The process of recognition of the Russian ethnic group as a national minority in China

This article discusses the process of recognition of the Russian ethnic group as one of the 56 national minorities in China. In connection with the development of political and economic relations between Russia and China in recent years, which conduced to a steady growth of the number of Russians in China, the study of problems of intercultural contacts and the presence of Russians in China became more needful. This work is devoted to Russians who have taken root in China, have citizenship of the People's Republic of China. They live compactly in certain areas and have features of a national minority. This group does not include Russians who have moved to China in recent decades for business. Also this group does not include immigrants who settled China in the early 20th century, and lived in Harbin, Shanghai, Beijing, etc. Today the Russian Diaspora abroad is the subject of many studies by Russian and foreign authors, however, research works with regards to the Russian ethnic group in China are few. The main content of this research is an analysis of the processes of origin, formation and changes of the Russian national minority. According to the classification of Chinese ethnographers, since the official recognition to the present days, Russians refer to ethnic groups of mixed origin - so-called - "xunhun mingzu", most of this group are descendants of the Chinese and Russians. Over the last century, the Rus sian ethnic group in China went through a difficult change process and recognition as a national minority. The history of the Russian presence in China dates back to several centuries ago and begins at the time of the Mongol and Tatar raids against Rus during the 13 th - 15th centuries, when in the process of the conquest many Russians were captured and transported to China after its occupation by the Mongols and the founding of the Yuan dynasty. During the 17th - 20th centuries, a number of Russians began to settle on the border with China territories, especially after the Russian Empire reached the shores of the Amur river. From the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th centuries there was an active migration of Russians to other parts of China: Northern Manchuria, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong. In the period of the Republic of China in 1917-1949 there was the first attempt of recognition of the Russian ethnic group as a separate national minority, but in fact the process of recognition was the process of "naturalization" - Russians got Chinese citizenship and equal rights with the Chinese. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Russians were officially recognized as a national minority. The author describes the current status of the Russian ethnic group in China, attention is paid to the process of the change and strengthening of the status of Russians after the start of the policy "Reform and Opening up" in China, and changes in policy regarding national minorities since the 1980s after the Cultural revolution (1966-1976), when representatives of ethnic minorities faced the worsening of living standards.

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