Literary and Photographic Legacies of Russia in the Chinese City of Harbin
Julius Kochan, RSAA Travel Awards 2024 recipient, with guest host Dr Winnie King
25 June 2025, 14.00 BST Online
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
The northeastern Chinese city of Harbin shares both a border and deep historical ties with Russia. It was with the building of the Chinese Eastern Railway and the influx of Russian engineers and builders at the turn of the twentieth century that Harbin became the built-up city that it is today. Russian speakers outnumbered Chinese people in the early twentieth century, but few of the former are left today. And yet, Russian culture is still very much a part of the city – in the form of architecture, food, music and arts, as well as in the memories of current inhabitants of the city who grew up with Harbin Russians. In this talk, Julius Kochan discusses how contemporary Chinese-language prose writers, poets, and photographers from Harbin treat the city’s Russian legacy. In particular, he considers how these artists memorialise the Harbin Russians themselves and the kinds of visual and verbal language they use to represent these memories.
Julius Kochan is a DPhil student at the University of Oxford where he researches and teaches on contemporary Chinese literature and culture. His thesis examines the meanings that the skin and its associated markings carry in contemporary Chinese writing and visual art. He worked and studied for a number of years in the Chinese-speaking world before starting his doctorate. Julius’ first degree was in Russian at the University of Cambridge, and he maintains a strong interest in Russia, both translating from Russian into English and working on Sino-Russian comparative projects.
Julius received an RSAA Travel Award in support of his research in 2024.
Guest Host
Dr Winnie King is Senior Lecturer in Chinese International Political Economy at the University of Bristol, and Associate at the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge. She is a specialist in Chinese International Political Economy, and Chinese International Relations. She has been researching China’s economic development for over 15 years, and has been working on Sino-UK relations for over 10 years. She served as a Parliamentary Academic Fellow and China Specialist in the House of Commons Library (International Affairs and Defence Section). Dr King has a DPhil from St Antony’s College, University of Oxford.
Dr King was a member of the RSAA’s 2024 Travel Awards Panel.
