Beyond the Amur: Frontier Encounters between China and Russia, 1850-1930

Contemporary Chinese Studies (UBC Press)

by Victor Zatsepine

Beyond the Amur describes the distinctive frontier society that emerged in the Amur, a river region that shifted between Qing China and imperial Russia as the two empires competed for resources. Official histories depict the Amur as a distant battleground caught between rival empires. Zatsepine, by contrast, views it as a unified natural economy populated by Chinese, Russian, Indigenous, Japanese, Korean, Manchu, and Mongol people who crossed the border in search of work or trade and who came together to survive a harsh physical environment. This colourful account of a region and its people highlights the often overlooked influence of frontier developments on state politics and imperial policies and histories.

Genres: China, History

240 pages, Hardcover

Published March 16, 2017