Mixed Marriages in Russian-Chinese Manchuria

Abstract

This chapter pursues two aims: those of fact-finding and of understanding the image of mixed marriages in the eyes of Chinese and Russian observers. We begin with the fact-finding: how widespread was “mixed” marriage between Russian and Chinese nationals in Manchuria, from the beginning of Russian presence there in the 1890s to its near end by the late 1950s? What were the typical backgrounds of such marriages and of which locations in the Northeast were they especially characteristic? Can the phenomenon be tied to a particular period, or a set of political or social circumstances? Moving on to the image of mixed marriages, the chapter looks at reactions to them from both the Russian and the Chinese sides. The purpose is to trace, on the one hand, specific reasons for the almost unanimous opposition to mixed marriage within both communities, and, on the other hand, to situate sensitivity to this form of inter-ethnic contact within the larger concerns of race, nationalism and imperialism.