The Image of China and the Chinese in Late Imperial Russia (based on Materials from the "Niva" Journal)

The article examines the images of China and the Chinese in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries on the example of "Niva" journal. This journal published news articles, reports from the scene, portrait sketches, literary works on the "Chinese theme", biographical and ethnographic essays. Texts and numerous illustrations showed the history of China, the way of life and traditions of its population to a wide audience. The authors came to the conclusion that the publishers, editors, and authors of the journal, as well as, probably, the pre-revolutionary Russian public failed to form a complete image of the Chinese and state of China. In the aggregate of various, sometimes mutually exclusive, ideas about them, depending on the Russian and world socio-political context of the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries certain elements were updated. This explained the volatility of public opinion in Russia in relation to China, the problem of "yellow labor", gave dynamics and flexibility to Russian policy in the Far East and its representation in public space. The images of the state of China and the Chinese were multifaceted and dynamic.