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Abstract
The authors analyse the process of cultural hybridisation within the Russian diaspora in China. Cultural hybridisation refers to the intersection or blending of cultures, where new conditions, properties, principles, and other existential norms emerge. According to the authors, throughout history this process has manifested in a wide variety of forms. Cultural hybridity arises in places where racial, linguistic, religious, and other types of cultural contact have persisted over time. It is through cultural dialogue with the Other—especially in the Chinese context—that hybridity is born. The “Russian diaspora in China” is viewed as an ideal locus for studying cultural hybridity, as it represents the intersection of Russian and Chinese cultural spheres.
A distinctive form of interethnic interaction between Russians and Chinese is found in mixed Russo-Chinese marriages, which exist “in between” the two cultures. As a result of interracial, mixed, and international unions, a generation of children—mestizos—emerged, embodying a new cultural formation. The cultural identity of immigrants on foreign soil inevitably transforms into a different, hybrid identity. Ultimately, the process of hybridisation gave rise to a range of new cultural features, forms, and phenomena in the histories of both Russia and China. The article presents perceptional images of hybrid cultural space as reflected in Russian national culture by carriers of this hybrid experience—Russian poets, artists, musicians, actors, and others. According to the authors, cultural hybridity takes diverse forms in different times and places, each with its own specificity shaped by a wide array of factors.
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