Russian-Chinese Trade Through Kyakhta in the 1840s-1900s: A Sad Detective Story

The aim of the article is the research of the Russian-Chinese trade dynamics through Kyakhta and the definition of reasons influencing its volume and intensity. The sources of the study are official statistic reviews about Asian frontier trade and publications in the periodicals expressing all the variety of opinions about its perspectives. The vicinity of China, the necessity of marketing Russian goods, the Russian Government's protectionism, which allowed unlimited import of gold and silver in exchange for Chinese tea and duty free trade through Kyakhta, gave the trade longevity and prosperity. Nevertheless, development of alternative, more economically profitable means of deliverance of Chinese tea to Russia led Kyakhta trade to decline though ancient tea transit was not completely stopped and Chinese tea import through the town continued in the 20th century. In the process of the research, the authors came to the following conclusions. The development of transport infrastructure in the Far East, starting the sea route of tea deliverance to Europe and construction of the Chinese Eastern Railroad (KVZhD) gave the opportunity to cheapen Chinese import to Russia but damaged Kyakhta trade. Protectionism on the side of the Russian Government did not allow it to fail. Among the reasons of Kyakhta protectionism is the bygone fame of a large trading centre having no analogues in Eastern Siberia and the desire to strengthen frontier Russian-Chinese trade relations which faced the danger of failure due to the ceasing of Kyakhta trade. The main aim to preserve Kyakhta tea transit was geopolitical. Russia considered China to be the area of its future influence which was impossible to introduce without elimination of European powers as economic rivals on the Chinese territory. In order to realize these plans it was supposed to use all the means of marketing Russian goods in China, among them Kyakhta tea transit as time proved. In its turn, China regarded Kyakhta transit the fastest and the most reliable way of opening up the huge Russian market, so the country was greatly interested in frontier trade preservation. The Russian Government's geopolitical aspiration included the Kyakhta branch railroad construction that would connect China with the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Kyakhta railroad was to be the tool to remove goods of non-Russian origin from the Chinese market. In this connection, Siberian merchants hoped for Kykhta trade rebirth and ancient trading centre renaissance.

Keywords

Authors

References