Where Rising Powers Meet: China and Russia At Their North Asian Border
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Social Anthropology
Abstract
Context
Over the last decade world attention has focused on Russia and China as two of the world's four rising economies (BRICs), but there has been little focus on their interface. Furthermore, in the studies that have been done analyses have rarely extended beyond the disciplines of economics, history and political science. They have largely focused on state policies and changes at macro-level and have paid little attention to the myriad social transformations now taking place within and between these two multi-ethnic societies. Yet, since the demise of Soviet socialism in 1991 and especially in the last decade, the line of contact has become a site of rapid transformations and ever widening contrasts between the two countries. The 'twin-cities', notably Manzhouli/Zabaikalsk, Heihe/Blagoveshchensk and Suifenhe/Ussuriisk, that have mushroomed along the border are assuming utterly different characters. Meanwhile, the extraction of strategic resources (mining in particular) is attracting global economic interests, overturning traditional occupations, and drawing in new populations.
Aims and Objectives
The proposed project, based in social anthropology, will seek to address these developments. A series of case studies will be carried out by an international team with an in-depth knowledge of the region and its languages. The project will study comparatively social and economic practices in their political environments in the two countries. We aim to highlight and identify the key factors, including cultural attitudes to entrepreneurship and the market, that drive their evolution and future trajectories. We suggest that borders and peripheries can shed light on the internal dynamics within great post-imperial states that are not visible from the metropolis; ground level studies reveal emergent forms of global modernity that are symptomatic and may be predictive of future general trends.
Specifically, case studies of the transforming 'twin cities' will investigate the highly divergent forms of citizenship and the contrasts in economic affordances and wellbeing emerging on either side - along with the migration flows and new non-state hybrid spaces that cross-cut state governance. Our project will also investigate interventions in neighbouring Mongolia, where Russia and China operate as global actors alongside others. We will seek to understand their different modes of operation in a developing country and their potential political, social and environmental consequences. Finally, the regional focus of the study will also highlight the ethnic dynamics of this border region inhabited by indigenous groups that were traditionally nomadic and Buddhist. The project will examine to what extent minority people negotiate border regulations differently from Russians and Chinese, and in what circumstances kinship, ethnic and religious ties do (or do not) trump national loyalties.
Potential Benefits
This project will be the first of its kind and its primary contribution will be to provide new kinds of information about a strategic region, which until now has remained largely out of the public eye. The research on attitudes and practices regarding citizenship rights, history, ethnicity, well-being, property, employment, sustainability, and consumption of local and foreign goods will shed light on the fundamental values of the diverse populations of the Rising Powers - and therefore will be of interest to the general public seeking to gain a better understanding of these two countries. It will also be of direct benefit to researchers from a range of disciplines (e.g. anthropology, sociology, politics, economics, international relations, ethnic and development studies) and will interest the growing number of stakeholders with a focus on the region, in particular foreign policy makers in the UK and abroad, development banks, media and information agencies and NGOs.
Over the last decade world attention has focused on Russia and China as two of the world's four rising economies (BRICs), but there has been little focus on their interface. Furthermore, in the studies that have been done analyses have rarely extended beyond the disciplines of economics, history and political science. They have largely focused on state policies and changes at macro-level and have paid little attention to the myriad social transformations now taking place within and between these two multi-ethnic societies. Yet, since the demise of Soviet socialism in 1991 and especially in the last decade, the line of contact has become a site of rapid transformations and ever widening contrasts between the two countries. The 'twin-cities', notably Manzhouli/Zabaikalsk, Heihe/Blagoveshchensk and Suifenhe/Ussuriisk, that have mushroomed along the border are assuming utterly different characters. Meanwhile, the extraction of strategic resources (mining in particular) is attracting global economic interests, overturning traditional occupations, and drawing in new populations.
Aims and Objectives
The proposed project, based in social anthropology, will seek to address these developments. A series of case studies will be carried out by an international team with an in-depth knowledge of the region and its languages. The project will study comparatively social and economic practices in their political environments in the two countries. We aim to highlight and identify the key factors, including cultural attitudes to entrepreneurship and the market, that drive their evolution and future trajectories. We suggest that borders and peripheries can shed light on the internal dynamics within great post-imperial states that are not visible from the metropolis; ground level studies reveal emergent forms of global modernity that are symptomatic and may be predictive of future general trends.
Specifically, case studies of the transforming 'twin cities' will investigate the highly divergent forms of citizenship and the contrasts in economic affordances and wellbeing emerging on either side - along with the migration flows and new non-state hybrid spaces that cross-cut state governance. Our project will also investigate interventions in neighbouring Mongolia, where Russia and China operate as global actors alongside others. We will seek to understand their different modes of operation in a developing country and their potential political, social and environmental consequences. Finally, the regional focus of the study will also highlight the ethnic dynamics of this border region inhabited by indigenous groups that were traditionally nomadic and Buddhist. The project will examine to what extent minority people negotiate border regulations differently from Russians and Chinese, and in what circumstances kinship, ethnic and religious ties do (or do not) trump national loyalties.
