Search all library resources

The Russian Orthodox community in Hong Kong : religion, ethnicity, and intercultural relations

"Russian Orthodox Christianity is the cornerstone of a diverse cultural community in modern Hong Kong. This book explores the contributions that this group has made to the social landscape of Hong Kong from the British colonial period to the current era of integration into China"--Hong Kong has been a unique society from its establishment as a political region separate from mainland China in the nineteenth century under British colonial rule until the present day as a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China. A hub of interregional and international migration, it has been the temporary and long-term home of people belonging to many racial, ethnic, and cultural groups. This book examines the evolution of the community established by clergy and congregants of the Russian Orthodox Church. This community was first developed in the 1930s and then revived after a hiatus of over two decades from the 1970s to the 1990s with the founding of the Orthodox Parish of Apostles Saints Peter and Paul (OPASPP) at the turn of the twenty-first century. This study demonstrates how the OPASPP has become a vital provider of knowledge about Russian language and culture as well as a religious institution serving both heritage and convert believers. The community formed by and around the OPASPP is important to foster Sino-Russian relations based on individual-to-individual contact and mutual exposure to Chinese and Russian cultures in a region of China which allows spiritual and social diversity with minimal political constraints.

Ethnic chrysalis : China's Orochen people and the legacy of Qing borderland administration

"Details the early modern history of the Orochen, an ethnic group that has for centuries inhabited areas along the China-Russia borderland. Traces the evolution of Qing policies toward the Orochen and examines how the impact of political organization in one era endures in the group's social and cultural values"--Provided by publisher.Ethnic Chrysalis is the first book in English to cover the early modern history of the Orochen, an ethnic group that has for centuries inhabited areas now belonging to the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China. The Qing dynasty (1644-1911) was a formative period for Orochen identity, and its actions preserved the Orochen as a separate ethnic group. While incorporating the Orochen into the imperial political domain through military conscription and compulsory resource extraction, the Qing government created two Orochen subgroups that experienced disparate levels of social and economic autonomy. The use of "Orochen" as an official modifier by Qing officials forms an early layer of the chrysalis that embodies various senses of ethnic identity for people who have been identified, or self-identified, as Orochen. Since the Qing, the Orochen have continued to cherish the perception that their Qing-period ancestors were key players in the defense and economy of northeast China. Tracing the evolution of Qing policies toward the Orochen along the Chinese-Russian borderland, Loretta Kim examines how the impact of political organization in one era can endure in a group's social and cultural values.

Online Harvard University Asia Center E-Book Collection