Oriental Institute Journal, 2016, №29 (1)
Известия Восточного Института №1 (29), 2016
Censor from the Oriental Institute
UDC 93/94.39
Dmitriy A. BUTYRIN Censor from the Oriental Institute
The article is devoted to Eugene G. Spalvin, Professor of the Department of Japanese Literature, Oriental Institute, and the author of unique teaching materials on the Japanese language. At the beginning of the 20th century, the General Administration of Press asked the Office of the Amur Region’s Governor General to entrust the Board of the Oriental Institute with the task of censoring publications in Oriental and European languages, which later was successfully implemented for several years. E. G. Spalvin and his colleagues were engaged in censorial work and analysis of readership. The professors’ reports contained a lot of information on foreigners living on the territory of the Russian Far East. The Censorship Department of the Oriental Institute headed by E. G. Spalvin practised censorship of Japanese newspapers, which often contained negative publications about the Russian Empire and were not always desirable to enter the territory of Russia. After the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War (1904), the Censorship Department of the Oriental Institute ceased to function.
Key words: Newspapers, the Oriental Institute, Russian censorship, Japan, the Japanese language
Society
UDC 94(571.6)
Vadim L. AGAPOV Counselor Undrits and Chinese Merchants
The article deals with the life of Gustav von Undrits, a graduate of the Oriental Institute (1909), a Russian officer who participated in three wars including the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion (1900), Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), and World War I. On the eve of World War I the protagonist served as the Head of the 4th Department of the Primorsky regional government (1911–1914) and enjoyed the patronage of the Governor. According to the unpublished documents held by the Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East, he took advantage of his official position and organized a system of unlawful tribute collection from the Chinese and Jewish communities of Vladivostok. Together with his friends, including the vice-governor Lodyzhenskiy, he visited the restaurants and cafe-shantants intimidating the owners not to pay for their services. The article shows the conflict between Undrits and the prominent representatives of the Chinese diaspora including the criminal part of them, which ended up with the dismissal of the official suspected of corruption and abuse of office. For the first time the article provides information about his further service during World War I.
Key words: Russian Empire, Vladivostok, Yellow Peril, bureaucracy, corruption, G. G. von Undrits, V. I. Lodyzhenskiy, N. L. Gondatti
UDC 94(470-571.63.)
The article reveals the causes of the «Korean question» in the Far Eastern village in the environment of the resettlement policy conducted by the Imperial government in the second half of 19th – early 20th centuries. The focus is laid upon the inconsistency of actions on the part of the local authorities towards Korean immigrants. In the 1920-ies the solution of the «Korean question» was implemented by the Soviet state in the process of restructuring land relations on the basis of the Land Code of the RSFSR, with regional peculiarities taken into account. The Korean colonization can be defined as agricultural, for which it was peculiar to resettle with whole families, driven by the desire to settle firmly on the ground, to form mono-ethnic settlements, and to preserve their culture. In practice, in the solution of the «Korean question» the regional authorities were guided by the principle of usefulness of the land tenure systems and agricultural economy of Koreans for the economic development of the region. However, the Soviets had to face the fact that over 70% of Koreans in Primorye were legally employed under Japanese citizenship. This had a significant impact on the situation around the Korean community. In the 1930s the Far Eastern Koreans were the first of all the peoples of the USSR who experienced the hardships of deportation.
Key words: Korean immigrants, Far East village, peculiarities of land use, relationship with the Soviet regime, land management, national identity, Korean agricultural culture, collectivization, deportation
Culture
UDC 398.22 (=571.6)
The article discusses the genre structure of narrative folklore, specific to the Tungus-speaking peoples of the Southern Group (the Nanaians, the Ulchis, the Oroks-Uilta, and the Orochis). It reveals both its genetic commonality and specificity of the oral-poetic heritage belonging to different ethnic groups, due to their interaction with the culture of the neighboring peoples, primarily the Manchu. The author concludes that the external factors stimulated the enrichment of the genre and the thematic variety of the folklore traditions characteristic of the indigenous people of the Far East; however, borrowing from the culture of the southern neighbors was quite selective. The artistic interpretation of the alien realities contributed to creating their own original works, affirming the spiritual values of the traditional society. According to the author, social inequality was categorically assessed in negative terms. Negative characteristics were honed by the artistic consciousness thus reaching the domain of folklore tradition that held high educational value for nonliterate peoples.
