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Hans Blumenfeld, one of the world's outstanding urbanologists, wrote, "The city is a historical process; its image at any given time is merely a cross-section through a continuous stream."1 His concept of a city as a continuous historical process is taken here, with gratitude and fond memories, to examine several cross sections in the history of the Russian community in the Chinese city of Harbin. The selection is not random. Each cross section reveals a landmark in the history of Harbin Russians and its formative influence on them.
First, it is necessary to explain some terms. Russians is used here in the sense of rossiiane, that is, people from Russia, subjects of the former Russian Empire, be they ethnic Russians (russkie) or other nationalities. The term Harbin Russians means rossiiane who had lived in Harbin. Although in Russian they are usually called kharbintsy (Harbin residents), the usage is misleading; Chinese and other residents of Harbin are also kharbintsy. Manchuria is used in reference to Northeast China simply to convey the Russian perceptions of the time. Second, two reservations have to be added. One is that although this article focuses on the Harbin Russian community, the latter forms but a segment in the complex history of the city of Harbin and all its residents. The other reservation is that this attempt to outline the identity of Harbin Russians is a preliminary theoretical construct and, as such, does not embrace all possible variants and exceptions.
As can be seen from table 1, three generations of Russians lived in the city during seven decades of their presence in Harbin, from 1898 to the mid-1960s. The first generation originally consisted of the builders of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER), employees, and private settlers, but in the 1920s, during and after the Russian civil war, its number was expanded with an influx of emigres of the same ages. Their children, some born in Russia, some in Harbin, formed the second generation, which was fated to grow up in emigration. In the mid-1930s and 1940s the second generation produced the third and last generation of Harbin Russians for whom Harbin was the only home they knew. Table i presents a general picture, roughly accommodating the complex overlapping of generations. One...