printChinese Migrants in Post-Soviet Russia:
Purpose of Entering and Attitude of Host Society
Avdashkin A.A.
Cand. Sci. (Histor.), Senior Research Fellow, South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia adrianmaricka@mail.ru
South Ural State University is grateful for financial support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (grant No. FENU-2020-0021).
Avdashkin A.A. Chinese Migrants in Post-Soviet Russia: Purpose of Entering and Attitude of Host Society. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2021. No 5. P. 84-93
In the article, the author showed the peculiarities of Chinese migration to Russia over the past three decades. Based on the analysis of the qualitative and quantitative parameters of migration waves, the main vectors of “Chinese” migration are determined, the factors of the change in the prevailing migrant groups and the spheres of their employment are identified, and the reaction of the host society to their presence is considered. The main points of attraction for “Chinese” migrants in post-Soviet Russia are Moscow and St. Petersburg. The peripheral “Chinese” markets and trading communities that developed after the collapse of the USSR in the 2000s have gone through a difficult process of transformation. The instability of the Russian economy, the devaluation of the ruble and the growth of xenophobic sentiments led to a contraction in the 2010s influx of labor from China. As a result, by the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, tourist and educational migration became predominant. To date, organized Chinese communities have formed only in the capital cities. In the rest of the Russian regions of the country, such structures are absent or barely noticeable.
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