Potential Benefits
This project will be the first of its kind and its primary contribution will be to provide new kinds of information about a strategic region, which until now has remained largely out of the public eye. The research on attitudes and practices regarding citizenship rights, history, ethnicity, well-being, property, employment, sustainability, and consumption of local and foreign goods will shed light on the fundamental values of the diverse populations of the Rising Powers - and therefore will be of interest to the general public seeking to gain a better understanding of these two countries. It will also be of direct benefit to researchers from a range of disciplines (e.g. anthropology, sociology, politics, economics, international relations, ethnic and development studies) and will interest the growing number of stakeholders with a focus on the region, in particular foreign policy makers in the UK and abroad, development banks, media and information agencies and NGOs.
Planned Impact
Who will benefit?
Along with academic beneficiaries (see separate section) our study of the North Asian border will benefit foreign policy stakeholders within the UK; governmental, business and non-governmental organisations in China, Russia and Mongolia (operating at a variety of scales from national to local); and interested parties from media and the public across the world. It will also benefit the specialists working on geographically or thematically related topics from Britain, USA, France, Denmark as well as the countries of the region. We have in mind beneficiaries such as our partners, the Chinese Centre for Borderland Research (Beijing), which link policy making with academic research.
Non-academic stakeholders in the UK, such as those who demonstrated their interest by participating in the network and attending the Nov 2010 roundtable at Chatham House, will also benefit. These included the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Council on Foreign Relations, Society for Anglo Chinese Understanding, Xinhua News Agency, Eco-Minex International Ltd, Asian Development Bank. Our dissemination strategy will seek to extend this reach further to organisations interested in migration, global uncertainties, and human welfare (see Pathways to Impact).
The research will also provide a resource through which interested members of the general public can gain better knowledge of this important but little-known region (see Pathways to Impact).
How will they benefit?
Because Russia and China are both world powers the questions we are addressing concerning their interface are of concern for global politics and development, as well as being of regional importance. Non-academic beneficiaries may be familiar with the literature on broad economic comparisons between the two countries (Nolan 1995, 2001, 2004), their border disputes (Iwashita 2005), and their strategic / security relations (Blank 2011), but our research will detail the dynamics of the local political / economic / social situation. Beneficiaries will be informed about how activities in frontier zones affect (and are affected by) state policies and local political structures that shape economic decision-making, investment climates and environmental outcomes. State ideology and popular opinion concerning 'the other side' is also an understudied theme, yet it fuels important dynamics in demography / migration, cultural misunderstandings, and different attitudes to inequality and social support, which are of concern to humanitarian organisations. Discussion of governmental structures and relations between the metropolis and the frontier will be useful to political analysts, while the comparison of 'twin cities' and the study of contrasting economic cultures will be helpful to British-based businesses with operations in the two countries. The anthropological approach taken by many of our participants will provide a nuanced socio-cultural analysis enabling conclusions to be drawn that are appropriate to the region. Our studies of migration (why do people decide to migrate?) and adaptation will invite the possibility of considering alternative measures of human welfare to those conventionally used in other disciplines (such as GDP or income per capita).
By drawing together existing information in the regional languages and conducting an integrated range of new research, the project's outputs will provide a source for any member of the public wanting to achieve a more comprehensive and in-depth picture of how these 'rising powers' operate at their frontiers.
We expect our main public impact to be two-fold: 1) to inform the public about a very little known region, yet crucial interface, between two global rising powers; 2) to provide an informed, and comparative, understanding of how China and Russia are actually working at grass-roots level and how they are developing in different yet mutually related directions.
Along with academic beneficiaries (see separate section) our study of the North Asian border will benefit foreign policy stakeholders within the UK; governmental, business and non-governmental organisations in China, Russia and Mongolia (operating at a variety of scales from national to local); and interested parties from media and the public across the world. It will also benefit the specialists working on geographically or thematically related topics from Britain, USA, France, Denmark as well as the countries of the region. We have in mind beneficiaries such as our partners, the Chinese Centre for Borderland Research (Beijing), which link policy making with academic research.
Non-academic stakeholders in the UK, such as those who demonstrated their interest by participating in the network and attending the Nov 2010 roundtable at Chatham House, will also benefit. These included the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Council on Foreign Relations, Society for Anglo Chinese Understanding, Xinhua News Agency, Eco-Minex International Ltd, Asian Development Bank. Our dissemination strategy will seek to extend this reach further to organisations interested in migration, global uncertainties, and human welfare (see Pathways to Impact).
The research will also provide a resource through which interested members of the general public can gain better knowledge of this important but little-known region (see Pathways to Impact).
