NYT: China Is Destroying The "Russian World" At Home

Ethnic Russians in the PRC have lost touch with the language, traditions and faith of their ancestors.

While the Kremlin is waging a war to "protect Russian speakers" to the west of Russia, in the east - in China itself - Russian identity has virtually ceased to exist. In the village of Enhe, which was once established by the Chinese government as a stronghold of Russian culture, no one speaks Russian anymore. About it writes The New York Times, whose reporter visited this settlement.

Enhe is located in the north of China in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia. It is noted that back in the 17th century, Russians dominated this territory. However, after years of intermarriage with Chinese, Mongolians and other residents, Enhe's ethnic Russians have lost touch with the language, traditions and Orthodox Christian faith of their ancestors.

"In a few years, we will be just like anywhere else in China," said village head Li Peng, who is a descendant of Russian migrants and a member of the Communist Party of China.

He believes that the gradual disappearance of a separate Russian identity is the result of the Chinese state's ethnic minority policy aimed at uniting the country's various ethnic groups into one indivisible China.

It is noted that Enhe is now home to only 2,895 people, of whom more than 40 percent are officially registered as ethnic Russians. At the same time, officials say, few people speak a language other than Chinese.

An Orthodox church has also disappeared in Enhe. The cross that used to adorn the top of the golden dome of a wooden building with shutters in the center of the village has been torn down. The publication writes that local officials deny it was ever there, even though the cross is clearly visible in old photographs.

"The story of Enhe highlights the profound hypocrisy of modern geopolitics. Vladimir Putin justifies the invasion of Ukraine by 'protecting the rights of Russian speakers', but at the same time demonstrates 'friendship without borders' with China, where the Russian language and culture are purposefully eradicated by the state," the author concluded."

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