This article deals with the Sino–Soviet conflict of 1925–26 over the Chinese Eastern Railway, with special attention given to its background and consequences. In 1924, the Chinese Eastern Railway became a joint venture between the Soviet Union and China, creating fresh friction between the joint Soviet and Chinese managers which culminated in general manager A.N. Ivanov's prohibition on transporting military cargoes and troops, and Ivanov's arrest by Manchurian warlord-general Zhang Zuolin. Some scholars and diplomatists have viewed Ivanov's prohibition and the simultaneous rebellion by Chinese general Guo Songling against Zhang as a Soviet attempt to replace Zhang with a more manageable warlord. But this article argues that although the prohibition—a typical instance of back-and-forth Soviet diplomacy—was a coincidence, it was primarily the result of Soviet ambassador Lev M. Karakhan's tough stance and his rash decision-making, undertaken without seeking advice from Moscow. Zhang's victory in the 1926 clash convinced the Chinese that they had the power to take repressive measures against the Soviet Union's citizens and institutions, which led to the Sino–Soviet conflict of 1929 and exacerbated Japanese alarm over the Soviet's increasing strength in the region. This was to be a factor in the takeover of Manchuria in 1931 by Japan's Guandong Army, which eventually led to global war. This article, therefore, deals with the origins of world-changing events and thus is interesting to Modern Asian Studies’ wider readership.
The history of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) railway, which has drawn the attention of scholars almost since the time of its construction, is inseparable from the story of the complicated and tangled relations between one majority group — Chinese — and two large minority groups, White émigrés and Soviet citizens who resided in Manchuria and whose lives were largely related to the CER. These relations are largely ignored by the scholars of the CER, in which the focus is on various diplomatic aspects and the CER is considered to be a key actor in international relations of the countries and whose interests were related to Manchuria. Therefore, this article explores the complicated and tangled relations between Chinese, White émigrés, and Soviet citizens who resided in Manchuria in 1920s — 1930s and whose lives were largely related to the Chinese Eastern Railway. This very aspect, the existence of two minority groups (CER’s soviet staff and White émigrés) who shared the same linguistic, cultural, and ethnic background, but who, on the other hand, were political antagonists, makes the Manchurian case especially unique and interesting. This paper argues that common ethnic identity prevailed over ideological discord. This discord was neutralized by life which they lived together surrounded by culturally, linguistically, and ethnically different majority.
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