A brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Chinese community in the 1930s had a lasting impact on the Russian Far East.

The coastal city of Vladivostok, in the easternmost reaches of Russia, harbors a secret past with Chinese laborers who helped construct its famous naval base before being discarded. Once brimming with the bustle of Chinese workers, today’s Vladivostok features a mere handful of Chinese-owned establishments despite being fairly close to the Chinese border, in contrast to other Russian cities far to the west, such as Moscow, that have sizable Chinese communities. Across a vast expanse of nearly 250,000  square miles in northern China's Heilongjiang province, this forgotten chapter of history remains shrouded in controversy, while the city’s development and the contribution of Chinese laborers are waiting to be uncovered.

But while Vladivostok’s history may be veiled in mystery, the roots of Chinese presence in the region extend back centuries. The Treaty of Peking, signed in 1860 and one of a series of Russo-Chinese boundary settlements, officially transferred ownership of what is now Vladivostok from China to Russia after the former’s disastrous defeat to England and France in the Second Opium War. The treaty saw Russia gain control over all territory north and east of the Amur River, with the Chinese Qing Dynasty retaining sovereignty over the area to the south and West. Russia had not been involved in the conflict, but acted opportunistically to force the Qing government to hand over 133,000 square miles of territory. However, before the establishment of Vladivostok, the region was sporadically inhabited by Chinese fishermen, hunters, fugitives, and collectors of ginseng and wild sea cucumbers, tube-like animals distantly related to starfish that are far less appetizing than the land variety. The place was known as the “Sea Cucumber Cliffs” in Chinese due to the abundance of the creatures in that region. Under Russian control Vladivostok would get its current name and become a vital naval base, connected to European Russia by the Trans-Siberian Railway and Chinese cities thanks to the Chinese Eastern Railway. The city remains the hub of Primorsky Krai, a region in Russia’s Far East with a complex history shaped by geopolitical machinations

The treaty gave Russia de jure control over Vladivostok, but Chinese migrants continued to move into the region en masse. Chinese laborers continued to move to the area, working on a variety of projects, from building the Trans-Siberian Railway to developing ports in Vladivostok and engaging in agriculture, forestry, and mining in smaller towns and rural areas. By 1910, there were nearly 100,000 Chinese living in the region, while Russian newspapers commented on the prevalence of Chinese merchants selling paper flowers and other inexpensive products at every train station from Vladivostok to St Petersburg on the Baltic Sea.

Things changed after the 1917 Revolution. Throughout the 1920s, the new Soviet authorities in the Vladivostok region implemented increasingly aggressive policies towards ethnic minorities, including Koreans, Germans, Estonians, and Chinese. Driven by xenophobia, these policies were designed to eliminate foreign influence in the region. By 1938, the situation had escalated to the point where the Politburo, the highest governing authority in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, had authorized a massive campaign of terror against various non-Russian nationalities, including Chinese settlers. In total, an estimated 800,000 individuals of all ethnicities were arrested, deported, or executed as part of this brutal ethnic cleansing campaign.

While the exact number of Chinese victims is unknown, the legacy of this brutal purge has had a lasting impact on the Chinese community in Vladivostok and beyond. By 1936, the Soviet Union began deporting Chinese expatriates in groups, causing panic among local Chinese and eventually leading the Chinese Embassy to intervene. However, the purges in the Soviet Union intensified, leading to the mass relocation and deportation of “unreliable elements” from the border areas, including minority ethnic groups living in the Soviet Union. In December 1937, Soviet repression was directed against the Chinese in the Far East, leading to the arrests of Chinese in various parts of the region, including the largest concentration of arrests made in Vladivostok and the surrounding areas. Soviet authorities issued a secret order to arrest all Chinese individuals who committed provocative acts or had terrorist intentions, allegations which were themselves of dubious veracity. The first mass arrest of 853 Chinese individuals, known as the “Chinese Operation”, occurred in Primorsky Oblast on December 29 and 30, 1937. In February 1938, more than 200 Chinese individuals were arrested in Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, and Spassk, and they were tortured to make them confess to the crime of espionage. 

Still recovering from the Soviet horrors inflicted on their ancestors, many Chinese today hold on to the hope that Vladivostok will one day be returned to China and become Haishenwai once again. Chinese visitors to the city have expressed similar sentiments, with some believing that the land was unjustly taken from China. This view has been amplified by a social media campaign against Russia following a tweet by the Russian embassy in India in 2020, which touted the founding of Vladivostok. Chinese internet users criticized what they saw as Russia's glorification of its unlawful annexation, expressing discomfort and resentment.

Regardless of its tumultuous history of Chinese immigration and labor, Vladivostok’s intricate Chinese legacy remains a poignant reminder of the city’s multicultural past. The arrests and deportations of Chinese and other diaspora nationalities have transformed the city and the region as a whole, leaving scars that have taken decades to heal and for some remain open. However, today there is a growing interest in recovering the multi-ethnic heritage evident in the city’s history even as fears about the geopolitics of Chinese immigration to the Russian Far East continue. As the city moves towards the future, it must grapple with its past and find ways to honor the contributions of Chinese laborers and victims of Soviet repression while addressing the complicated political and social tensions that continue to shape the region.

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Life on the Margins

Hope is a Chinese international student at Wake Forest University in North Carolina studying sociology, statistics, and journalism. She dreams of traveling around the globe as a freelance reporter while touching on a wide range of social issues from education inequality to cultural diversity. Passionate about environmental issues and learning about other cultures, she is eager to explore the globe. In her free time, she enjoys cooking Asian cuisine, reading, and theater.