The word "Russia" originated from the name of an ancient East Slavic tribe in Europe, "Rus", the ancestors of the Russians first inhabited the eastern part of Europe, the first century AD by Roman historians called "Villefranche", they lived in the eastern part of Europe, and they were called "Villefranche" by Roman historians. In the 1st century A.D., Roman historians called the "Villefranche", they lived in the Vistula River and the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry, in the 6th century A.D., there has been the name of the Rus. 10th century, Rus' Grand Duke Oleg controlled the surrounding tribes centered in Kiev, 13th century, Kiev Rus was annexed by the Mongols, under the Golden Horde established by the Mongols. During the reign of Emperor Wenzong of the Yuan Dynasty, 10,000 Rus soldiers from the Golden Horde were recruited into the metropolis to serve as guards and were given land to cultivate, which is the earliest record of a large number of Russians entering China, who are referred to as Semyi in Chinese history books. From the 14th century, the Russians broke away from the ancient Rus tribes and established a centralized state centered in Moscow in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
In terms of racial categorization, ethnic Russians belong to the Europaean race (Caucasian). The human body is characterized by white skin color, brown or blue eyes, high nose, thin lips, fine yellow hair, tall stature, the third type of hair (beard, armpit hair, etc.) moderately developed. The Russians in China have gradually changed their physique to have yellowish features due to intermarriage with the surrounding ethnic groups.
The Russians in China moved from Czarist Russia as early as the beginning of the 18th century. In the late 18th century, due to the unbearable brutal rule of Czarist Russia, a large number of Russians moved to China, especially at the end of the 19th century and before and after the October Revolution in Russia, more Russians poured into the northern region of China's Xinjiang from Siberia, all over the Northeast, and the northeast region of Inner Mongolia. After the October Revolution in Russia, some more people entered China to escape the war. At that time, they were called "naturalized people", the village where they lived was called "naturalized village", after the founding of the People's Republic of China changed to the Russian people, was recognized as a minority in China, with other people of all nationalities, enjoy equal rights. The living customs, material culture and spiritual culture of the Russians in China are basically the same as those of the Russians in Russia.
As the Russians have not moved to China for a long time, many of them still have their relatives and friends in the former Soviet Union countries. After the founding of New China, the relationship between them was restored, and many of them asked to return to their hometowns to reunite with their loved ones. 50's, by the Sino-Soviet governments agreed to negotiate, and help them move back to their hometowns one after another. In addition, some ethnic Russians have moved to Australia and Canada, where they also have relatives, so the number of ethnic Russians in China is already small.
[edit]National language
The ethnic Russians have their own language and script, using the Russian language Russian, using the Slavic Kirillic alphabet,*** which has 33 letters, with a distinction between printed and handwritten. The language belongs to the Slavic group of the Indo-European language family. In society, they all speak Chinese and use the Chinese language, and in the family and in their dealings with people of their own nationality, they also speak Russian and use the Russian language . The Russian language is characterized by two types of vowels and consonants. Consonants are further divided into clear consonants (vocal cords do not vibrate) and turbulent consonants (vocal cords vibrate). In addition, Russian consonants can be divided into soft consonants and hard consonants, both of which are pronounced with the same movement, the main difference being that when soft consonants are pronounced, the middle of the tongue needs to be raised towards the palate. Nouns are divided into singular and plural, with lexical changes and grammatical changes, and verbs have categories of form, tense, person and body.
[edit]Production technology
Most ethnic Russians in China before 1949, who lived in towns and cities, were engaged in various kinds of repairs, transportation, and handicrafts, and some also engaged in agriculture. They excelled in horticulture and beekeeping, with some specializing in horticulture, livestock rearing and beekeeping. The Russians in the countryside, mostly dozens of families live together and become a village alone, and they mostly cultivate land on the banks of the Ili and Tekes Rivers. In some places near the pastoral areas, there are also engaged in animal husbandry.
After the liberation, the Russians enjoyed full democratic rights as the people of all ethnic groups. There were representatives of the ethnic Russians in all the People's Congresses of the whole country and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The ethnic Russian people have actively participated in democratic reform, socialist transformation and socialist construction. Through labor and employment, most of the urban residents have become workers on various fronts in industry and commerce, finance and trade, and health. Some ethnic Russians in the city of Hulunbeier in Inner Mongolia participated in local state-run farms and became agricultural workers.
