Harbin Russians

Harbin, a major junction city on the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER), came successively under the control of the Qing dynasty, under Russia's sphere of influence, the Republic of China, Japanese puppet state Manchukuo and the People's Republic of China in this period.

The people in the Soviet Union used the terms "KVZhDist" (Russian: КВЖДист, "person of the China Eastern Railway" Russian: КВЖД) and "Harbinets" (Харбинец, "Harbinite/person from Harbin") to refer to a person with any type of ties to the China Eastern Railway.

After the Russo-Japanese War, while many Russians left Harbin, a lot of long-time residents decided to stay.

By 1913, Harbin had become an established Russian colony for the construction and maintenance work on the China Eastern Railway.

A few kilometers from Harbin, around the railway station of Asheng (Ashihé), there was, until 1955, a settlement of hundreds of White Russians.

Many Czarist Imperial officers amongst "old believers" contributed to maintain strong links to Russian culture, literature and music.

Gradually, the national and the political identity of the Harbin Russians split the group into opposing sides.

In 1929, the Congregation of Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception opened the Lyceum St. Nicholas, which educated the Christian male elite until 1949.

In the spring and summer of 1935, thousands of Harbin Russians went on trains with their passports and belongings, and left for the Soviet Union.

Some Harbin Russians moved to other cities, such as Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin, and Qingdao, and eventually left China.

[4] The Harbin Russians were left to choose between a Soviet citizenship or to remain stateless by support of the BREM.

The stateless Russians were officially favored by the regime, but in reality, they were not trusted and exposed to a great risk of being arrested as spies for the Soviet Union.