Chinese Diaspora

Facts say that there are only around 40 million Russians settled across the vast expanse of the Far East and Siberia, with only 7 million in the Far East itself. Yet now, for example, Russia’s main Pacific port and naval base of Vladivostok, once closed to foreigners, is bristling with Chinese markets, restaurants and trade houses. The expanding Chinese presence in the area has led to yellow peril-style fears of Chinese occupation. Russian newspapers publish fantastic estimates of between two and five million Chinese migrants in the Russian Far East, and predict that half of the population of Russia will be Chinese by 2050.

The Russians understand hostile intent in the Chinese practice of using different names for local cities, such as Hǎishēnwǎi for Vladivostok, and a widespread folk belief states that the Chinese migrants remember the exact locations of their ancestors' ginseng patches, and seek to restore them.

The fear of the Chinese and talks about the Chinese influx are described as being less prevalent in the Russian Far East, where most of the Chinese shuttle trade is actually occurring, than in European Russia. The southern part of the Russian Far East, south of the Stanovoy Mountains, was yielded by China to Russia in the 19^th century in the Treaty of Aigun and Treaty of Beijing.

Chinese historians present the treaties as being Unequal Treaties imposed on China by Russia by force, a presentation that also figures strongly in Chinese schools.

4. Speak about the presence of the Chinese at the Territory of the Far East. Is their presence here really dangerous?