celebrating 

Russian cemeteries in Harbin. Former Russians from Harbin visited relatives at the Huangshan cemetery. Ours in China

THE BOOK OF THE LIVING

With the advent of spring, we traditionally visit cemeteries. This is connected with the church calendar (Easter days, Trinity parental Saturday), and simply with the change of seasons. In winter, it happens that such snowdrifts will sweep up that you won’t even get to the fence. And then the snow finally melted, and everything must be cleaned up on the graves of loved ones, trimmed, tinted. So it turns out that in Russia the "cemetery season" opens at the very time of the revival of nature, when everything wakes up from hibernation. And this is probably no coincidence. For an Orthodox person, a cemetery is a place of a future resurrection, a future new life. An Orthodox, unlike a pagan, will never call this place a necropolis, that is, a "city of the dead." The Russian word for cemetery is from the word “lay”, “treasure”. The dead are not buried here, but laid down - in anticipation of the resurrection. And they are not even supposed to, but, to be precise, “buried”, that is, hidden, preserved. And it is no coincidence that this place has been called a churchyard since ancient times. They don't visit the dead. But only for the living...

Indeed, when I was at the cemetery, more than once I felt like I was visiting. Around the surname, photos of strangers. You walk between the graves and get to know them. Strange feeling. And recently I came across an unusual book - an album of photographs, which depict tombstones and brief information about who is buried here. It doesn't sound like much of a fun read. But ... I could not tear myself away! People I never knew rose before my eyes as if they were alive.

This book is unique. It was published last year in Australia by a Russian emigrant using her savings and donations. Before that, letters of the following content dispersed to different parts of the world: “Gentlemen! Here is a list of people who were once buried in Harbin (China) in various cemeteries. Before the demolition of their graves, Mr. Miroshnichenko managed to photograph the monuments of 593 graves. His daughter Tatyana, who now lives in Melbourne, decided to publish a book in memory of all Harbin residents. These Russian cemeteries were indeed destroyed by the Chinese during the Cultural Revolution. But the names of those buried on them have not sunk into oblivion. For several years, many others have been added to 593 photographs - Russian residents of Harbin, scattered around the world, responded to this call. Among them was L.P. from Syktyvkar. Marquis, who showed me this book.

From correspondence with L.P. Marquise: “Australia, Melbourne, February 14, 2000 Hello, dear Leonid Pavlovich! I will be Tanya Zhilevich (Miroshnichenko), daughter of Vitaly Afanasyevich, who died in Melbourne in 1997. When my husband and I helped sort out my father's things, we found the tapes that my father made before 1968. The films have lain for almost 40 years. It is very difficult to find relatives from Harbin. People have dispersed all over the world. New generations know little about their ancestors. I was 10 and a half years old when I left Harbin with my brothers and parents...

Too bad there's no dad. He knew the people in Harbin well. This means that the films are destined to be in my hands ... My husband had to put them in order, because. they were covered with white powder and began to deteriorate a little "

“March 25, 2000. I was a girl many times at the cemeteries with my parents in Harbin. Everything was different there. The cemetery was not as cold as we have here. There were greenery and warm people with a soul... I forgot to write - for my surprise and unexpectedness, when I was in Sydney, Vladyka Hilarion saw my memorable book, he approved it and blessed its release. Congratulations on the upcoming day of Holy Easter!”

It is impossible to read these letters of a Russian woman, abandoned by fate to distant Australia, without excitement. In the meantime, she writes about her relatives: about her son Yura, who helped to make up a memory book on a computer; about a 77-year-old mother who finds it increasingly difficult to stand in church for long services; about the fact that for the first time in her life she had to bake Easter cakes for Easter - her mother used to do this. She writes how they celebrated Christmas before that. “If we want to see snow in winter, we have to go far into the mountains to see it.”

She shared her doubts. One day she received a letter from Russia from a woman. “She first saw her father’s grave when she received a photograph from me. She left Harbin for her homeland in 1954, and her father died in Harbin in 1955. In the letter she writes that she cried for a couple of days. I don't know if I'm doing well putting together my memorial book. Very much I open to people their wounds and past memories. But I wouldn't be able to throw away my father's films either. The graves have already been treated cruelly once and razed to the ground.”

