Book Description

"Chiasson is not afraid to take on the racial prejudice and discrimination that Was part of life in China's concession areas. His use of many Russian sources albums him to give the Russian perspective on what is usually taken to be a part of China's history. This book should have wide appeal to those interested in modernizations, colonial history, inter-cultural confrontation and, intimately related to these topics, the creation of planned human communities."-Ronald Suleski, author of Civil Government in Warlord China: Tradition, Modernization, and Manchuria "Administering the Colonizaer scholarship. Chiasson, more than any previous author, details the administrative structures and policies by which the unique city of Harbin was governed during the transition from Russian to Chinese rule. His book makes an outstanding original contribution on a subject that is important in its own right, but even more so as instances of mixed administration (both historical and current) are popular and relevant cases to study."-James Carter, author of Creating a Chinese Harbin: Nationalism in an International City, 1916-1932 Harbing of the 1920's was viewed by Westerners as a world turned upside down. The Chinese government had taken over administration of the Russian-founded Chinese Eastern Railway concession, and its large Russian population. This account of the decade-long multi-ethnic and multinational administrative experiment in North Manchuria reveals that China not only created policies to promote Chinese sovereignty but also intituted measures to protect the Russian minority. This is a historical examination of how an ethnic, cultural, and racial majority coexisted with a minority of a different culture and race. It restores to history the national influences that have shaped northern China and Chinese nationalism.