How will they benefit?
Because Russia and China are both world powers the questions we are addressing concerning their interface are of concern for global politics and development, as well as being of regional importance. Non-academic beneficiaries may be familiar with the literature on broad economic comparisons between the two countries (Nolan 1995, 2001, 2004), their border disputes (Iwashita 2005), and their strategic / security relations (Blank 2011), but our research will detail the dynamics of the local political / economic / social situation. Beneficiaries will be informed about how activities in frontier zones affect (and are affected by) state policies and local political structures that shape economic decision-making, investment climates and environmental outcomes. State ideology and popular opinion concerning 'the other side' is also an understudied theme, yet it fuels important dynamics in demography / migration, cultural misunderstandings, and different attitudes to inequality and social support, which are of concern to humanitarian organisations. Discussion of governmental structures and relations between the metropolis and the frontier will be useful to political analysts, while the comparison of 'twin cities' and the study of contrasting economic cultures will be helpful to British-based businesses with operations in the two countries. The anthropological approach taken by many of our participants will provide a nuanced socio-cultural analysis enabling conclusions to be drawn that are appropriate to the region. Our studies of migration (why do people decide to migrate?) and adaptation will invite the possibility of considering alternative measures of human welfare to those conventionally used in other disciplines (such as GDP or income per capita).
By drawing together existing information in the regional languages and conducting an integrated range of new research, the project's outputs will provide a source for any member of the public wanting to achieve a more comprehensive and in-depth picture of how these 'rising powers' operate at their frontiers.
We expect our main public impact to be two-fold: 1) to inform the public about a very little known region, yet crucial interface, between two global rising powers; 2) to provide an informed, and comparative, understanding of how China and Russia are actually working at grass-roots level and how they are developing in different yet mutually related directions.
Organisations
- University of Cambridge (Lead Research Organisation)
- Palacky University (Collaboration)
- East China Normal University (ECNU) (Collaboration)
- Far Eastern Federal University (Collaboration)
- Shanghai International Studies University (Collaboration)
- Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Collaboration)
- Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Caroline Humphrey (Principal Investigator) | |
| Franck Bille (Researcher) |
Publications
Namsaraeva S.
(2015)
Sixty Chapters for Understanding Inner Mongolia [ ???????????60?]
Namsaraeva S.
(2015)
Sixty Chapters for Understanding Inner Mongolia [???????????60?]
Namsaraeva Sayana
(2012)
Dilemmas of the Qing migration policy in frontier Hulun-Buir: The Muslim Tarianchi and their agricultural Project [??????? ??????? ???????????? ???????? ? ???????????? ?????????? ?? ??????? ?????? ????????? ??????? ],
in Gumanitarnii Vektor: Oriental Studies [???????????? ??????: ??????????????]
Namsaraeva Sayana
(2014)
Supplementary Historical Documents
in Inner Asia
Namsaraeva, Sayana
(2012)
Frontiers and Boundaries of China
| Title | Life on the Divide and the World's Longest Border |
| Description | A video made by project member Sayana Namsaraeva about the history of Buryats driven across the Russia / China / Mongolia borders in the 1920s, their persecution under communist governments, memories of elderly Buryats, and recent family reunions. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2013 |
| Impact | Invitations to show the film in diverse settings, including the Cambridge Science Festival, October 2013. |
| URL | http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/life-on-the-divide-the-buriad-people-and-the-worlds-longest-b... |
| Description | A wide range of new information has been discovered on the economy, society and politics of the northeast Russia - China border. In addition to our contribution to anthropological theory on the concept of borders, we have gained a deeper understanding of the differences between Russian and Chinese societies, and of the changing nature of the relations between the two countries. The project has revealed differences between metropolitan and local perspectives on topics such as security, trade, employment and migration. There are also significant differences in terms of their perception of borders: the Chinese tend to see their borders as zones of economic activity whereas the Russians tend to voice anxiety vis-à-vis border security and immigration. Despite the many positive diplomatic declarations of friendship and collaboration between the two countries, we have found that Sino-Russian relations continue to be hampered by practical difficulties. To date, no permanent bridges have been erected across the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, the two rivers that demarcate a substantial section of the international border. Border crossings are few and far between, and waiting lines are long. Crossing experiences also differ depending on nationality. While China has made it easy for Russians to visit China without visas, Chinese visits to Russia require visas, invitations, and are also subject to yearly quotas. Overall, border management and openness are viewed very differently by the two sides, with China focusing on economics and Russia focusing on security. These different priorities are visible in the rapidity of economic development and wealth creation on the Chinese side, and in the significant security infrastructure on the Russian side. In Russia's 'security zone' that runs along the entire border entry/exit, economic enterprise and construction is subject to permission from the FSB whose headquarters is in Moscow. These restrictions irritate many economic actors in the region, though the actual inhabitants of the zone tend to be happy with the privileges accorded to them. In general, Russia has developed far less rapidly than its counterpart because of fears of unbridled Chinese