[edit]Religion
The Russians mostly believe in Orthodox Christianity, the same as that of Russians abroad.
Sofia Orthodox Church in Harbin The Russians in our country initially believed in the immortality of the soul, believing that a person's soul remains after death. In recent times, they have mostly converted to Orthodox Christianity, but also believe in other denominations of Christianity, non-believers are also increasing. There are two types of religious activities among the Russians, one is to say morning and evening prayers at home, and the other is to go to church to listen to the priest's sermons. When praying, they draw a cross on their chests, and Orthodox Christians draw the cross with the right side first and then the left side, unlike the Catholic Church which draws the cross with the left side first and then the right side. In Xinjiang's Ili, Tacheng, Urumqi, Heilongjiang's Harbin, Qiqihar and other places, there are Russians built Orthodox Church.
The Orthodox Church, unlike the Catholic Church, does not recognize the Roman Pontiff as having a position and authority above that of other bishops. It is the belief that all clergy other than bishops are allowed to marry. The main festivals are Easter, Christmas, and Baptism. Christmas in the Orthodox Church begins on January 7th. The New Year has just passed, and it is followed by Christmas (Рождество), which is a favorite of ethnic Russians. The Orthodox Christmas festivities, collectively known as the "святки" (Christmas festival), last for two weeks from January 7 until the end of Epiphany. The day before Christmas, January 6, is known as Christmas Eve (сочельник), or Christmas Day in the West. On Christmas Eve believers fast all day until the evening. On the evening of Christmas Eve it is customary for believers and non-believers to eat the Christmas goose, which is essential for Christmas dinner. People fill the belly of the goose with apples, bread and oiled onions, add various ingredients and roast it.
[edit]National Literature
Russian literature occupies an important place in world culture, and its main source is the oral literary heritage left by the ancestors of the Russians for their descendants, such as long epic poems glorifying the warriors, nursery rhymes, proverbs and so on. Especially at the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian literary heritage had a certain influence on the culture of the ethnic Russians in our country.
The Russians have an excellent traditional culture and rich literature and art, of which the written literature mainly consists of poems, novels, etc., such as Ivan, a Russian immigrant who joined the Chinese nationality, wrote a novel called "Escape", which mainly describes their experience of escaping from Russia to China, and a female teacher of the Russian nationality wrote a poem "We are members of the Chinese nation", which reflects the harmony and unity of the Chinese national family. The Russian female teacher once wrote a poem "We are members of the Chinese nation", reflecting the harmony and unity of our Chinese family. In addition, the Russians have a large amount of oral folk literature, including myths, legends, stories, fables, aphorisms, proverbs, riddles, raps and other forms, most of which glorify the noble qualities of the working people who are industrious, wise, kind, creative and courageous in overcoming difficulties.
[Edit Paragraph] National Music
Russians have a deep musical culture tradition of music, dance as life, whether it is a religious ceremony or daily celebrations and entertainment occasions are accompanied by singing, dancing and musical instruments.
The Russian music circulating in our country can be divided into two categories: religious music and folk music, with the main style and genre of folk music; its music is a typical European music system, the tonal scale using the European major and minor modes, the weave to the polyphony, with a longitudinal, and harmonic musical thinking characteristics, unique among the 56 ethnic groups.
The content of Russian folk songs is very wide, from the subject matter can be divided into customs and ceremonial songs, lyric songs, narrative songs and dance short songs and other categories.
Ceremonial songs are an important form of Russian folk songs, mostly related to the traditional life customs of this nation, mainly used for wedding and funeral ceremonies, of which the most representative is the wedding song. Traditional Russian wedding, the girl married the day before the friends and relatives will come to congratulate, and in the female companions for the bride to dress up singing farewell, the song is full of sadness, sad. The song "The Swallow That Flew Away" is a very famous wedding song.
