Книга канадского историка Дэвида Схиммельпенника ванн дер Ойе описывает вклад имперского воображения в политику дальневосточной экспансии России в первое десятилетие правления Николая II. Опираясь на массив разнородных источников - травелоги, дневники, мемуаристику, дипломатическую корреспонденцию, - автор показывает, как символическая география, геополитические представления и культурные мифы о Китае, Японии, Корее влияли на принятие конкретных решений, усиливавших присутствие России на Тихоокеанском побережье. Русское "восточничество" и страх "желтой опасности", "конквистадорский" империализм и проект "мирного проникновения" - это столь различные образы и прогнозы российской судьбы в Восточной Азии анализируются и сквозь призму сознания неординарных политиков, ученых и публицистов, и в контексте массовых настроений и эмоций той эпохи.
Russia's priority in its Asian relations were with China in the decade from the ascension of Nicholas II to the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. While some Russians reviled China's weaknesses in the last years of the Qing dynasty and yearned to take advantage and seize territories, others wished for good relations, based on (potential) financial and business rewards and/or respect for their common "Oriental heritage." Either way, in that era of rampant aggressive imperialism, Russia couldn't seem to help tearing off bits of China, just as the Europeans and Japanese were doing: Port Arthur after the Germans helped themselves to Tsingtao, and most of the rest of Manchuria after the Boxer Rebellion. This last expansion put them in the sights of the Japanese who had tried to come to an agreement with the Russians for years, allowing them primacy in Manchuria if the Japanese were allowed the same in Korea. The Russian government arrogantly brushed the Japanese approaches aside, feeling that it was beneath their dignity to negotiate away what they thought Russian arms could take by force; an attitude which would cost them dearly in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5. There was not a little racism involved as well. The magnificently-named Professor Schimmelpenninck van der Oye narrates the ups and downs of the various ideological trends vis a vis Russia's Far Eastern policies, and comes to the startling conclusion that it was complicated. A good overview of the period leading up to the war that started Tsarist Russia on its decline.
Ровно 40% книги - библиография. Т.е. это научный труд, а не художественная литература. В книге встречаются любопытные факты, но в целом не сказал бы чтобы она что-то для меня прояснила в том периоде истории России.