Russian people 俄罗斯族
Russian people 俄罗斯族, numbered about 16,000, are and official recognized ethnic group in China. These are the descendents of Russian settlers from the 17th Century. There are also another 70,000 Russian citizens living in China. Of the Russian-Chinese living in China about 9,000 of them live in Xinjiang (Ili 伊犁, Tacheng 塔城, Altay 阿勒泰 and Urumqi 乌鲁木齐市
, more than 5.000 live in Inner Mongolia (Shiwei Russian Ethnic Township 室韦俄罗斯民族乡
, a few hundred live in Helongjiang and the rest are scattered in big cities through the country.
During the 17th century, the Russian Empire launched several military actions against Qing China. In 1644, a group of Russian army was defeated by Qing army, part of the captives were incorporated into the Eight Banners. Their descendants exists to this day and are known as Albazinians and before 1907 there were already 1000 households of Russian settlers in Ergun Right Banner. Subsequently for a half century leading up to 1949, there were more Russians moving in and out of China for various political reasons.
The Russians have their Slavic language with Cyrillic script to which they converse at home and among themselves. Outside their own environment most of them are fluent in Chinese and know how to read and write Chinese. Their literacy rate are high with the city dwellers in education and technical fields and the farmers participate in modern farming techniques.
Official portrait of a Russian family
About 9,000 Russian people live in Ili, Tacheng and Altay regions (in red) together with other Chinese ethnic groups. The Chinese Russians in these areas are the descendents of former Czar soldiers
A few thousands live in Shiwei Russian Ethnic Township 室韦俄罗斯民族乡 (B). Most of the remaining Chinese Russians live along Helongjiang River in Helongjiang Provence and the rest scattered in big cities across China. There's no statistic for the 70,000 Russian Diaspora's but I wouldn't surprised their concentrations are along the same line with more emphasis on mega cities.
Old photo of Russian people in Tacheng 塔城, Xinjiang.
Most of the Chinese Russians in Shiwei and Helongjiang River are the descendents of former railroad workers on the Chinese line of the Siberian Railroad
冬妮娅 a politician to the Congress
阿不力孜·聂 Chinese actor and singer
路瑰迎, b1939 in Harbin, a famous singer