Russian emigrants in interwar Manchuria: manipulation of citizenship as a strategy of survival

This article, based on unknown archival documents, looks at processes of manipulation of citizenship among the Russians in Manchuria during the interwar period. The main focus is on the activity of the Soviet Consulates in Manchuria, adoption of Soviet citizenship by Russian employees of the Chinese-Eastern Railway and the motives for the frequent changes of citizenship by emigrants. It concludes that Russian emigrants in Manchuria had to adopt Soviet, Chinese, and Manchurian citizenship for the sake of physical survival and national-cultural preservation. The instability of the military and political situation in Manchuria allowed Russian emigrants to change citizenship and keep their relative "independence" until the mid-1940s.