Lyric songs are mostly about love, and the melodies are very beautiful. These songs are mostly in the form of two-part and three-part chorus, using the natural minor scale, sometimes also in the form of a leader and the way, the free combination of the voices and adjusted at any time to maintain the balance between the voices, the music style is unique and has a strong artistic expression. The popular "Fisherman's Song" is a lyrical song sung by a leader and two-part chorus, and the lyrics recount the love story of the fisherman's three sons. The high part of the song is in a characteristic natural minor key, and the low part has the characteristics of a melodic minor key, with a deep and intrinsic melody, which is extremely popular.
There are a large number of narrative songs circulating in the Russian folklore, mostly sung repeatedly in the form of one song with many words, with a wide range of subjects. This kind of song belongs to the multi-part chorus, with the war as the theme of the "son died on the battlefield" "an orchard green" and so on, and the harmony of the majestic, solemn music; there are also reflecting the tragic fate of women and love encountered by the paced maiden "rugged Altai Mountain Road" and so on, with the pathos, bleak colors.
In many folk festivals or entertainment evenings, warm and unrestrained, lively and cheerful Russian folk dance is an indispensable entertainment program. The music that accompanies these dances is mostly short dance songs sung in solo or duet form, or music played on folk instruments. Russian folk dance songs circulated in large numbers, they are more than the content of witty, funny, lively and bright tunes, the structure of the whole, and can be improvised lyrics, both suitable for accompanying the dance can also be sung alone; dance music tunes are generally derived from folk songs, but there are a small number of specialized dance music, such as "Kalinushka", "Milka", "Akinnochka" and so on.
Russian instrumental culture is also relatively developed, almost all men can play musical instruments, common folk instruments are "Bayan" (accordion), guitar, mandolin and "Balalaika" and so on. "Balalaika" is a characteristic Russian folk instrument, because the body of the instrument is triangular, so it is also known as "triangular piano". It belongs to the playing stringed instruments, on the long flat handle, the front with white bone embedded in the scale of taste, slightly carved on the upper part of the handle, oblique four string posts. Sound box in the middle of the lower, standing with the support strings of the code, generally four degrees of fixed strings, the shape of high, medium, low five, six kinds, including the soprano balalaika tone the most bright and crisp, tone crisp and bright, often with mandolin, guitar, accordion and other ensemble, by the young people like, the most widespread in the folklore. Instrumental music is mostly developed on the basis of Russian folk songs by using the melody and flower or chord decomposition and variation, and is usually interspersed with songs, dances and choruses in the evening party, and the musicians often have high performance skills and variation talents. Famous pieces include "My Dear" and "Karabushka".
[Edit Paragraph]National Dance
The Russians are also a people who can sing and dance well, and they often hold all kinds of family banquets and evenings, and dance social dances, Russian dances, Swan Lake dances, Ukrainian dances, collective dances of Russia, as well as tap dances, headscarf dances, and wagon dances, etc., which are beautifully danced and well attended, and have a strong national character.
Tap dance is a folk dance of the Russian people, one of the dances at Easter. When jumping this dance, men, women and children wear leather shoes to participate together. Accompanied by an accordion, the crowd forms a circle and strikes the ground with the toe, heel, or a part of the foot, making a tap sound. The women dance and wave their handkerchiefs, the men dance and whistle, and the fiddler joins in the dance and plays. The rhythm is clear and varied, the foot movements are flexible and loud, and the scene is lively and enthusiastic.
[Edit Paragraph]National Entertainment
The Russians have lived in the north for many generations, and their sports activities are mostly related to the natural conditions and living environment. In winter, when it is freezing cold, the Russians like ice skating and skiing, as well as fast-paced and athletic wrestling and playing soccer. In summer they like fishing, and in fall they like hunting. They also have the custom of trekking, every day in spring, young men and women meet for spring trekking, people carry sumptuous food, to the beautiful scenery of the place dancing, singing, picnic.
[edit]National Costume
The traditional costumes of the Russians are rich and colorful, and people choose different colors and styles of clothing in different seasons.
Men wear silk slit robes and pants in summer, or white embroidered shirts and lantern pants, wearing octagonal hats; in winter, they wear leather and cotton coats, sheepskin shearling leather hats, and tall leather or felt boots.
