Migration Crisis on the Russian-Chinese Border in the Early 1917-1920s: Regional Aspect of the Global Migration Processes of the XX Century

Abstract

The publication analyzes the reasons and particular qualities of the migration crisis on the Russian-Chinese border in 1917–1922. This crisis was caused by the revolution and the Civil War in Russia. A huge mass of former subjects of the Russian Empire, who disagreed with the new system, were forced to leave their homeland and in the early 1920s formed one of the largest emigrant diasporas in the world in China. The bulk of the White Army’s remnants the civilian population crossed the Russian-Chinese border in the Far East, forming Russian refugee camps in the Chinese border area. A significant number of Russians crossed the border in western China, in the region of Xinjiang province, where several refugee camps also emerged. The composition of Russian refugees has raised serious concerns in both the central and border authorities of China: the bulk of the refugees were well-armed experienced military men who had gone through not only the Russian Civil War, but also the First World War and refused to surrender their weapons, the Cossacks and their chieftains, peasants and merchants from the border regions who did not want to obey anyone, who needed help. A small part of the Russians who left for China were nobles and intellectuals, who settled mainly in Harbin and Shanghai. The peculiarity of the migration situation in the Far East, as well as on the Russian-Chinese border in Central Asia, was not only in the huge number of Russians who arrived in China, but also in the fact that a severe internal political crisis had been developing in China itself for several years. The Chinese authorities were unable to control the situation in the country, and Russian refugees aggravated the situation. In addition, the Chinese authorities did not want to aggravate relations with Soviet Russia, which repeatedly threatened to send troops to eliminate the remnants of the White Army, which had settled in the Chinese border area. This could seriously aggravate the political situation in the Far East and Central Asia. Therefore, the Chinese authorities actively took measures to regulate the flow of Russian refugees and prevent a possible crisis: they blocked the border with Russia in some areas, expelled refugees back, did not issue permits to cross the border, etc.