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This publication is dedicated to the Russian China Studies in Tianjin by Ivan Innokent’evich Serebrennikov (1882–1953, Tianjin, China) and his wife, Alexandra Nikolaevna (1883 – 1975, San Francisco, USA), who left considerable traces in the literary life of Russian China. He was an active member of the East-Siberian department of the Russian Geographical Society, the secretor of the City of Irkutsk Duma, the minister in the Siberia Government and in A. Kolchak’s Government. His wife graduated from the Irkutsk women’s high school, worked for the “Sibir” newspaper, after the February revolt she was elected as a deputy for the City of Irkutsk Duma. Ivan Serebrennikov and his wife arrived in Harbin in March 1920 intending to go in for literature, researches, studying China. He published some historical works on the civil war history alongside with his memoirs. That period his diaries were not regular, he made notes but occasionally. The obvious reason for that was the spouses didn’t know where to live. In spring 1922 having come to Tianjin both Serebrennikovs started teaching. A. Serebrennikova worked as a teacher of Russian language and literature, she also did lecturing and published her articles in some periodicals. Since 1937 she had been busy with translating Chinese poetry from English into Russian using British editions. The main interests of I. Serebrennikov were in history and orient studies. He analyzed the political and economic situation, prepared materials for American scholars. Some of them – Harold H. Fisher (Stanford Univ., Hoover Inst.), Charles P. Howland (Yale Univ.) – used Serebrennikov’s analyses in their researches. But the main I. Serebrennikov’s work is his diaries which remain unpublished up to now. Since 1931 he had made his notes daily – at first with a straight and beautiful handwriting. Then, after he had got a stroke, the letters became uneven and looked like unreadable signs. At last his wife wrote for him under his dictating. The diaries keep the evidence of many events, such as the civil war in Russia and the beginning of communists’ regime, ethnical conflicts in China, the influence of Japan, USA and other countries. Also, in this article the oriental journal “Vestnik Azii Herald of China” is described. |
