Disparate Influences of the Provincial Sino-Russian Political Border on Sociocultural and Economic Borders

Abstract

The resurgence of sovereign states in a highly globalized modern world calls for new approaches to border studies. The present paper suggests looking at political, sociocultural and economic borders as constructs of dynamic boundaries influencing people’s interactions. Through an oral history of a mixed Sino-Russian ethnic community, and a narrative review of smugglers and shuttle traders, this study examines how the flux of the political border between the Heilongjiang province and the Russian Far East (HLJ-RFE political border) changed the sociocultural and economic borders during three periods: the 1910s-1920s, the 1960s-1970s, and the 2000s-2010s, when the political border was characterized as being porous, hostile, and friendly, respectively. The study shows that the HLJ-RFE political border had a strong impact on limiting the sociocultural demarcation, but a much weaker effect on facilitating sociocultural interactions and economic regulations. The results of the study demonstrate how a strong and friendly political border may lose its potency when utilized by the local government to facilitate interethnic integration. Furthermore, the study warrants an interdisciplinary approach to border studies and a region-oriented methodology.