Women wear short tops and short-sleeved, half-open-breasted, card-waisted, large-swinged embroidered or printed dresses in summer, and some wear collarless embroidered shirts, and large homemade white skirts embroidered with brightly-colored patterns; in spring and autumn they wear western-style tops or western-style skirts, and wear brightly-colored tweed hats with feathers as decorations, and in winter they wear skirts, half-length leather coats and high leather boots, and wear woolen boots and a hat. In winter, they wear skirts, half-length leather coats, high leather boots, and woolen turbans or leather hats. Men's and women's sweatshirt collar, cuffs and chest and other parts of the fine embroidery of geometric patterns or floral patterns, bright colors, contrast.
The clothing of the elderly maintains the traditional style of the former Soviet Union, most of the men wear uniforms, breeches, leather boots or shoes, but also wear split robes, crotch pants; women mostly wear collarless embroidered short clothes, wearing a self-woven cotton skirt, waist tie a floral belt, but also wear dresses.
The headdress of Russian women is quite distinctive, and there is a strict difference between the headdresses of young girls and married women. The upper end of the headdress of young girls is open, the hair is exposed, combed into a long braid, and braided with brightly colored hair ribbons and small glass beads. Married women's headdresses, on the other hand, must be tight and poreless, i.e., the hair is combed into two braids, coiled on the head, and then tightly counter-braided and wrapped inside a headscarf or a hat, or else it is considered impolite behavior.
[edit]Ethnic Crafts
Russian nesting dolls The Russians are a handy people, and their folk crafts are very rich and developed, rich in artistry and national style, and have an extremely profound influence on the folk crafts of Xinjiang and Heilongjiang and other places.
Russian men are mainly engaged in boot and shoe processing, cutting and sewing and carpentry and carving industries, they design and produce men and women's shoes, belts and other varieties of brightly colored, beautifully processed, and is very popular. Russian women are mainly engaged in weaving and embroidery, they can use various colors of wool, silk thread to prepare tapestries, cushions, carpets, headscarves, etc., which are also embroidered with figures, birds, flowers, beasts, etc., beautiful and elegant, delicate and elegant, are exquisite handicrafts.
[Edit Paragraph]Ethnic Diet
The diet of the Russians, in many ways, retained the traditional customs of the early life in Russia, and at the same time, y influenced by the Han Chinese and other ethnic groups, the main food is their own baked bread, beetroot soup side dishes are mostly Lebas Russian-style fried vegetables. Russians have three meals a day: drink milk in the morning, eat bread smeared with butter; lunch is bread, vegetables; dinner is more substantial, more rice, fried vegetables, or grab rice, noodles and so on.
The Russian diet not only inherited the traditional frying, baking, stewing, deep-frying, boiling and other cooking habits, but also absorbed the strengths of the Han Chinese as well as other national dietary cultures Sobo (soup dishes) and experience, the Russian diet is still maintaining the traditional flavor, they make a wide variety of bread, pastries, delicious flavor. They especially like to eat cucumbers, tomatoes and other nutritious vegetables. Their snacks mixed with milk, eggs, butter and jam are imitated by other local ethnic groups. Russian herdsmen families produce smoked sausage, smoked ham and small sausages popular among people of all ethnic groups.
The Russians love to drink, good at making a variety of food and drink. Famous for baking bread and making beer. Russians call beer for "Bi red cabbage soup tile", homemade taste sweet, not like the general taste of bitter beer.
The staple food of the Russians is mainly their own baked Leba (a harder bread) and pancakes, side dishes of meat, eggs Leba (bread), sausage, milk, butter, etc., they like to eat Russian-style stuffed bread and unstuffed bread and a variety of pastries, like to eat grilled geese, roast beef slices, boiled potatoes with beef, eggs, sliced pickled pork and other hot dishes in the Russian style, like to eat cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, Vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, etc. They love to drink various kinds of vegetable soup with beef and potatoes, white wine (vodka) and sweet beer brewed by themselves. Their daily meals are mainly Russian-style black Leba, Braqi Ga, Roulette, Guliqi, Bilogo, Sopo, Gadrede, potatoes with beef, Biloche to, Brienne, Arakiri and so on.