Albazinians

On June 1, 1685, the fortress was besieged by a large Chinese army (according to various sources, from 5 to 10 thousand people). After passing the prison on June 26, part of the Cossacks (45-50 people) with their families were taken to Beijing . Emperor Kangxi showed respect to people who heroically fought against the many-times-superior Manchus, and wisely decided that it was better to accept such a free-lance and serve in it, than to endlessly fight it. Albazinians were enrolled in the Chinese Imperial Guard in Beijing, for them they specially created the Russian Hundred as part of a particularly elite part of the “Banner with a Yellow Border”. This part was considered the most aristocratic. She replenished only from the ranks of the best and faithful monarchy of the Manchu youth and Russians. The Chinese were not here. Of the captured Albazinians, only 12 people did not want to become the Chinese guards and decided to return to Russia. In total, at least 100 Cossacks, or, as the Chinese called them, “lo-cha”, joined the Chinese troops. These were the elements least loyal to the Russian Tsar. Cossacks were highly valued by the Chinese monarch and were placed in the best conditions. They received very good salaries, cash gifts, land for eternal use and at home. At first, at the head of the Russian Hundred at the court of the Chinese emperor, there were only Russians, which was done, like the very creation of this unit, with a propaganda purpose. But with the conclusion of the Treaty of Nerchinsk between Russia and China in 1689, the political importance of this hundred began to fall, and subsequently it became a regular part of the guard under the command of one of the princes of the Manchu dynasty.

The surnames and names of the prisoners were listed by the governor Tolbuzin in the report on the defense of Albazin, but so far this archival document, discovered in the early 2000s, has not been published. According to the traditions kept by the descendants of the Albazinians to date, these were the families of the Yakovlevs, Dubinins, Romanovs, Khabarovs and Kholostovs. Currently, their Chinese surnames sound respectively as Yao (姚), Du (杜), Luo (罗), He (何) and He (贺).

To perform the Orthodox service, the emperor handed over to the Albazinians and the priest accompanying them Maxim Leontyev a Buddhist temple located in the area of ​​their settlement. When Albazin was abandoned, the Cossacks took part of church utensils and icons with them, including the main shrine of Albazin - the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk).

Since there were almost no Russian women with them, the Cossacks quickly began to mix with the Manchus. Those exerted their influence on them, and gradually the Albazinians, generation after generation, began to lose the Orthodox faith, confusing it with the faith of the Manchus. A negative influence was also exerted on them by the fact that the Russian tsar retreated from them, and therefore even the subsequent sending of the Orthodox priest to Beijing for a long time could not correct the situation with the increasing Sinization of the Albazinians. In the third generations of the Albazinians in the 18th century, Russians testified that they had almost nothing left of the Russian traits . They only kept at home, rather like fetishes, body crosses and icons left over from their heroic grandfathers and great-grandfathers.

They remembered about the Albazinians in Russia when they decided to open the Spiritual Mission in Beijing. To open such an institution, it was necessary to prove to the Chinese that there was a flock for such a mission and that the mission was needed to serve the religious needs of this flock, and not for espionage. At first they tried to justify the existence of the Spiritual Mission by the fact that it was needed for merchants, but the Chinese authorities rejected this, since there were few Russian merchants in China at that time. Therefore, the Albazinians in China were presented as zealous Orthodox Christians. At this time, the Russian envoys constantly reminded the Albazinians that they were the descendants of the glorious Cossacks who heroically fought against the enemy, who carried the Orthodox faith in their hearts. At the same time, in the reports to the Center, the Albazinians were presented as almost assimilated by the Manchus, and many of them "were deprived of moral principles." After long negotiations and procrastination, Russia in 1716 opened the Spiritual Mission in Beijing.

In 1831, a colony of Albazinians in Beijing numbered 94 people. According to the Orthodox priest of Beijing, already in the middle of the XVIII century, the Albazinians “considered any occupation unworthy of them, creating their own special type of residents of Beijing as hereditarily belonging to the imperial guard. Arrogant in their behavior, proud of their privileged position, not knowing what to do with their free time, they wandered the streets, visiting tea houses and hotels, restaurants and theaters, and began to indulge in opiate smoking. “Gradually, they began to degenerate spiritually and physically, falling into debt and falling into the hands of usurers.” In 1896, priests and simply Russians who came to China wrote that the Albazinian was “morally at best a parasite living with handouts, and at worst a drunkard and a rogue”.

Under the influence of Orthodox missionaries at the end of the 19th century, who began particularly active work with the Albazinians, the latter "were reborn and became great adherents of Orthodoxy." At that time, there were about a thousand people in Beijing and other major cities. Even then, because of their connection with Orthodox priests, they were blacklisted by the Chinese xenophobic organization Big Fist, which sought to expel foreigners from China and eliminate their influence. Then many Albazinians worked at the Russian spiritual mission. In 1900, hundreds of them, including women, children and the elderly, martyred lost their lives during the Boxer Uprising. At the same time, the Orthodox priests who involved them in the work because of which they died, fled to the Embassy quarter of Beijing, where they took refuge behind the bayonets of international troops. In those days, at least 300 Albazinians, led by the holy martyr Mitrofan Ji , died. At the place of their burial on the territory of the Beijing spiritual mission, a church was erected in the name of the holy martyrs (destroyed in 1956 at the direction of P.F. commemorated July 11). Others, faced with a choice - renunciation of faith or death - chose the first and saved their lives.

By the time the White Guards arrived in China, the Albazinians wore Chinese clothes, “had a Chinese appearance”, spoke poor Russian, but professed Orthodoxy. Already in the second half of the 1920s. many Albazinians worked in Russian emigrant newspapers, having a good command of the pen, knowing very well the Chinese characteristics and having many contacts useful for their work.

After the Communists came to power in China, the Albazinians from the late 1950s. began to quickly assimilate with the Chinese. This was facilitated by the policy of Mao Zedong to eradicate everything foreign, which was especially pronounced during the cultural revolution.

By 2000, about 250 Albazinians lived in China - mainly in Beijing and Tianjin, as well as a small part in Heilongjiang. Almost none of them knows the Russian language . Deprived of the opportunity to pray in the temple (in Beijing since the “ cultural revolution ” there has not been a single Orthodox church), the Albazinians still retain the Orthodox faith.

• Orthodoxy in China
• Russian spiritual mission in Beijing
• Zheltuga Republic

• Zizevskaya E.S. Albazinians in China . Thesis of FENU . Vladivostok, 2005.
• Pozdnyaev D., priest. Orthodoxy in China (1900-1997). M., 1998.
• Holy Dionisy Pozdnyaev. Albazinians // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2000. - T. I. - S. 448. - 752 p. - 40,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-006-4 .
• Pavlov G. Cossacks - Albazinians in China. // Scout magazine St. Petersburg, 1901 No. 550

• Albazinians. Cossack dictionary (USA, 1966-1970)
• Alexander Vasilyevich Vereshchagin . “ In China. Beijing »
• Tolstoukhov Maxim Leontyevich - priest (cathedral white priest), priest of the Albazin Nikolsky church, the first famous Orthodox priest in China.