Shelter for the Afflicted: Migration from Xinjiang to Russia in the 1860s-1880s

Abstract

The authors examine the history of the migration of Chinese subjects from the territory of Xinjiang in the 1860s-1880s and measures taken by the Russian administration aimed at adapting them to the new socio-political and economic conditions. On the basis of the research, the waves and scales of migration are established and their reasons are named. The study of the sources is implemented using the formal legal method, the comparative legal method, the methods of analysis and synthesis of written sources, as well as induction. The application of these methods made it possible to formulate a general conclusion concerning the policy of the Russian Empire in relation to the non-Russian population of the region, including Chinese immigrants. The study of the documents related to the migration of the Xinjiang population to the territory of Russian possessions in Central Asia convinces us that the authorities of the Russian Empire were interested in this process. They sought to find a place for new subjects in the socio-economic communities of the indigenous population of the Turkestan territories. At the same time, the Russian authorities applied to the Chinese settlers the norms characteristic of both nomadic and settled residents. Their goal was to bring the status of former Chinese subjects closer to the status of the main population of the state. The Russian government sought to complete this adaptation through the merger of the former Qing subjects with the population of the internal provinces of the Russian Empire.