Chinese capital as a factor of ethnization of urban and rural areas of Primorsky krai

The article aims to answer the question if Chinese capital stimulate mobilization of ethnicity in Primorsky krai. Massive migration of Chinese entrepreneurs in 1990 - 2000s, their long-term residence and stable positions in economic field of Russian border regions could have provided fertile ground for converting economic resources into cultural or political ones. The research focuses on three groups of Chinese entrepreneurs in Primorsky krai: petty traders (including shuttle traders), owners of small enterprises and representatives of medium- and large-size business. The empirics of the paper are sociological materials including series of semi-structured interviews with officials, representatives of business and local mass media as well as short conversations with local residents and field observations. The author came to the conclusion that none of the three studied groups of Chinese entrepreneurs took interest to or was able to penetrate into political or cultural space of the region for quite a long time, or to exchange economic resources for higher social status in Russia. Though it would be a mistake to deny the chinesation of the region as it has become a social phenomenon created by collective imagination. Petty traders and owners of medium/large-size business haven»t strived to integrate in Russian society. Their physical migration or investment inflow into Russia was the result of desire for economic gains, but not for settling in culturally alien country. Their business activities usually were localized within limited territory as this enclaveness was an optimal strategy to minimize costs of living in alien society. Large-size business made organizational decisions that constrained mobilization of ethnicity but enabled effective involvement in host society, especially in its administrative field. Loyalty of Russian local authorities toward companies with Chinese investment and their Chinese labor was partially based on the abandonment of ethnical/confessional manifestations. Russian projects of Chinese middle/large-size companies were much more represented in the Chinese public space than in the Russian one as the companies depended on financial resources of PRC»s state sector. Representatives of small-size business who were permanent residents in Russia made attempts to consolidate Chinese businessmen in Primorsky krai but this efforts did not meet with support of the Chinese community. In the future, only this social group will be interested in mobilizing Chinese ethnicity but their efforts most likely will gain minimal success as their economic resources are scarce and the group is divided.

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