Колонизация русско-китайского фронтира и пограничья в современных исследованиях
Colonization of the Russian-Chinese Frontier and Borderland in Contemporary Studies

Summary/Abstract: The history of the Asia is one of the most topical areas of foreign historiography. Over the last three centuries Asia has undergone enormous and far-reaching changes: colonization, wars, revolutions, occupation, and industrialization. Authors are increasingly turning to the study of various aspects of the economic, political and social history of certain countries, as well as making a broader analysis of regional problems. For Russian historiography, the works on the Russian-Chinese frontier and frontiers are of the greatest interest. The transition to the modern image of border regions is largely attributed to the advent of the period of imperialism. The key argument is that from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, systemic migration factors were favorable for the influx of Chinese and Russian migrants to the border regions. Negative political influences at crucial moments often outweighed these systemic advantages and prevented the formation of stable communities. We note the series of books by Routledge Publishers on the New Asian History, separate monographs already translated into Russian on this topic. The article focuses on two new works — S.Urbanski’s book, which conceptualizes the space of the Russian-Chinese borderland and frontier, and a collective work by the University of Belfast, published in 2023 as a result of an international research project. This article pays particular attention to the so-called imperial period, which laid the foundations for the more rigid politics of the twentieth century. The economics of imperialism in the frontier would play a less significant role than the traditional trade relations, economic systems established in previous eras.

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