migration, and the prospect of the Russian Far East becoming a resource appendage for China. What we have found is that migration patterns are in fact the opposite of what the Russian media describe. There are more Russians living in China than Chinese living in Russia. The Russian Far East is not an attractive prospect for most Chinese as it is a cold and inhospitable region. Chinese migrant workers who go to the Russian Far East tend to be seasonal, or to stay for a maximum of year or two and then return home. Those Chinese who intend to emigrate permanently choose other Russian regions to do so, especially the large cities in the west, such as Moscow or St Petersburg. We have also found that despite the declarations of friendship between Russia and China, actual social ties between Russians and Chinese are often much looser, gravitating mostly around commercial activities. There are very few marriages between the two groups, and the few that occur are almost unfailingly between Chinese men and Russian women. Our findings suggest this imbalance is due to cultural perceptions about gender and sexual attractiveness on both sides of the border. A second imbalance is linguistic. In Chinese border towns most inhabitants have at least a rudimentary knowledge of Russian, but the reverse is not true (even if we have seen a surge in Chinese language classes in Russian border towns in the last few years). Most Russians therefore need a go-between when they want to do business in China, and this puts them at a disadvantage. Our research has highlighted the significance of indigenous people living in the borderlands such as Koreans, Buryats, Evenki and Mongols. These groups live on both sides of the border and many of them speak the same language in addition to Russian or Chinese. Nevertheless, they have not succeeded in becoming cultural and linguistic middlemen after the border reopened in 1989 and they tend to act as adjuncts to one side or the other. They have however sought to create stronger border ties with their kin across the border, though again with limited success. Our findings have also shown that the towns at the border are not only economically contrasted but also socially and aesthetically very different, with Chinese cities focusing on commerce and tourism, verticality and light while Russian cities tend to prioritise state and military institutions, greenery and wide avenues. This strong socio-visual divergence however conceals some mimicry and cross-border influence, especially at Blagoveshchensk and Heihe, which may herald the gradual adoption of a common urban grammar. |
| Exploitation Route | Regional specialists rarely know about both sides of this border. We are providing a fuller, more comprehensive picture in the context of a changing geo-political balance between Russia and China, environmental problems, new and evolving trade, transport links, and migration policies. Our findings may be used and taken forward by others intending to research these topics further. |
| Sectors | Education,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Security and Diplomacy,Transport |
| URL | http://www.northasianborders.net |
| Description | Most of our publications mentioned in the previous report have now been published. Some of our articles have been translated into Chinese, Mongolian and Russian. Discussions of collaborative work are ongoing with Professor Maslov of the Higher School of Economics (Moscow), Head of School of Oriental Studies. Humphrey, Namsaraeva and Billé have all given numerous seminars and lectures at universities in USA, UK, Poland, China, Holland, Russia, Germany, France, S. Korea and Japan. Our findings have been used to contribute to greater international understanding of the Russia-China border, international migration, trade relations, and international relations between China and Russia. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Education,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Security and Diplomacy,Transport |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | Expert Roundtable Conference organised at Chatham House: Russia and China: Entanglements and Points of Tension |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | https://www.chathamhouse.org/event/russia-and-china-entanglements-and-points-tension?dm_t=0,0,0,0,0 |
| Description | Grants scheme, Isaac Newton Trust, Cambridge |
| Amount | £14,850 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | 13.22(c) |
| Organisation | University of Cambridge |
| Department | Isaac Newton Trust |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 07/2013 |
| End | 03/2017 |
| Description | Collaboration with Chinese colleagues |
| Organisation | Chinese Academy of Social Sciences |
| Department | Research Centre for China Borderland History and Geography |
| Country | China |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We held a joint conference in Cambridge with the colleagues from Beijing headed by Prof Xing Guangcheng and two of his colleagues.Two members of our Project team have been invited to the Conferences organised by their Research Centre in 2015. Our colleagues at Shanghai ECNU, headed by Prof Yang Cheng, invited four members of our project to a conference on China's border with Russia held in Shanghai. Accommodation and maintenance was provided for our team by the Chinese partners. We conducted fieldwork in collaboration with Professor Natalya Ryzhova and initiated an edited volume. Caroline Humphrey gave a lecture at the Far Eastern Federal University and established relations with local experts on Russia-China relations |
| Collaborator Contribution | Valuable presentations of recent research, advice on the latest situation on the border, guidance on Chinese government policy. Research support for one British member of our project by partners in Beijing. Professor Ryzhova provided expertise, support in organizing fieldwork, contacts for interviews and ongoing collaboration |
| Impact | The School of Advanced International and Area Studies, ECNU, is publishing a volume of collected papers resulting from the joint workshop in held in 2014 in Shanghai. The Volume will be published in English and possibly also in Chinese. Professor Ryzhova contributed a chapter to the edited book on trust in border economies and an article to the special issue on loyalty, and she took part in workshops and conferences organized by the project. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Collaboration with Chinese colleagues |
