HOME Neighbors China 17.11.2014

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Difficulties understanding

23% of Russians living on the territories bordering China have a negative attitude towards the Chinese

Yu Gochzhen continues to understand how history, culture and psychological characteristics create obstacles in relations between Russia and China (the beginning of "Anti-Chinese hysteria").

5. National culture

Russian culture is original, but in many ways syncretistic: due to its location, it was influenced both by Asia and Europe. However, the impact of these two cultures on Russian culture is by no means identical. Unlike Eastern culture, the western culture has been in contact with Russian culture for a long time, and therefore imposed a greater imprint on it.

6. Rotate the history

The conquest of new territories and countries is the main distinguishing feature of Russian history. The territory of the first centralized Russian state (under Ivan III) was 3 million square meters. km. With the councils, the territory of the country was already 22.4 million square meters. km, that is 19.6 million sq. m. km of this territory were added as a result of territorial conquests. So, the southern part of the Russian Far East (the Amur Region, the Khabarovsk Territory, the Primorsky Territory) are the 1858-60 gg affiliated under unequal treaties. lands of the Chinese Empire. Conquerors of the Far East, for example EP Khabarov, were installed monuments in some cities of the Far East.

After the collapse of the USSR, territorial and border disputes between Russia and China became more tangible, as did the theory of the "Chinese threat" that added fuel to the fire. Far Eastern politicians resisted the demarcation of the borders until the last, articles frequently appeared on the regional and federal press devoted to the remaining problems of demarcation of the Russian-Chinese border. In addition, some figures in Russia still remember China's incident on the island of Damansky (1969), considering it an act of China's invasion of the territory of modern Russia.

Today, voices are again heard demanding to increase the military presence in Western Siberia and the Far East to contain the "yellow threat". This behavior is due primarily to historical reasons - Russia at one time cut a piece of Chinese pie, and now fears that China will be able to return these primordial-Chinese territories to its fold with the help of labor exports.

7. Russia: between Europe and Asia

From a geographic point of view, Russia was originally a European country, and the Asian territories, now part of Russia, were annexed as a result of conquest expansion. The current population of the Asian part of Russia for the most part is immigrants from its European part. The country's political and economic center is still located in the European part, which accounts for 70% of Russia's GDP and which is home to 80% of its population. Despite the fact that there are still debates about whether Russia belongs to the West or the East, it is traditionally accepted to consider Russia a European state. Even residents of the Russian Far East consider themselves Europeans, although they live, strictly speaking, in Asia. In May 2005, Putin said at a meeting with EU leaders that "Russia was, is and will be a European state." Due to the concentration of economic and political activity in the European part of the Russian Federation, relations between Russia and European countries are stronger, which means that Russians understand Europeans better, which cannot be said about Asians, and the Chinese in particular.

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So, according to a poll conducted in the regions of Russia bordering China, 38% of respondents are absolutely indifferent to China, 23% have a negative attitude to the Chinese, and they can boast of knowledge of Chinese cultural figures such as Lu Xin (writer) or Qi Baishi (artist) only 27% and 15% of people, respectively. In the late 1980s, when a Chinese writer came to visit the Far East, local residents with a smile asked him: "Tell me, do cars drive in China?" How can we talk about the development of economic interaction in a situation where Russians know almost nothing about China and the Chinese and do not understand them?

8. Closed openness

The Chinese and Russians belong to different races. The differences and contradictions between races are more serious and deeper than the contradictions between different peoples. With the coexistence of people of different races, their cultural and other differences accumulate, and various contradictions arise that can lead to a conflict situation.

A distinctive feature of the Russians in psychological terms is a strong belief in their own exclusivity and low level of tolerance. That is why chinatowns that exist around the globe are peaceful enough and isolated, only hostile feelings in Russia arouse, and even a tablet written in Chinese can cause their discontent. In America, there are several million Chinese, in San Francisco alone - several hundred thousand. In Russia, only about half a million people, including in the Far East - 50-60 thousand Chinese. And even this number of Chinese people causes anxiety and discontent among the local population. If America can be called a "great melting pot" of peoples or a "mill, successfully grinding national differences," then in this case Russia is a "stronghold keeping carefully its secrets" or "a large wasp nest." It is for this reason that in Russia, which has been pursuing a policy of openness to the outside world for more than 15 years, foreigners are experiencing problems with doing business, and countless projects of interstate cooperation are not being fully implemented.

Text: Yu Guozheng, source: http://euroasia.cass.cn, translation: Alexander Khoretonenko