CHINA & RUSSIA: Four Centuries of Conflict & Concord | By Philip Snow

In the current geostrategic standoff between the West and Russia, complicated by the global economic influence of China, Washington and its European allies warn the rest of the world of the perceived threat posed by these states to the current world order, and indeed the entirety of Western civilization. This one-dimensional narrative not only downplays the history of the West’s own unruly behaviour towards other sovereign states, but also the fact that both China and Russia have long histories and civilizations of their own and relations with each other. Their national interests and global aspirations challenge Western hegemony to embrace a multi-polar world, a sentiment increasingly shared by the Global South. Ongoing military conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, combined with tensions in the East China Sea, have brought increasing global attention to the strategic partnership between China and Russia as a force to be reckoned with. This partnership is still poorly understood, and Philip Snow’s timely book unveils a long historical journey shaping the relationship between these two giants.

The main objective of China & Russia is “to take a panoramic view of the entire four centuries of Sino-Russian contact and to tease out any patterns which might emerge from that vista” (xxi). This book traces the early contacts between two emerging empires ranging from unsuccessful trade missions and sporadic clashes along their frontier areas to diplomacy and the Treaties of Nerchinsk (1689) and Kyakhta (1727), which delineated state boundaries between them and set conditions for more than a century of stable trade bilateral relations. This impressive overview of Sino-Russian interactions covers Imperial, Republican, Communist, and post-Communist governments, diplomacy, trade, frontier developments, and to a lesser extent, culture, and society. This book takes into account Russian, Chinese, and Western historical perspectives to demonstrate two states’ search for a balance of power in fast changing regional and global politics.

Chapter 1, “Worlds in Collision,” sets the tone for a walk through 400 years of modern history. It demonstrates how since the early seventeenth century both China and Russia were fast growing empires ruled by the successions of two imperial families, the Manchu clan of Aisin Gioro (as Qing rulers, 1644–1912) and the Romanovs (1613–1917), respectively. Their restless territorial expansion not only brought them in contact with each other, but also enabled them to conquer and absorb such diverse peoples and cultures as Uyghur, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Mongol, and various indigenous groups. This chapter argues that from the onset, the Sino-Russian bilateral negotiations considered potential threats and challenges coming not only from each other, but also from nomadic and steppe people, such as the Dzungar Mongols, who fiercely opposed the Qing state’s westward expansion. Both empires and their successor nation-states had to deal with the weak loyalties of people and cultures living in their overlapping frontier regions.

The rest of the book is organized chronologically. Each of eight chapters describe shifts in Sino-Russian relations, some of which were triggered by political changes at home, while others were impelled from abroad. Chapters 2 to 4 cover the late imperial period, with the most dramatic events taking place during the Opium Wars, when Imperial Russia joined European powers in invading and weakening China for economic and territorial gain. European, and later American influence in the Sino-Russian relations, are another common theme of this book, exemplified by the Jesuits who helped Kangxi Emperor to negotiate and translate the Treaty of Nerchinsk in the seventeenth century. Through their long history, China and Russia selectively absorbed European ideas, and these ideas affected their bi-lateral relationship. While the Romanovs considered themselves part of the European family, early Qing emperors, like the Ming emperors before them, considered the Russians, together with the Mongols, to be northwestern barbarians distinguished from European barbarians (14). By the time both empires collapsed, European notions of republic, revolution, democracy, capitalism, and socialism were embraced by their urban populations and became part of their political landscape.

Chapter 4 narrates the painful transition of both countries from imperial to republican (bourgeois and socialist) forms of government, accompanied by civil wars, changing borders and the birth of new political parties. Chapters 5 to 7 demonstrate the paramount role played by the Soviet government and its communist ideology in shaping Chinese politics and two main central parties’ wartime alliance, four decades of socialist brotherhood, of which one decade was lost to the Sino-Soviet rift during the Cultural Revolution in China. Chapter 8 describes yet another dramatic shift:  the collapse of the USSR in 1991, resulting in the birth of new states bordering Russia and China, when “Marx and Lenin had been replaced in the Sino-Soviet relationship by the more compelling deities of Oil and Gas” (495). Combined with common concerns about their borders, national and regional security, China and Russia found a new balance in their relationship, strengthened by their mutual resentment of the West in the face of NATO’s eastward expansion, trade wars, sanctions, and the West’s military buildup near China’s shores (526).

This book combines a broad historical overview with lively and surprising nuances, controversies, events, and personalities. It is written in engaging language, free from academic jargon. The author skillfully uses primary and secondary sources in English, Chinese, and Russian, explaining Chinese and Russian terms, colloquialisms and folklore with humor and ease. It is a page turner like Jonathan D. Spence’s classic The Search for Modern China (W. W. Norton & Company, 1990), or Ezra Vogel’s China and Japan (Harvard University Press, 2019). It is written for general audience and is appropriate for students interested in Chinese, Russian, and world history and politics, regardless of specialization. Those familiar with the Sino-Russian relations and international politics may find this book’s historical parallels refreshing.                                                                      

Victor Zatsepine

University of Connecticut, Storrs