Lev Arnoldov: A journalist, memoirist, and Sinologist

The article reveals the details about the activities of the journalist Lev V. Arnoldov (1894, Russia -1957, Brazil) during the Civil War in Russia and his emigration to China, where he was one of the most prominent figures of the Russian diaspora. Most sources of information about him, as well as his publications of the emigration period, are located abroad, mainly in the United States; therefore, Arnoldov's name is little known in Russia. Meanwhile, his life is a unique example of a person's adaptation to difficult, often tragic circumstances, the search for his place in new living conditions. Not accepting Soviet power, Arnoldov joined the anti-Bolshevik forces. As a student at Tomsk University, he began publishing articles in support of the White Movement, then he headed the Press Affairs Department of the Provisional All-Russian Government, and was the director of the Foreign Information Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the government of Admiral Kolchak. Performing the task of propaganda of white governments, he contributed to the financial and moral support of Kolchak's dictatorship by other states. Having emigrated to China in August 1920, Arnoldov first worked in Harbin newspapers and founded (together with S.Ya. Alymov) the publishing house and The Rupor newspaper, but his talent as a publicist was especially pronounced in the Shankhayskaya Zarya (The Shanghai Dawn) newspaper (1925-1945). He was its editor for more than twenty years. The most successful Russian newspaper in China, Shankhayskaya Zarya was popular among expats due to its political indifference and attention to the acute issues of the emigrant life in China, such as unemployment, prostitution, youth problems, and relations with the Chinese. Covering these topics, Arnoldov declared himself as a talented Sinologist, publishing a number of works of ethnographic and political science and teaching Sinology at Shanghai Commercial College. He also wrote his memoirs which are a unique source of information about Russia in 1905-1920. He also proved himself to be a public figure in Russian emigration, becoming a founder and an active participant in several Russian associations of creative professions in China, e.g., the Writer and Journalist Union in Shanghai, Ponedel'nik (Monday), KhLAM, and Zelyonaya Lampa (the Green Lamp). In the article, previously unknown materials from the Museum of Russian Culture in San Francisco and a collection of Russian press in China from the Hamilton Library of the University of Hawaii (Honolulu) were used. They gave the opportunity to determine Arnoldov's place in the Russian emigration in China and to assess his contribution to journalism, science and the social activities of the Russian diaspora in this country.

Keywords

Authors

References