| Organisation | East China Normal University (ECNU) |
| Country | China |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We held a joint conference in Cambridge with the colleagues from Beijing headed by Prof Xing Guangcheng and two of his colleagues.Two members of our Project team have been invited to the Conferences organised by their Research Centre in 2015. Our colleagues at Shanghai ECNU, headed by Prof Yang Cheng, invited four members of our project to a conference on China's border with Russia held in Shanghai. Accommodation and maintenance was provided for our team by the Chinese partners. We conducted fieldwork in collaboration with Professor Natalya Ryzhova and initiated an edited volume. Caroline Humphrey gave a lecture at the Far Eastern Federal University and established relations with local experts on Russia-China relations |
| Collaborator Contribution | Valuable presentations of recent research, advice on the latest situation on the border, guidance on Chinese government policy. Research support for one British member of our project by partners in Beijing. Professor Ryzhova provided expertise, support in organizing fieldwork, contacts for interviews and ongoing collaboration |
| Impact | The School of Advanced International and Area Studies, ECNU, is publishing a volume of collected papers resulting from the joint workshop in held in 2014 in Shanghai. The Volume will be published in English and possibly also in Chinese. Professor Ryzhova contributed a chapter to the edited book on trust in border economies and an article to the special issue on loyalty, and she took part in workshops and conferences organized by the project. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Collaboration with Chinese colleagues |
| Organisation | Far Eastern Federal University |
| Country | Russian Federation |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We held a joint conference in Cambridge with the colleagues from Beijing headed by Prof Xing Guangcheng and two of his colleagues.Two members of our Project team have been invited to the Conferences organised by their Research Centre in 2015. Our colleagues at Shanghai ECNU, headed by Prof Yang Cheng, invited four members of our project to a conference on China's border with Russia held in Shanghai. Accommodation and maintenance was provided for our team by the Chinese partners. We conducted fieldwork in collaboration with Professor Natalya Ryzhova and initiated an edited volume. Caroline Humphrey gave a lecture at the Far Eastern Federal University and established relations with local experts on Russia-China relations |
| Collaborator Contribution | Valuable presentations of recent research, advice on the latest situation on the border, guidance on Chinese government policy. Research support for one British member of our project by partners in Beijing. Professor Ryzhova provided expertise, support in organizing fieldwork, contacts for interviews and ongoing collaboration |
| Impact | The School of Advanced International and Area Studies, ECNU, is publishing a volume of collected papers resulting from the joint workshop in held in 2014 in Shanghai. The Volume will be published in English and possibly also in Chinese. Professor Ryzhova contributed a chapter to the edited book on trust in border economies and an article to the special issue on loyalty, and she took part in workshops and conferences organized by the project. |
| Start Year | 2013 |
| Description | Collaboration with Eurasian Studies Institute, Shanghai International Studies University, China |
| Organisation | Shanghai International Studies University |
| Country | China |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | Consultancy and advice in establishing research and teaching agenda for the new Central Asian Studies programme. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Establishment of a new research and teaching programme in Central Asian Studies. |
| Impact | Memorandum of Understanding and formal agreement will shortly be signed |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Collaboration with European Regional Development Fund. Palacky University, Czech Republic |
| Organisation | Palacky University |
| Country | Czech Republic |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | I am member of Advisory Board. Dr S. Namsaraeva is a Senior Research at the Trainee Research Centre of the project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Large international research project aiming to study the Sinophone borderlands of China in comparative perspective. Partners will carry out research in a number of countries bordering on China. |
| Impact | Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2018 |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | The First World Congress of the Association for Borderlands Studies (Finland) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | S Namsaraeva gave a talk 'Nomads within the Sino-Russian frontier space' from perspectives of historical anthropology and the ways how border delineation between Russia and China influences the migratory routes and reshaped local nomadic societies, whose style of living contradicted the very idea of the fencing and border construction. Panel Discussion afterwards reflected rising interest of International specialists in border studies and migration about the region less investigated in border studies yet. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://absborderlands.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ABSworldFINAL.pdf |
| Description | "Around the Changbai mountains", a Seminar on the Narratives of the divided ethnic groups in North Asia (Vladivostok, September 2016) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | International scholars presenting Japan, South Korea, China and Russia, as well as a number of Western scholars discussed conflicting loyalties of ethnic groups separated by borders in North Asia in historical and present day perspectives. Seminar was well attended by general public, students and area specialists to rise the issue of international security in North Asia and whether or no separated ethnic groups can can play a role in conflict resolutions between neighbouring disputing countries. S Namsaraeva gave a talk on transborder Buryats in three combatant Armies (Soviet, Mongolia and Japan) during the WWII to illustrate tragedy of the separated ethnic groups in war situations. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://iias.asia/event/around-changbai-mountains-seminar-narratives-ethnic-groups-northeast-asia |
