Periphery of the “Russian World”: Xinjiang through the prism of 20th century ego documents

The article presents the results of the study of the «Russian world» Xinjiang, considered through the prism of ego documents, using the example of the analysis of the content of memoirs of the descendants of Russian emigrants - D.T. Zaitsev and E.I. Sofronova. The territorial framework is the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which is part of the People’s Republic of China. The chronological framework of the study is the 30- 60s of the XX century. The purpose of this article is to analyze the content of two ego texts, which reflect the history of the «Russian» Xinjiang. The main research methods: analytical, historical and anthropological. Xinjiang, unlike other Chinese regions, has not historically been a key center of Russian emigration. Therefore, the number of memoirs that have come down to us is insignificant, which largely determines the relevance of our study. It is also necessary to take into account the important circumstance that historically this region was in the orbit of influence of the Russian Empire, and then the Soviet Union. However, despite the existence of detailed works, an appeal to the history of Xinjiang cannot be called a topic widely represented in domestic scientific discourse, and the ego documents used in them are only one of the auxiliary sources that allow us to form a holistic picture within the framework of the range of issues under study. The texts analyzed by the authors have significant information potential in terms of studying the «Russian world» of Xinjiang in the 30-60s of the XX century, since they provide valuable information about the historical events that took place on its territory, the participation of emigrants and their descendants in the political and military life of the region, the daily life of the Russian population, the relationships between representatives of various national groups and religious denominations, their worldview, ideas and attitudes, and also reflect the emotional attitude of the authors themselves to the events, people and situations that took place.