And here is a very recent letter: “14.02.2001 The days flew by quickly again. I again had to fly to Sydney - because of my completed long-awaited book. In Sydney, they tried to gather past residents of Harbin up to the archbishop, Vladyka Hilarion, in the Russian Club. It was unexpected to meet such a warm welcome, a huge bouquet of flowers, which had to be carried with honor by plane back to Melbourne... Soon your winter-winter will end, and a lovely spring will come. The birds will sing with joy and the trees will gain life in their leaves. And I will watch from the window how our birch tree is losing its leaves ... After all, we have autumn. In the letter, Tatyana Vitalievna enclosed a photograph of her house in Melbourne: under its windows, next to neatly trimmed outlandish bushes, a huge, spreading Russian birch grew higher than the roof.

“The whole life of the people who lived in Harbin was saturated with churchness,” recalls Tatyana Vitalievna. “Numerous churches were overcrowded, new ones were being built…” Surprisingly, in “greater Russia” persecution of the Church is in full swing, and here, at the corner of Cross and Vodoprovodnaya streets, the residents of Harbin are building a wonderful temple. In the 32nd year he was consecrated in the name of Sophia, the Wisdom of God. His parish had its own charitable institution "Sofia Parish Funeral Home", thanks to which the homeless or poor dead were buried with dignity, in compliance with Orthodox customs. .

Tatyana Vitalievna recalls: “All the priests came here from all over Manchuria to Radonitsa. Commemoration of the dead was a big day in Harbin. We decorated the graves of our relatives with flowers and willows. Memorial services were served. Being at the cemetery, I never experienced a feeling of fear, it seemed to me that the cemetery is a beautiful park ... "

“The Assumption churchyard was huge, I can’t even say how many hectares,” Leonid Pavlovich Marquizov comments on this picture. - These were the graves of the first Russian settlers who built the CER, and subsequent emigrants. Until the end of the 60s, old Russia lived here. And then there was an exile, we were literally uprooted from here - even the cemetery was destroyed. With slabs from Russian graves, the Chinese laid out the embankment of the Songhua River. Now there is a city park on the churchyard, and a museum with an exposition of dried butterflies has been set up in the cemetery Assumption Church.

For a long time the rector of this church was Fr. John Storozhev. In the picture, he is captured with his wife before taking the dignity. He became a priest in 1912, surprising many: after all, Storozhev was then a well-known highly paid lawyer in the Urals. But the path of a worldly protector disappointed him. In the 27th year on the day of his funeral, one Harbin schoolgirl wrote in an essay: “He was an inspired speaker, a preacher of the teachings of Christ: he was known by Nicholas the Emperor, who was killed by the enemies of the Cross ...” It is known that on the eve of the execution of the Royal Family, Fr. her last liturgy.

The wife of Joanna, mother Maria, a talented artist and pianist who accompanied Chaliapin in the past, was also buried at the Assumption Cemetery in 1941.

OUR IN CHINA

“Leonid Pavlovich,” I asked Marquizov when he came to our office, “it’s still not clear why the Chinese needed to destroy Russian cemeteries? It seems that the East has always treated the dead with respect. And then there's the madness...

– In Japan, yes, there is a cult of ancestors. In China it's different. I think it comes from us, we taught them. In the 70s, I remember, I ended up in Vladivostok and went to the old city cemetery, where my mother's ancestors should have been. So, imagine, you can’t enter it - everything is overgrown with weeds, a completely abandoned place. This is who we are. In Georgia, you will come to the cemetery - clean, like in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. And we can bury ten times in the same place. Such is the Soviet attitude towards the dead.

Now we are scolding Mao Zedong, the Chinese "cultural revolution", the Red Guards. And for some reason we forget that we brought this ideology to them, that we are responsible for this. In the USSR, temples were destroyed, dance floors were set up on asphalt-filled graveyards - what can we expect from the Chinese, if they themselves are like that?

Of course, this did not start immediately in China. Let me give you an example with one grave. In the 20th year, the famous General Kappel, the closest associate of Kolchak, was buried in Harbin ...

During the civil war, he simply performed miracles: with a group of volunteers, he destroyed five times the Reds' detachments. He did not shoot the prisoners, his own Russians, but released them unarmed. Because of his fame and victories, Trotsky even announced that "the revolution is in danger." But during the tragic Ice Campaign, Kappel died, his body was transported from Chita to Harbin. I remember his grave very well - a cross with a wreath of thorns. Such a backstory.