| Description | Co-Organising Workshop "Facing the challenge of Identification: New Approaches to Buryat identities and their cross-border dynamics" (Warsaw, Poland) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Together with "Artes Liberales" Faculty at the University of Warsaw, we organised a special summer 3-days Workshop in Warsaw "Facing the challenge of Identification: New Approaches to Buryat identities and their cross-border dynamics". It was co-funded by PhD training Programme "Searching for Identity: Global Challenges, Local Traditions" at the "Artes Liberales" to train PhD students from Poland, Russia and UK by members of our Project team ( C. Humphrey, S Namsaraeva, I Peshkov, I. Sablin and others) and to involve them into scholarly discussions and knowledge sharing. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.isd.al.uw.edu.pl/pliki/SI%20Workshop%20prog%20(final).pdf |
| Description | Conference "Inner Asian Lineages and Future Horizons: MIASU at 30 Years" (University of Cambridge) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The conference dedicated to 30th Anniversary of The Mongolia & Inner Asia Studies Unit reflected on reorientation of Inner Asia area studies within academia and social sciences, to stress that Inner Asai is no longer seen as a marginal corner of the world, but rather as a centre for historical and contemporary social, economic and political processes. S Namsaraeva presented a paper "Beauty and the Beast: Reimagining myth in dehumanising narratives at the Sino-Russian border". Drawing upon Russian and Chinese ideas of governmentality and subjectivities, these bestiary images developed among the Chinese and Russians border traders operate to divide and to connect border society into categories of "humans" and "less-humans/non-humans". |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://innerasiaresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/16.10.04-FINAL-PROGRAMME-for-web2.pdf |
| Description | Conference "Reimagining Beauty and the Beast", University of Bristol (7th September, 2016) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | S Namsaraeva presented a talk "Beauties and Beasts of the Sino-Russian Border" on mythical imagery concerning monstrous 'others' on the Sino-Russian border to present a new "bestiary' vocabulary developed among the Chinese and Russian business people involved in cross-border trade. The Interdisciplinary Conference was attended by international scholars, Research fellows and PhD student of the Faculty of Arts, University of Bristol. Further participation involves invitation by the Conference organisers to publish S. Namsaraeva's paper in an edited volume. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/birtha/events/reimagining-beauty-and-the-beast/programme/ |
| Description | Conference on the "Qing Dynasty Borderland Administration and Border Ethnic groups ", Chengde (China) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Organised by the Institute of the Qing History people University of China, International Symposium invited the core specialists on Border issues between Russia and China to discuss separated ethnic groups and frontier population of the Sino-Russian borderlands. S Namsaraeva gave a talk in Chinese to draw attention to the "Rising Powers Research Project' and to introduce the main findings of the Project. In particular her paper discussed an issue of the deserters and changing loyalties of the cross-border population by taking an example of Gantimur and his descendants now living along the both sides of the border. Discussion of her paper revealed that present day political agenda in China and patriotic ethnic minorities official policy discourse tends to ignore and to neglect cultural and historical phenomenon of the defectors as undermining patriotic unity of ethnic minorities and their contribution to consolidate China's territorial integrity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.hbun.net/smartcore/web/main/xnxw/ff80808158cdc58d0158d3637a3a5c58.htm |
| Description | Interview after Workshop of ESRC Rising Powers and Interdependent Futures Programme, Manchester 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The broadcast was part of the workshop. The Rising Powers and Interdependent Futures Workshop brought together the 12 projects in the programme in a 3 day interactive discussion. Synergies between the different projects emerged. As a result a common seminar was organized at Chatham House, London, in 2015, attended by media, foreign relations specialists, and business representatives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://risingpowersif.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/china-russia-cross-border-trade-podcast.html |
| Description | Interview for national news |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Radio Interview by S Namsaraeva was on air in September 2018, and the audience reposted it's online version more than 519 times. Comments and discussion afterwards have shown, that information presented in the interview played an awareness-rising role about the decline of the economic and political importance of the Russian Federation in North Asia and massive deforestation of Siberia for the needs of China's economic growth . Article based on the interview was republished by the central and regional press in Russia and by the CIS countries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.svoboda.org/a/29494630.html |
| Description | Invited Speaker to War Studies Seminar (King's College, London) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | More than 20 international scholar and international security specialists attended the talk 'CHINESE LABOUR IN RUSSIA: TRUST, DISTRUST OR IN-BETWEEN? by Dr Sayana Namsaraeva. Discussion after the talk has risen issues of human trafficking and smuggling between Russia and China with the examples of criminalisation of Chinese labour in Russia, presented by Dr S. Namsaraeva. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.kcl.ac.uk/sspp/departments/warstudies/events/eventsrecords/namsaraeva.aspx |
