covers the history of Chinese immigration in Russia’s Far East, its economic basis, social organization as well as the reaction of Russian population reflected mostly in the data of the social polls. The detailed analysis shows that Chinese immigrants in China retain close ties with their motherland and preserve many features of traditional social structure. This study contains also the assessment of the contemporary conditions of Chinese immigration in Russia and its possible future trends.