Roots in Foreign Soil: The Russian Merchant Community in Tianjin, 1861–1920

• In Event: Chinese-Russian Encounters in the Late 19th - Early 20th Century: People, Goods, Ideas

Abstract

During the 19th century, the growing demand for Chinese brick tea drew Russian
merchants into the Sino-Russian tea trade, despite initial restrictions limiting their
activities to the border city of Kyakhta. The opening of Chinese treaty ports to
international trade in 1861 enabled Russian merchants to expand beyond the border,
establishing commercial networks centered around Hankou and Tianjin. While Hankou
was the strategic hub for tea procurement, Tianjin became a crucial transit center—the
nearest major port to Kyakhta and a key gateway for Russian commercial interests in
northern China. Over three generations, Russian merchants developed a sophisticated
trade network linking the two treaty ports with Kyakhta. This network ensured the steady
flow of tea despite fluctuations in China’s international commerce caused by domestic
instability, imperial rivalries, and competition among foreign and local merchant
communities.
My paper examines the formation and evolution of the Russian merchant community in
Tianjin from the late 19th to the early 20th century, tracing the journey of three
generations of Russian merchants. Using Chinese customs reports, local gazetteers,
regional newspapers, and family history records of the merchant Startsev, this research
reconstructs the commercial networks established by Russian traders in China and their
integration into Tianjin’s urban space. By moving beyond conventional nation-state
narratives, this paper highlights how individual merchants contributed to global trade and
shaped urban development within a colonial context.

Author

• Lejiu Sun, Boston College