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Strategies & Market Trends : China Warehouse- More Than Crockery -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RealMuLan who wrote (4274)	1/27/2005 8:12:36 PM
From: RealMuLan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6370

China rediscovers Russian legacy The surroundings of Harbin once looked like central Russia Chinese entrepreneurs have created a mock Russian village in the town of Harbin, once a Russian outpost in north-eastern China. They have restored 27 dachas, or summer cottages, built by Harbin residents at the beginning of the 20th century, and populated them with 68 real Russians. Harbin was the main town on the eastern leg of the Trans-Siberian railway constructed and managed by Russians. But most of its Russian population left after the Chinese revolution in 1949. The developers invested 40m Yuan ($4.8m; £2.6m) in the project primarily intended for Chinese tourists visiting the region. "The history of Harbin and Russia's culture can't be separated," Zhao Yiqun, the village concept developer told Reuters. "Russia's painting, music and art had a big impact on China - especially Heilongjiang [province] and Harbin. The Russian's art system, music education and culture is embedded in China, particularly Harbin, for more than 100 years," He said that there were plans to exhibit Russian music, dance, crafts and customs in the village. Most of the Russians working in the village's restaurants, hotels and craft shops come from the economically stagnating Russian Far East. Reversed migration Modern Harbin does not retain much of its Russian legacy In the 19th and early 20th century, Russia was one of many superpowers dividing China into zones of influence, where they launched industrial projects and brought in settlers. Most of the huge Russian colony centred on Harbin and Shanghai survived away from the Soviet control until the 1949 Communist revolution in China. After that, some of the Russians emigrated to Australia and the US, while others returned to the Soviet Union where many of them soon found themselves in the Gulag concentration camps. Nowadays, it is the Russian Far East that receives a steady influx of Chinese settlers. Some Russian nationalists dub it a quiet occupation, but BBCRussian.com correspondents say that high-ranking local officials say the local economy would collapse without the hard-working Chinese. news.bbc.co.uk