The year 1945 is coming. Soviet troops enter China. And what? "Red" soldiers, marshals Meretskov, Malinovsky, Vasilevsky, come to the grave of the "knight of the white dream" and take off their hats in front of him, saying: "Kappel - that's where he is." So it was, the residents of Harbin testify to this. It never occurred to anyone to demolish this monument. But in 1955, some employee of the Soviet consulate came here and ordered: "Remove it." The Chinese broke the monument, the remains of it lay under the fence for some time. And soon, taught, the Chinese demolished the entire Russian cemetery.

- It was in Soviet times ...

– Do you think we have learned anything in the last 10 years? Until recently, we were discussing whether it is worth equipping the cemeteries of German soldiers on our land, because they were invaders, enemies. Well, enemies, what of it? The dead must be respected, otherwise what kind of cultured people are we?

I remember that in the summer of 1938, after graduating from the Harbin Polytechnic Institute, I went to rest on the Yellow Sea in the city of Dalniy (Dalian). Just at that time, there were battles near Lake Khasan, and the news came that ours had defeated the Japanese there. There were a lot of us, Russian boys and girls, and an idea arose: all together to visit the memorable places of Port Arthur associated with the Russian-Japanese war of 1904-1905. We boarded the suburban train, and here we are.

Let me remind you that all of Manchuria, together with Harbin and Port Arthur, was then under Japanese rule. But none of the Japanese prevented us. Against. We look, Japanese postcards are being sold at the station, and on them ... scenes of Russian heroism during the defense of Port Arthur. In the Russian fortress at the site of the death of General Kondratenko there is an obelisk with a respectful inscription in Japanese. At the cemetery there are well-groomed graves of 18873 Russian soldiers who died here, an Orthodox church. It turns out that the Japanese pay salaries to both our priest and the staff of the cemetery. There are also two Orthodox chapels - one of them was built by the Japanese. We go to the museum: the first hall - the military glory of Russia, paintings of the Poltava battle, the Battle of Borodino, the defense of Sevastopol and so on. The second hall is dedicated to the defense of Port Arthur. Among the exhibits are the overcoat of Admiral Makarov, the helmet of the artist Vereshchagin. The Japanese raised the battleship on which they died from the bottom of the sea, buried the bodies with honor, and personal belongings - to the museum. So, respecting the enemy, the Japanese exalted their victory. Although it is known that the victory went to them not entirely deserved. The fortress could still be defended, Kondratenko would not have surrendered it. But General Stessel surrendered, then he was tried by a court-martial for this.

- On the eve of the canonization of Nicholas II, her opponents accused the Tsar of starting this war. Like, why do we need some kind of Port Arthur?

- How is this why? This was the only Russian non-freezing port.

- So after all, we had ports on the Black Sea.

- They are under the control of Turkey, as soon as the Turks block the Bosphorus, and the need for these ports immediately disappears. It is no coincidence that Russia, trying to seize the key to the Black Sea, access to the Mediterranean Sea, fought so much with the Turks. How much effort was wasted. And in the Far East, everything was decided peacefully. The Chinese gave us a long-term lease and Port Arthur, and the area around the railroad, which connected this port with Chita and the freezing port of Vladivostok. This was more profitable for the Chinese than, for example, giving Hong Kong to the British: we built a road through the whole of Manchuria, gave work to a vast territory, and enriched the region. In turn, with access to Port Arthur, the entire Russian Far East developed economically. Its capital was Harbin built by the Russians - the junction station of the CER. It was our state territory, and when the Japanese attacked, it was necessary to defend it.

Formally, this land belonged to Russia until recently, because the tsarist government signed an agreement for a period until 2003...

Leonid Pavlovich spoke about life in Harbin during his youth. Marvelous! Imagine that in tsarist Russia there was no revolution, no upheavals - naturally, she continued to live and develop freely after the 17th year until ... the 60s. This is exactly what Harbin was like with its churches, gymnasiums, institutes, newspapers, magazines, football and hockey teams, etc. This experience of Russian life is still not in demand.

