| Abstrakt: |
Since the fall of the USSR, Sino-Russian relations have evolved along a paradoxical dichotomy of friendship and mistrust. Experts have widely discussed this phenomenon, but little attention has been paid to historical narratives. Border regions of the Russian Far East are places where memories of a conflicting Imperial past coexist with more recently developed friendly narratives of cooperation and "bon voisinage". Exhibitions in history museums are interesting objects of study in this context. They selectively display historical contents to visitors and convey a political interpretation of the past. This paper explores the significance of the representations of history in Russian border museums, and that of the Nerchinsk Treaty, within the framework of contemporary Sino-Russian relations. This analysis reveals contradictory elements related to the historical narratives of the history museums of Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Chita and Nerchinsk. On the one hand, it detects a desire to portray a history in a way that expunges elements of contestation and smooths over highly controversial facts. On the other hand, national discourses cannot completely renounce particularistic narratives or obliterate elements of pride considered to be founding elements of Russia's past. The persistence of tensions triggered by the interpretation of history is then revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
