Mongolian studies of the Russian oriental society in the system of Russian-Chinese relations (the late 19th - the early 20th centuries)

Since the middle of the 19th century the societies of scientists in Russia played an important role in the development of practical Oriental Studies. The need to train practicing Orientalists was conditioned by the foreign policy situation in the Far East at the turn of the 20th century. As a result, a new educational institution - Oriental Institute - was founded in Vladivostok (1899); a leading specialist in Mongolian Studies, an organizer of Oriental education in Russia and a supporter of the separation of academic and practical Oriental Studies Aleksey Matveevich Pozdneev was appointed to the position of its director (1851-1920). In 1905 he hosted courses under the Oriental Society (1900), and in 1910 opened Practical Oriental Academy. The article for the first time presents the extracts from the minutes of meeting of the Oriental Society on May 27, 1911, which testify to the practical orientation of the society. An analysis of the issues raised at the meeting concerning the expansion of trade and economic ties between Russia and Mongolia, the information provided by contemporaries confirms the importance of scientific associations in the development of knowledge about the Mongols, and China. In addition, the document presented in the publication reflects the state of Russian-Mongolian trade at the beginning of the 20th century.