История КВЖД и российской колонии в Маньчжурии в конце XIX - начале XX в. (1896 - 1917 гг.)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the history of the construction of Chinese Eastern Railway and the establishment of Russian colony in Manchuria at the end of the XIXth - the beginning of the XXth century. After the defeat of China in the Japanese-Chinese war of 1894-1895 Russia succeeded in realization of the project of S. Ju. Witte of constructing a railroad in North-Western China. Russian-Chinese Alliance Treaty and the "Contract of Construction and Operation of the Chinese Eastern Railway" were signed in 1896. The works on the Chinese Eastern Railway construction started in 1897, the construction of Harbin, the administrative centre of the Railway started in spring of 1898. In 1903 Harbin which sprang forth in the wilderness counted 44 576 residents, 15 579 of whom were Russians. The conditions of the contract of 1896 have been realized in full. The Chinese Eastern Railway, constructed in Manchuria was not merely a railroad (with rails, sleepers, trains, railroad stations and their personnel). The implementation of the concept led to the establishment in Manchuria of the peculiar phenomenon: on deserted Chinese lands there grew a 'state within a state' - Chinese Eastern Railway with its marked borders, territory, multinational population, police and the army, the court and municipal administration and with this railroad Russia soon received a powerful instrument for implementing its policy in the Far East.