Russian Émigrés in Shanghai: Their Social and Economic Status in 1922-1925

Abstract

The article focuses on the problem of social and economic status of Russian émigrés in Shanghai in 1922-1925, in particular from the arrival of the Siberian flotilla to the beginning of the May Thirtieth Movement. Based on previously unexplored official records from the Shanghai Municipal Archive (SMA), Shanghai Municipal Police Files (SMPF) and the detailed research of the press, the author manages to significantly supplement the portrait of Russian émigrés’ life during the above period. The wider source base of this research, as compared those that are available for an earlier period of 1917-1922, allows us to describe the social and economic status of the émigrés in more precise terms. Statistical information from the Municipal Council of the Shanghai International Settlement evidences a high unemployment rate among the émigrés (according to the police records, it reached 71,4 % among employable men). Obviously, the humanitarian aid from the government and city communities could not satisfy needs of the unemployed. 1) At the end of 1924, Shanghai press reported the case when the Russians were sleeping in the houses without roof near the Chapei railway; 2) Shanghai was able to provide free food only for 2280 Russian refugees. However, according to statistics dated October 9, 1923 and February 1, 1924, the number of unemployed men and women reached 3 500. This means that not all Russians in Shanghai were provided with a minimum of food. As compared to 1917-1922, problems of women and street kids also persisted but due to public support child begging stopped although problems of women continued to exist until the communists came to power in Shanghai. “Russian prostitution” even became part of the Shanghai’s historical memory. A special problem during the period of 1922-1925 was poor sanitation in areas where Russian cadets lived as a result of harsh living conditions and low social and economic status (this situation wasn not recorded in the anniversary editions of Khabarovsky and Siberian Cadet Corps).