| Description | Invited speaker at Cambridge University Social Anthropology Society Seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Around 20 members of the Department of Social Anthropology (academic and teaching stuff, students), anthropologists from other Colleges, and international China specialists attended the talk " Chinese Manzhouli as the 'City-as-Refuge' for Russian female border traders' by S Namsaraeva (February 2016). The discussion afterwards has shown increased academic interest in emerging of different modes of consumption and border trade between Russia and China, and new developments in China's borderlands. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | http://www.socanth.cam.ac.uk/events/cusas-talk-sayana-namsaraeva-04-02-2016 |
| Description | Invited speaker at China Research Seminar Series at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Cambridge) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The wide circle of China-related students and specialists based in Cambridge attended the talk "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them: Social Stratification through human - animal metamorphosis at the Sino - Russian Border" by Sayana Namsaraeva (January 23, 2019). The audience was interested to know more about social stratification of the border society at the Sino-Russia border, and how animal-human mythology ( imaginary beasts) has been employed to talk about race, ethnicity and gender in present day China. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/whats-on/china-research-seminar-lent-2019/fantastic-beasts-and-where-find... |
| Description | Invited speaker at China Research Seminar Series (Cambridge) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The wide circle of China-related specialists based in Cambridge attended the talk Military and Trade Diasporas at the China-Russia Border: Friendship and Suspicion between Kiakhta and Maimaicheng by S Namsaraeva (December 2014). The audience was interested to know more about trade relations between China and Russia in 'the longue durée' perspectives till present, and how security issues and trade interests were conflicting each other by time periods particularly at the Sino-Russia border. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/news-events/eas/china-research-seminar/posters/chinaresearchseminar2014120... |
| Description | Invited speaker for Mongolia & Inner Asia Research Seminar (Cambridge) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Presentation made by S Namsaraeva 'Fieldwork between Folders: fragments of the Russian 'amateur' colonial anthropology in the China-Russia border town archives' (April, 2013) highlighted the problems of accessing archives in Russia and China and critical engagement with archival documents. The audience, which consisted mostly of social anthropologists, was introduced to research methods of Historical Anthropology and importance of historical legacy for study of the Sino-Russian border. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://innerasiaresearch.org/seminar-23-april-sayana-namsaraeva/ |
| Description | Keynote lecture, conference on The Role of Borderlands for the Peaceful Co-existence in Korea and Beyond, Provincial Government of Gyeonggi and Shinhan University, Seoul, S Korea |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Caroline Humphrey gave a lecture entitled 'Co-existence and Cross-Border Mediators'. Over 100 people attended, and the lecture sparked a lively discussion. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Lecture |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | Gave a lecture entitled 'China-Russia relations at their Northeastern border: the case of real estate.' International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden, and Leiden University. The lecture gave rise to lively discussion afterwards and an invitation to contribute to an edited volume of articles on Eurasian borders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Lecture given to Max-Planck - Cambridge Research Centre |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The title of the lecture was: 'Disjunct moral economies at the Russia - China - Mongolia border.' The lecture gave rise to lively discussion afterwards and an invitation to contribute to an edited volume of articles on Moral Economy. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | http://maxcam.socanth.cam.ac.uk/index.php/event/disjunct-moral-economies-at-the-russia-china-mongoli... |
| Description | Lecture, Asia Centre, Sussex University |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Caroline Humphrey gave a lecture entitled 'Real Estate Speculation at a Frontier of Capitalism' at Sussex University's Asia Centre combined with the Department of Anthropology. This led to an invitation to participate in a research project on cross-Asia trade networks. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Online talk "Life on the divide: Buriad people along the Russia, China and Mongolia Border" to present Cambridge based research |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | This talk by S Namsaraeva with a short video was shared by the audience around 13 hundred times, twitted and facebooked more than 2 hundred times. Comments said about an 'eye-opening' insight into the border region shared between China-Russia and Mongolia, which is still under investigated, and the border politics in general. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/life-on-the-divide-the-buriad-people-and-the-worlds-longest-b... |
| Description | Participation in Expert Roundtable |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Caroline Humphrey was a main speaker at this event " Russia and China: Entanglements and Points of Tension", chaired by Bobo Lo, Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House. The other two speakers were M Kaczmarski, Institute of International Relations, Warsaw, and Alexei Maslov, Higher School of Economics, Moscow. Around 100 people attended, including politicians, media and representatives from foreign affairs think-tanks. They reported great interest in the results of our research. These results could be put into a wider, more global comparative perspective because of the participation of other members from the Rising Powers projects. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/field/field_document/20151023RussiaChinaDraftAg... |
