Vladivostok: Dalnauka Publ., 2007, 183 p.

The Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Peoples of the Far East of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, based in Vladivostok, occupies a prominent place among the Russian centers of Oriental studies. Its team is engaged in studying problems related to the life of the local population and its immediate neighbors. The interaction of different ethnic groups, even if they are very far from each other in their origins, brings new trends, concepts, production skills, and practical experience to their lives.

In the 17th century, as a result of the capture of China by the Manchus and the Russian invasion of the Amur River, Manchuria became a contact zone between the Russian and Chinese civilizations. The author of the reviewed monograph aims to study the problem of mutual perception and mutual adaptation of civilizations - Chinese and European (Russian), mutual understanding and mutual trust of their representatives living in adjacent territories - the Russian Far East and North-Eastern China (Manchuria), which are contact zones of intercivilizational communication over a long historical period. The study is based on the concept of Manchuria as a zone of historically formed contacts of Asian (ci-

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Thai, Manchu, etc.) and European (Russian) cultures in the XVII-XX centuries. The author reveals the fullness and depth of the impact of crops, traces of which can still be traced in the agriculture of North-Eastern China. At the same time, G. P. Beloglazov seeks to reveal the role of Russians in Manchuria from the perspective of socio-cultural influence on the life of the local population and the agricultural complex of this region.

The distinctive development of ethnic groups in Manchuria has been influenced by Chinese civilization for many centuries. However, the agricultural culture of the Chinese, highly developed and intensive, due to large climatic differences, was used in Northern Manchuria to a very limited extent. The Chinese who moved to the lands of the Amur region and Barga (now the Khulumbuir aimag of the ARVM) usually borrowed agricultural tools and methods of land cultivation from local residents. Available data show that up to the twentieth century, there were few Chinese cultivators in northern Manchuria.

In the second half of the 17th century, when permanent Russian settlements appeared on the banks of the Amur River, the local population began to get acquainted with Russian agricultural culture. The technology used by the Russians in agriculture and animal husbandry corresponded to the natural and climatic conditions of the Manchurian region and contributed to the rational management of the economy, thanks to which local farmers began to borrow it.

From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, the scale of Russian influence in the region increased dramatically. This was largely due to the construction of the CER, which attracted a large number of migrants from Russia and China, as well as the Russian Civil War, which generated an influx of the Russian population to Manchuria. At this time, the Russian agricultural complex became dominant in the formation of the agricultural industry in Manchuria. We can agree with the author that "innovations from the Russian agricultural culture and the very factor of Russian presence and influence played a basic role in the transformation of traditional agricultural structures in Manchuria and related spiritual elements that have existed unchanged for a long time" (p. 7).

Some Chinese scientists, in particular Bai Changqing, who is quoted by G. P. Beloglazov, hold approximately the same views: "The mutual influence and interpenetration of cross-border cultures contributed to the renewal and enrichment of the agricultural culture of Manchuria and at the same time to the awareness of its identity and continuity. Large-scale population migrations and mass migrations have had a long-term impact on the agricultural culture of the region and continue to affect it to this day... The origins of Chinese culture are diverse, they were born as a result of the interaction of many national cultures of migrants, including the Russian population" (pp. 9-10).

Back in the 17th century, Russian peasants established a significant agricultural economy on the Amur River. They developed large areas, applying new methods of land cultivation for those places: they plowed virgin land with iron coulters, loosened the soil with a harrow, used a three-field crop rotation system, harvested hay for the winter (the Mongols had religious prohibitions on mowing grass), built barns and watermills. In Manchuria, some Russian varieties of wheat began to be cultivated (as mentioned in the Chinese chronicles), and previously unknown types of vegetables spread here. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, completely new agricultural crops appeared in the fields of Chinese farmers. Russian varieties of potatoes (now this tuber, along with sweet potatoes, is one of the main food crops of the PRC), tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and white cabbage quickly gained popularity. The local population began to cultivate onions, parsley, rutabagas, dill, asparagus, horseradish. In Manchuria, such field crops as flax were acclimatized (in the early 1950s). with the help of Soviet specialists, a powerful flax mill was built in Harbin), sugar beet (now Manchuria is one of the main bases for the production of beet sugar exported far beyond the region, including to Russia), oats, rye, hops. From the Russians, the Chinese adopted the baking of bread made from wheat and rye flour (by the XXI century in China, it was recognized that baking is the most rational way to use grain products).