Key words: Far East, Tungus-speaking peoples, the Manchus, narrative folklore, genre structure, ethnic and cultural traditions, the area of distribution, cross-cultural interaction
UDC 929
Vadim V. SONIN Russian professors-emigrants in Chinese Tsinghua University (1930–1950s)
In the 1930s Tsinghua University in Beijing has become a haven for a number of Russian professors from National Far Eastern University. Among them was the famous anthropologist and author of the theory of ethnos Sergey Shirokogorov, who led in Tsinghua first scientific steps of Fei Xiaotong, future founder of Chinese Anthropology, who then had described his supervisor in his memoir article. Historian Ivan Gapanovich, a prominent political figure of Russian Far East, spent about 20 years in Tsinghua. A notable feature of Russian contribution to the scientific life of Tsinghua University was its social and humanitarian orientation. In contrast to European and American professors, many of whom had natural and technology courses, Russian emigrants taught World and Russian history, ethnography and anthropology, Russian language and literature, as well as music theory. The contribution of Russian professors to the formation of social sciences and humanities in Old Tsinghua retains its value till now.
Key words: National Far Eastern University, Tsinghua, Shirokogorov, Gapanovich, emigrants
UDC 7.067
This article covers certain practical aspects of intercultural communication within the sphere of theatrical arts, which we observed on the recently opened Primorsky Stage supervised by the State Academic Mariinsky Opera and Ballet Theatre. As specifically important the author sees the fact that Russian classical opera and ballet traditions are highly esteemed and considered appealing by the audience abroad, particularly around the Asia Pacific region. Gradually, the theatrical team gains creative and communicative experience, giving birth to new ideas and concepts, being involved in socializing with colleagues, touring, and other cultural activities aimed at promoting classical arts in the Pacific outposts of Russia, yet so far rarely having an occasion to do that abroad in a prominent way. With that in mind, the author attempts to analyze the dynamics behind the intercultural relations of the newborn artistic group. One of the conclusions maintains that the energy of intercultural activity seems to be very dependent on the theater’s acquired status.
Key words: Intercultural communication, Primorski Stage of the Mariinsky Opera and Ballet Theatre, North-East Asia, concert tour, festival, art director, performer
Policy
UDC 94(47)«1914/19»:94(571.6)
The paper analyzes the influence of World War I on the political struggle in the Russian Far East in the beginning of the Civil War. The authors believe that for a long time after the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed and even after the war ended in November 1918, this influence was quite significant. This created two divergent flows, namely: weariness from war and refusal to participate in it in any way versus readiness to solve any disputes by military power. The authors attempt to show the part that Germany’s and its allies’ former prisoners of war (POW) played in the Civil War and to discuss other factors pertaining to World War I. The authors found out that there was no mechanical separation of POWs of different nationalities into political camps of the Civil War in Russia. The Civil War led to a peculiar social transformation – by the end of it, the party of Bolsheviks-internationalists became the main protector of the national sovereignty. The authors aimed to use a systematic approach to evaluating the events of 1918-1920.
