Abstract
The article examines the activities of Russian émigré archaeologists in China from 1922 to the mid-1950s. From 1922 to 1928, the Society for the Study of Manchuria operated in Harbin. Starting in 1927, it included an archaeology section that established an archaeological department within the Harbin Local Lore Museum (now the Heilongjiang Provincial State Museum). In 1929, the Natural Science and Geography Club (closed in 1945) and the National Organization of Przhevalskian Researchers in Harbin (closed in 1947) were founded. In 1935, the Section of Young Archaeologists, Naturalists, and Ethnographers of the Union of National Youth under the Bureau for Russian Émigré Aff airs was opened (closed in 1945). The last Russian organization involved in archaeology was the Harbin Society of Naturalists and Ethnographers, which operated from 1946 to 1955 and left a significant mark on archaeological research in Northeast China. The last Russian archaeologist in China, V.V. Ponosov, emigrated to Australia in 1961. The article utilizes rare documents from the Museum of Russian Culture in San Francisco, which holds the most comprehensive collection of materials on Russian archaeologists in China.
Keywords
China, archaeology, Russian archaeologists, Society for the Study of Manchuria, Natural Science and Geography Club, Section of Young Archaeologists, Naturalists, and Ethnographers, Society of Naturalists and Ethnographers