The Russians in Manchuria initiated the development of dairy farming. Milk and dairy products were unknown to the Chinese (excluding the Mongols and other nomads), and the cow was used as a draught power. Communicating in Manchuria with the Russian population, the Chinese, especially the townspeople, gradually began to eat milk and food

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its processing - cheese, cottage cheese, butter, sour cream. (However, foreign observers noted the widespread and widespread use of milk by the Chinese in the early 1960s:"...they learned to drink milk.")

The constant increase in demand for dairy products from the Russian population and the significant benefits from its sale gradually led Chinese farmers to acquire thoroughbred dairy cattle and increase the production of milk and processed products. With the active assistance of the CER administration, local residents purchased high-quality livestock, including sheep, pigs, horses,and poultry. Currently, the Heilongjiang leadership is proud that their province ranks first in China in the number of dairy cows and milk production. The operation of butter and cheese factories and other enterprises in the CER zone had a significant impact on the development of the meat and dairy industry and commercial animal husbandry in Northeast China.

The author describes in detail the impact of the CER on the transformation of the economic organization of the Northeast, especially in northern Manchuria. In addition to the Land Department of the CER, the Manchurian Agricultural Society (MKHO) was established, which did a significant job of providing agronomic and technical assistance to the local population. After the establishment of Soviet power in Russia and the end of the Civil War (which the author does not mention for some reason), the practical and educational activities of Russian scientific and experimental research institutions noticeably intensified. Among the members of these institutions were such well-known specialists as V. K. Roerich, A. A. Rogov, G. M. Skachkov, V. V. Soldatov, E. E. Yashnov and others.

The Board of the CER allocated large sums of money for research and practical work, in particular for the organization of experimental fields and agricultural centers with experimental crops. In the 1920s, seeds of selected varieties of agricultural crops were sold from experimental fields to the rural population both for cash and in the form of family loans at low interest rates. From 1925 to 1931, 175.6 tons of soybeans, 46 tons of wheat, and 2.8 tons of corn were issued in the form of loans (p. 103). Varietal material was used not only within China, but also sent to the USSR and other countries. From 1926 to 1934, the Harbin experimental field sent abroad 7402 samples of seed material with a total weight of 23.8 tons.

At present, Northeast China is an agricul-turally developed region with a well - organized multisectoral agriculture based on modern agricultural knowledge. But, as G. P. Beloglazov rightly points out, we should not forget the historical fact that the foundation of the current agricultural science in Manchuria (despite the opposition of the Chinese authorities)is still in place. it was mortgaged by Russian people and with Russian money (p. 108). To write the monograph, the author drew on a wide range of sources; some of them are relatively rare in the field of view of our researchers, for example: The work of the agronomic part of the Land Department of the CER for 12 years (1922-1933). Harbin, 1935; Northern Manchuria and China Eastern Railway. Harbin, 1922; Song Xiaoliang (daotai). Summary of reports on familiarization with the border case in Khulumbuir. Harbin, 1910; Report of the League of Nations on the situation of Russian emigrants in China / / GAHK, f. 330, op. 1, d. 218; et al.

As a rule, the author uses good and reliable material, which gives the book additional value. But there are also typos that are sometimes comical in nature. Thus, speaking about the improvement of the pig herd, the author writes about "breeding hogs" (p. 82). This refers, of course, to boars (a hog is a neutered male). On page 144, the table "Dynamics of acreage growth in Barga in 1924-1927" is given, but it does not specify the measure of land area (ha?, shan?, tithe?).

The end of the 19th and the first third of the 20th centuries were marked by many grandiose political events that could not but have an impact on the work of the CER and its impact on the life of the local population. However, the author bypasses these events or talks about them very sparingly. Meanwhile, the reader cannot help but be interested in a number of issues related to the CER, in particular the event when the road came under the control of Soviet Russia and how this affected its activities in spreading agricultural knowledge, breeding livestock and poultry, and machinery. The data presented by the author indicate that the most intensive work on the introduction of modern agricultural methods began in 1924, when diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and China were restored and it was recognized that the CER is the property of the USSR.

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Russia's economic cooperation with China dates back more than 100 years. With Russia's help, China developed its own industry, transport network, mineral exploration, and agricultural sector. G. P. Beloglazov's book covers the earliest stage of Russian assistance to China in the development of modern agriculture and agricultural science.

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