Administering the Colonizer
Manchuria's Russians Under Chinese Rule, 1918-29

An account of multi-ethnic and multi-national administrative experiment in North Manchuria. It reveals that China not only created policies to promote Chinese sovereignty, but also instituted measures to protect the Russian minority. It restores to history the multiple national influences that have shaped northern China and Chinese nationalism.

Harbin of the 1920s 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 multi-national administrative experiment in North Manchuria reveals that China not only created policies to promote Chinese sovereignty, but also instituted measures to protect the Russian minority. This multi-faceted book 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 multiple national influences that have shaped northern China and Chinese nationalism.