Datsyshen V.G. The Chinese population of Transbaikalia under the conditions of the Stalinist system in the 1930s. Bulletin of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia. Series: History of Russia. 2022. Vol. 21. No. 1. Pр. 57–71.

Abstract

The article is devoted to the history of the Chinese population in the East Siberianborder region with China, Transbaikal, in the 1930s. The particular position of this border region determined the specific formation of this Chinese population. The transfer of the Transbaikal region from theFar Eastern region back to the administrative unit of Siberia in the 1930s strengthened the Siberian regional features of the development of the Chinese community, and meant that the Far Eastern nationality policy was not applied to this community. The development of this community was influenced by thefact that in the 1930s, the state border with Manchuria was completely closed. The Manchukuo state,along with the Republic of China, had its official representatives in Chita. In the early 1930s the size ofthe Chinese population in Transbaikal reached a maximum, and in the Chita region its share in relationto the total population was equal to that in the Far Eastern regions. In the 1930s the working and livingconditions of the majority of Chinese workers were difficult: they faced discrimination and were poorlyadapted to the socio-political realities of Stalin's system. Initially the Bolsheviks carried out an activepolicy towards the Chinese that was aimed at their ideological and political re-education and the improving of their living and working conditions. In the second half of the 1930s, however, this policychanged, and political education and the development of a “Soviet Chinese” culture were no longerprominent. The Chinese began to be perceived as a national community disloyal to the Soviet regime, asreal or potential agents of Japan and Kuomintang China. In 1936 began the “exposure” of Chinesespies, and in 1937–1939 the Soviet Chinese were fully subjected to the tyranny of the Soviet secret services and punitive agencies, and suffered greatly from political repression. By the late 1930s the number of Chinese in Transbaikal had decreased by almost a third; however, the situation was differentfrom that in the border regions of the Far East in so far as there was no mass eviction of Chinese fromthe Transbaikal area.