| Description | Public talk at the Festival of Ideas (Cambridge) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | General public (around 20 persons) including school children and University students attended public talk by S Namsaraeva 'Divided Communities on the Russia-China Border' as a visit to events of the Festival of Ideas (Cambridge), November 2013. The audience expressed their interest in border related politics and emotionally responded to oral histories with photographs of the families divided by borders, thus developing public awareness about social phenomenon of the forced migration and war refugees in different parts of the world in historical and present day perspectives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk/system/files/cfi_2013_programme.pdf |
| Description | Radio Interview |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Interview with S Namsaraeva and it's online version entitled 'Ugly and Fair: Border - and beauty trade at the Sino-Russian border' got very active real-time reaction by the audience, and they responded by reposting interview about 1 000 times after it has been broadcasted in May 2015. Comments afterwards demonstrated that the interview stimulated public discussion about gender inequality in Russia and critical concerns about rising dictate of the beauty consumption, which forces Russian women to travel to bordering China. Online version was republished by the CIS media and a Russian news agency Rambler http://weekend.rambler.ru/read/2015/05/08/uezzhayu_yagoy_vozvrashhayus_vasilisoy/ |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.svoboda.org/content/article/27001662.html |
| Description | Radio Interview (Radio Liberty) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Radio Interview by S Namsaraeva was on air in August 2014, and the audience reposted it's online version more than 2,6 thous. times. Comments and discussion afterwards have shown, that information presented in the interview played an awareness-rising role about the decline of the economic and political importance of the Russian Federation in North Asia. Article based on the interview was republished by the central and regional press in Russia and by the CIS countries. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.svoboda.org/content/article/26525077.html |
| Description | Symposium 'Steppe Road: Mongolia's Connectivity in Eurasia" (Cambridge |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | S Namsaraeva presentation 'Impending disaster: Buriad oral histories on negotiating rail line deflection in Transbaikalia at the beg. of the 20th century' draw attention to the local responses and resistance to the road construction as a part of the anti colonial movement in Eastern Siberia, and draw a parallel between the historical case and China's present day strategy 'One Belt, One Road' to dominate 'infrastructurelly' across the Eurasia. Presentation lead International transport specialists attending the symposium to discussion about colonising nature of the China's infrastructural project, and positive and negative effects of it's implementation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | https://www.academia.edu/19534795/International_Sympsium_STEPPE_ROAD_MONGOLIA_S_CONNECTIVITY_IN_EURA... |
| Description | Workshop 'Hulunbuir and Transbaikalia playground. Microphysics of power on the Sino-Russian border' (Poland) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | S Namsaraeva gave a talk about 'Agents, double Agents and triple Agents: do numbers matter ? Transborder spying net between Trans-Baikal region and Inner Mongolian Barga at 1930-s and 1940-s' to share new information based on oral histories and archival research on international security issues in the region around the WWII. The talk stimulated discussion among International scholars on border studies and specialists on North Asia who attended the Workshop, how loyalty and trust transformed in cross-border settings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Workshop participation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Caroline Humphrey' and Sayana Namsaraeva' gave presentations at workshop on Law and Finance in Rising Powers, held at the Centre for Business Research, Cambridge, December 2014. They discussed issues of the trade and capital flows (e.g. e-trade) between Russia and China in the frame of the BRICS rising powers (Brazil, Russia, India and China, and South Africa), and describe (1) how the growing economic crisis in Russia badly affected not only Russian border traders, but also the economy of the China's northern borderlands, and (2) the difficulties of cross-border electronic trade. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Workshop to form a joined "The 'Rising Powers and Interdependent Futures" network, which includes12 research projects funded by ESRC |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | Joint policy workshop allowed combining the practical insights emerging from different "Rising Powers" project perspectives, also to inform policy-makers, academics, companies and civil society in the UK and beyond. In order to maximize the relevance of the research in this regard, our "China and Russia At Their North Asian Border" Project is closely cooperating with the "Rising Powers and Conflict Management in Central Asia" Research Project (University of Exeter) and the "Law Development and Finance in Rising Powers" Research Project " based in Cambridge. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.risingpowers.net/projects/chinarussia/ |
| Description | invited Speaker to Mongolia colloquium, Bonn University (Germany) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The lecture was well attended by students of the Institute for Oriental and Asian Studies (Bonn University) , members of the Mongolia Study group and area specialists. S Namsaraeva in her lecture "Transborder Love and Hate: migration, trade and kinship in visa free regime between Mongolia and Russian Buryatia" presented updated analysis of the impacts of the visa free regime between Mongolia and Russia, introduced in 2014, and the ways how the new open borders' reality along with new economic opportunities also brought additional complicities and tensions (security, crime, corruption) to unmask longstanding problems of the Russia-Mongolia borderlands. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| URL | https://www.uni-bonn.de/veranstaltungen/public-1478527405.24 |