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Mirrorlands: Russia, China, and Journeys in Between
Mirrorlands is a journey through space and time to the meeting points of Russia and China, the world's largest and most populous countries. Charting an unconventional course southeast through Siberia, Inner Mongolia, the Russian Far East and Manchuria, anthropologist and linguist Ed Pulford sketches a rich series of encounters with people and places unknown not only to outsiders, but also to most residents of the capital cities where his journey begins and ends.
What Russia and China have in common goes much deeper than their status as authoritarian post-socialist states or perceived menaces to Western hegemony. Their shared history can only fully be appreciated from an intimately local, borderland perspective. Along remote roads, rivers and railways, in cosmopolitan cities and indigenous villages of the northeast Asian frontiers, Pulford maps the strikingly similar ways in which these two vast empires have ruled their Eurasian domains, before, during and after socialism.
With great cultural nuance, Mirrorlands thoughtfully evokes the diverse daily interactions between residents of the Russia-China borderlands, and their resulting visions of "Europe" and "Asia." It is a vivid portrait of centuries of cross-border encounter, mimicry and conflict, key to understanding the global place and identity of two leading world powers.
What Russia and China have in common goes much deeper than their status as authoritarian post-socialist states or perceived menaces to Western hegemony. Their shared history can only fully be appreciated from an intimately local, borderland perspective. Along remote roads, rivers and railways, in cosmopolitan cities and indigenous villages of the northeast Asian frontiers, Pulford maps the strikingly similar ways in which these two vast empires have ruled their Eurasian domains, before, during and after socialism.
With great cultural nuance, Mirrorlands thoughtfully evokes the diverse daily interactions between residents of the Russia-China borderlands, and their resulting visions of "Europe" and "Asia." It is a vivid portrait of centuries of cross-border encounter, mimicry and conflict, key to understanding the global place and identity of two leading world powers.
360 pages, Hardcover
Published August 1, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 16, 2020
In 2015, seven years after I started studying Mandarin, I traveled to Russia for the first time. Ever since, the contrast between China and Russia - through culture, politics, religion (or lack thereof), and diplomatic relations - has been an endless sort of very, very nerdy fascination for me.
In this vein, I was hoping that this academic travelogue along the borderlands of the two countries from Sino-Russo anthropologist Ed Pulford would help to shed new light to this area of fascination. It certainly does.
Rather than take the typical Trans-Siberian route, Pulford travels from Moscow to the northern Siberian city of Yakutsk, before taking long-distance cars and local trains along the Siberian-Chinese border. Along the way, he stops at both urban hubs and remote towns, most of which are steeped in history (and many, including the Chinese city Harbin, where I spent the summer of 2010, has had their own history re-written and buried through the revisionist efforts of the CCP and USSR/post-USSR).
Pulford’s general writing style and observations can sometimes get a little TOO erudite/proper, which makes me wonder how “fun” it actually would have been to have joined him on this trip. For example, he completely chides the Russian companions along his way that get drunk as if this is to be completely unexpected when you’re out in the Siberian wilderness. I found myself wishing that Hunter S Thompson instead had taken this trip (but I’ll take what I can get).
This is a very niche book that might be a bit boring for people that don’t share an obsession in Sino-Russian relations, or haven’t visited places like Beijing, Moscow and/or Harbin. However, for those who do share these interests, I can’t recommend this book enough. Pulford takes a deep dive into the history of an oft-overlooked part of the world whose core identity has been formed from the interaction of two wildly different (but also wildly similar) cultures.
In this vein, I was hoping that this academic travelogue along the borderlands of the two countries from Sino-Russo anthropologist Ed Pulford would help to shed new light to this area of fascination. It certainly does.
Rather than take the typical Trans-Siberian route, Pulford travels from Moscow to the northern Siberian city of Yakutsk, before taking long-distance cars and local trains along the Siberian-Chinese border. Along the way, he stops at both urban hubs and remote towns, most of which are steeped in history (and many, including the Chinese city Harbin, where I spent the summer of 2010, has had their own history re-written and buried through the revisionist efforts of the CCP and USSR/post-USSR).
Pulford’s general writing style and observations can sometimes get a little TOO erudite/proper, which makes me wonder how “fun” it actually would have been to have joined him on this trip. For example, he completely chides the Russian companions along his way that get drunk as if this is to be completely unexpected when you’re out in the Siberian wilderness. I found myself wishing that Hunter S Thompson instead had taken this trip (but I’ll take what I can get).
This is a very niche book that might be a bit boring for people that don’t share an obsession in Sino-Russian relations, or haven’t visited places like Beijing, Moscow and/or Harbin. However, for those who do share these interests, I can’t recommend this book enough. Pulford takes a deep dive into the history of an oft-overlooked part of the world whose core identity has been formed from the interaction of two wildly different (but also wildly similar) cultures.
October 16, 2025
Very enjoyable indeed. I really should spend more time in dongbei
May 30, 2020
If you set yourself in the right frame of mind, Mirrorlands earns its five stars. Anyone expecting an academic treatment of the subject may find themselves frustrated at a style of prose that I presume is designed to evoke travel writing of a century past. Pulford gives plenty of historical context for his observations, which gives this book a contemporary relevance. I first heard of this book through his interview on the Sinica podcast, but after finishing Mirrorlands, I would recommend it to anyone interested in China-Russia relations as well as anyone who enjoys rich travelogues of the worlds oft-overlooked regions.
August 19, 2020
I was immediately fascinated by the premise of this book and couldn't wait to read it, the idea of these two vast empires sharing more than just a long border was something I'd considered before, so it's really nice to find that thesis corroborated by someone who actually understands what he's talking about. The nicely depicts the journey that Pulford takes along the border and the highlights are the conversations he has with the unusual characters he manages to draw into the book.
At times the thesis can seem a little stretched as the differences always do seem to trump the similarities but nonetheless he finds some really interesting points of connections, especially the tendency of both sides to see a pastiche of the other (something which is very familiar to people who have travelled to cities like Harbin and Dalian in China).
One of the things I found most interesting was the comparisons between the treatment of different ethnicities in China and Russia/the USSR. The active campaigns of some smaller Russian ethnicities is contrasted with the much more sinicized locals on the Chinese side. This is something I have often found interesting, especially when comparing the Miao people in China to their counterparts in Vietnam. If Ed is looking for a new topic then I feel like this is something that could be explored in much greater depth, especially given the coverage that the Uyghur people have recently received.
The prose is nice and the insights are interesting though at times I felt that the journey itself wasn't quite living up to its interesting premise but overall definitely a great book for anyone interested in the region and its history.
At times the thesis can seem a little stretched as the differences always do seem to trump the similarities but nonetheless he finds some really interesting points of connections, especially the tendency of both sides to see a pastiche of the other (something which is very familiar to people who have travelled to cities like Harbin and Dalian in China).
One of the things I found most interesting was the comparisons between the treatment of different ethnicities in China and Russia/the USSR. The active campaigns of some smaller Russian ethnicities is contrasted with the much more sinicized locals on the Chinese side. This is something I have often found interesting, especially when comparing the Miao people in China to their counterparts in Vietnam. If Ed is looking for a new topic then I feel like this is something that could be explored in much greater depth, especially given the coverage that the Uyghur people have recently received.
The prose is nice and the insights are interesting though at times I felt that the journey itself wasn't quite living up to its interesting premise but overall definitely a great book for anyone interested in the region and its history.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews