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ABSTRACT
This article introduces the key stages and major figures in the historical development of the Beijing Institute of Russian Language (1899–1935), a leading school offering Russian language education in China at the end of the Qing Dynasty and during the Republican era. The institute attracted several notable Russian sinologists and brought up Chinese translators, who became the leading agents of Russian literary thought in China. Current work discusses the contribution that the school’s lecturers made in the field of intellectual and literary exchange between China and Russia while teaching in the Beijing Institute of Russian Language. It evaluates the translation activities carried out by the graduates, predominantly Geng Jizhi, Qu Qiubai, and Wei Suyuan, reflecting the changing priorities of Chinese literary thought from the beginning of the May 4th movement to the late 1930s.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Descendants of Cossacks defeated by Chinese armies in Heilongjiang in the 17th century.
2. A trading point at the Mongolian border between Russia and the Qing Empire.
3. Court of Colonial Affairs, which was the central government agency, responsible for the interactions with Mongols, Muslims, Tibetans, and Russians.
4. 新疆俄文馆 [Xinjiang Russian House], (1887); 黑龙江俄文学堂 [Heilongjiang College of Russian], (1896); 吉林俄文学堂 [Jilin College of Russian], (1898).
5. RGIA. f. 323, op. 4, d. 12, l. 238.
6. RGIA. f. 323, op. 4, d. 12, l. 237.
7. In 1895 he served as a financial agent and later a head of China-Eastern Railroad administration in Beiping (1897).
8. The first pro-Russian newspaper released in Chinese as the resistance against British and Japanese press in Beiping.
9. RGIA. f. 323, op. 1, d. 1157, l. 110.
10. M. F. Bulgakov was a frequent guest to Pozdneev’s family that lived in the legendary house of Tolstoy in the apartment 660, a possible prototype to the malicious apartment in Bulgakov’s novel. See Kolotilo (Citation2011), 36–37.
11. See Waijiaobu ewen zhuanxiuguan dierbian tongxuelu 1921.
12. RGIA. f. 323, op. 1, d. 1157, l. 44.
13. RGIA. f. 323, op. 1, d. 1184, l. 2.
14. CSA SPb. f. 14, op. 3, d. 30,339, 34,067, 30,811.
15. His head was decapitated and placed on display at the Caishikou execution grounds in Beiping.
16. RGIA. f. 323, op. 1, d. 1157, l. 110.
17. АVPRI. f. Kitaiskiy stol, op. 491, d. 2042, l. 9–17.
18. Ibid. l. 16.
19. Ibid. l. 9–17.
20. AVPRI. f. Yaponskiy stol, op. 493, d. 2062, l. 48.
21. RGIA. f. 323, op. 4, d. 1292, l. 259.
22. See “Qing kan! Qing kan! Eluosi mingjia xiaoshuo ji.” 请看！请看！俄罗斯名家小说集. 民国日报 [Republican Daily]. 1920. 4. 11. Shanghai: Republican Daily Press.
23. See Luxun (Citation1936).
24. V.N. Rogov worked as a correspondent in China throughout the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to delivering reports on issues of Modern China, V.N. Rogov was actively engaged in establishing literary dialogue between China and Soviet Russia. He translated the early works of Lu Xun and was in charge of the publication of several Shanghai-based periodicals, such as 时代 [Epoch] and 苏联文艺 [Soviet Literature and Art], which focused on the introduction of Russian and Soviet literature to a Chinese audience. See Khokhlov (Citation2007).
25. SPbB ARAS. f. 820, op. 3, d. 642.
26. Geng, Jizhi “Baomu”, 保姆 [Nanny]; “Chongfeng”, 重逢 [Reunion]; “Gu Dasao”, 顾大嫂 [Sister Gu]. See Zheng (Citation1985).
27. A well-known centre for socialist indoctrination and revolutionary training in Soviet Russia.
28. See 冢上 一朵小花 [Little Flower on the Barrow]. Translated by Wei Suyuan. 韦素园选集. [Wei Suyuan Selected Works]. 1985. 264–266.
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Notes on contributors
Kateryna Bugayevska
Kateryna Bugayevska is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at Xiamen University, currently completing her dissertation on the female Miao artist community building in Southeast Guizhou. She received her master’s degree in comparative literature from Tsinghua University where she focused on the intellectual history of Modern China and Sino-Russian literary and academic exchange. She had also worked as a CCTV travel show host/reporter for over 6 years, traveling China extensively.