Key words: World War I, Far Eastern home front, German factor, German bloc prisoners of war
UDC 94:656 (571.6)
The article analyzes the main trends in international transport cooperation in the Far Eastern borders. The conceptual aspects of the theory of a society in transition and transformation processes served as the methodological basis for the analysis. The author considers government activities aimed at strengthening the capacity of the international transport of the Far East, and at creating a modern infrastructure for communications with neighboring countries. The research examines extensive international transportation projects implemented in the Russian Far East, indicating the totals on transport cooperation with the leading countries of the region (China, Japan, and Republic of Korea). The author reveals the negative outcomes associated with public-private partnership in the process of frontier posts formation. The main result of the research was in identifying systemic problems generated in the recent period of the Russian history. The attempts have been made to provide estimates for forecast assessments of external transport communications of the region under modern conditions of political and socio-economic changes.
Key words: Transport, region, international relations, social and economic processes
Methods of Teaching
Academic Reports
UDC 929
The article is devoted to the activity of the teacher of mathematics at Vladivostok men’s gymnasium of Oriental Institute, who trained a galaxy of outstanding students in 1900–1921.
Key words: Dmitry Dyukov, Vladivostok men’s gymnasium, Oriental Institute, education, mathematics, biography
UDC 327
Forming regional order in Southeast Asia, based on cooperation and evolving integrational structures is challenged by the activity of extremist political groups that impacted on domestic issues of regional states as well as the architecture of international security. The article reviews the threat of the Salafi caliphate creation in Southeast Asia where radical Islamist groups extend their influence at the grassroots. In the article, the main reasons for the genesis and development of pan-Islamic ideology in the region and the impact of «Islamic State» on its expansion in the conditions of multicultural environment are analyzed. The tools the Southeast Asian countries apply to counteract extremism as well as the main negative consequences of the pan-Islamic state emergence for Asia-Pacific region are examined. The results highlight the significance to invigorate the strategic cooperation amongst the Southeast Asian countries on the prevention of terrorist and extremist threats including the use of non-military mechanisms.
Key words: Threat, pan-Islamic state, Salafi caliphate, Southeast Asia, terrorist organizations, radical groups, extremism, Islamic State
UDC 303.01.304.2,792
Some issues of the problem of integral perception of the world in science and art are described in this paper on a case study connected with work in Japan on the basis of system of Stanislavsky of a Russian director Leonid Anisimov. It was concluded that, despite of declared development of interdisciplinary (polydisciplinary) researches, in the science the serious problem of formation of the foundations for carrying out of interdisciplinary synthesis is kept. At the same time, as it was shown also in Anisimov’s case, art could realize complete representation of these problems. The conclusion about necessity of the scientific analysis of means of achievement by art of such results therefore is offered. Another actual field of researches for preparing a real synthesis of separate disciplines is introduction of the anthropological approach and the study of real mechanisms of cognitive activity in a science and art.
Key words: Anthropology, integral unit, methodology, mutual understanding, interdisciplinary approach, art of theater, L. I. Anisimov
Archive
UUDC 93
Military governor Paul Unterberger is well-known in Vladivostok while the name of his son Peter Unterberger is unfamiliar to most people. However, it was Peter who left an important legacy – his memoirs titled «In Between Two Cultures. Observations, Reflections and Memories of Peter Unterberger (1881–1960)», courtesy of his granddaughter Erika Unterberger who lives in Gmunden, Austria. After her visit to Vladivostok in 2010, Erika provided us with a copy of the memoirs and a great number of photographs for translation and publication. These pieces of writing give us a chance to look into Unterberger family’s life as well as the history of Vladivostok and Russia. Moreover, they are a truly absorbing read, written with talent and wit. This year marks the 125th anniversary of the visit of Tsesarevich Nikolai (Nicholas II to-be) to Vladivostok and we believe that the fragments describing this remarkable event would be the right choice to introduce the reader to the memoirs. Translation of some extracts from Peter Unterberger’s memoirs into Russian is now published for the first time.
Key words: Crown Prince Nicolai Aleksandrovich, Vladivostok, Peter Unterberger
Scientific Life
Ilya Yu. SINENKO Return to the Origins of Russian-American Relations: «Fort Ross Dialogue»