Chinese Workers at the Gold Mines of Sretensky and Chita Districts in the Second Half of the 1920s: Adaptation to New Socio-Cultural Conditions

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the stay of Chinese migrants on the territory of the Sretensky and Chita districts in the late 1920s. Due to the insufficient study of this topic, the paper aims to analyze the living conditions of Chinese workers in gold mines. The methodological basis of the work is the principles of historicism, consistency and objectivity. Moreover, the author uses historical and legal methods of scientific research. The study revealed that at the end of the 1920s, the Soviet leadership set the task of accelerating the development and modernization of the economy. Particular attention was paid to gold mining, as the most important branch of the mining industry in the Far Eastern region, requiring immediate restoration. To implement the tasks set by the state, labor was required. In connection with the emergence of objective difficulties in finding workers from the internal reserves of the country, the state authorities decided to attract Chinese migrants as a cheap labor force. Many sectors of the national economy experienced a shortage of workers, including the gold mining enterprises of Sretensky and Chita districts. In turn, due to the unfavorable economic conditions that developed in China at the beginning of the 20th century, Chinese citizens were forced to look for a source of income in a neighboring country. On the basis of published materials and documents obtained from the State Archives of the Trans-Baikal Territory, the author comprehensively covers the life and work of Chinese workers on Soviet territory, as well as the difficulties they faced at the enterprises of the Territory. Due to the fact, that Chinese labor played an important role in mining enterprises, the author paid special attention to the study of working and living conditions of Chinese workers in the gold mines of Sretensky and Chita districts of the Far Eastern Territory. As a result, it was revealed that the main problems of Chinese workers were low wages, difficult working conditions, lack of adequate medical care, ethnic conflicts, inaction on the part of economic authorities, etc. The author pays special attention to the description of the unsatisfactory living conditions in which Chinese migrants had to work in gold mines. Despite the fact that these problems were not ignored by the mining management and government bodies, the measures taken were often untimely and insufficient, which forced Chinese migrants to seek employment of their labor in other enterprises of the region.