To be continued

RUCemetery in Harbin

Russian cemeteries in Harbin have been demolished. In 1959, the Assumption Cemetery was destroyed. On the bones of the dead, a cultural park with outdoor pools of the water park was built. In the temple of the Assumption of the Mother of God they made a room for laughter. Now a place has been allocated for burials in the town of Huang Shan, 20 km from Harbin. Here is part of the graves with monuments that relatives managed to save from a bulldozer. There is a small chapel built at the expense of the Australian Russian community. Harbin clergy rest not far from it.

Here is the grave of the last priest of the Church of the Iberian Mother of God, Archpriest Mikhail Ba-

Ryshnikov. Nearby lies Priest Stefan, a Chinese by nationality, brutally tortured by the “Hongweiping”, but not renouncing the Orthodox faith. Nearby is the mound of schema-nun Rafaela. Nearby is a home-made cross of the poetess Nastya Savitskaya, then a monument to the legendary Harbin doctor

Kazem-bek, who died of diphtheria. Michkidyaeva Alexandra Erimeevna. As a one-year-old child in her parents' arms, she went through the famous "ice campaign" along with the remnants of Kolchak's army.

All her life she lived in Harbin, constantly fearing arrest for her White Guard roots, but she did not change her citizenship, saying: “How can I, I’m Russian! ..” Further, a dilapidated monument to the Russian “candy king” Savinov. Do not count everyone.

Seven years ago this cemetery was visited by artists of the Amur Autumn Film Forum. They saw a graveyard overgrown with grass and planted with Chinese corn. There were no indifferent people. They created a special fund for the restoration of the churchyard, which was headed by Annunciation Valentina Gurova. Money was collected from all over the world. Huge assistance was provided by the first secretary of the Harbin City Party Committee, and the Harbin City Hall allocated 600,000 dollars. Mayor of Blagoveshchensk A.A. Migulya helped. Now the cemetery is in proper shape, surrounded by a beautiful iron fence. Every year it is visited by artists of the film forum. Nikolai Zaika takes great care of Russian burials. And once again, Nikolai and I are here. They read litia, put candles on the graves brought from Russia, commemorated with a kind word all those who rested here.

We return our memory, our history and our national pride, and we think that the descendants will not call us Ivans, who do not remember kinship.


Document

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  • Allowance for applicants to universities

    Essay

    IN basin R. Cloths... Uspensky Cathedral on R. Klyazma, Church of the Intercession on ... ruined ... Russians geographical discoveries. Russians ... on shift deceased ... building worldview basis Russian culture ... cemetery ... parks culture ... demolished ... bones. Decent place in Russian ...

    • Do we remember that the famous Chinese city was built by our compatriots?

    …Engineer. Gate open.

    Flask. Carbine.

    - Here we will build a Russian city,

    Let's call it Harbin.

    ... Sweet city, proud and slender,

    There will be a day like this

    That they won't remember what was built

    Russian you hand.

    Nicholas Church in Harbin

    Let such a fate be bitter, -

    Let's not lower our eyes:

    Remember, old historian,

    Remember us.

    Arseny Nesmelov, excerpts from "Poems about Harbin"

    Opening the year of the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, Olga Nikolaevna Kulikovskaya-Romanova, Chairman of the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna Charitable Foundation, brought to Vladivostok an exhibition of watercolors by the younger sister of the Holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II. From the “city that owns the East”, with the blessing of the Metropolitan of Vladivostok and Primorsky Veniamin and the invitation of the Russian Club in Harbin, Olga Nikolaevna went to China. The author of these lines was also part of the Russian delegation.

    Little Moscow

    The modern multi-million dollar Harbin began as a station of the CER (Chinese Eastern Railway), which in turn was part of the Trans-Siberian Railway, founded in 1891 in Vladivostok by the heir Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich - the future holy martyr tsar. Built according to the sovereign will, the city in its architectural appearance, especially in the central historical quarters, has Russian features, so that the Chinese themselves call it little Moscow. Harbin and the last tsar from the Romanov dynasty have a common heavenly patron - St. Nicholas the Pleasant.

    With an intricate interweaving of Eastern and European traditions, the city has retained in toponymy, architectural monuments and everyday life a sense of the continuity of the “river of time”. Another confirmation of this is the old steam locomotive, installed near the former railway workshops and the water tower, which seems tiny against the backdrop of modern skyscrapers and high-rise buildings. During a sightseeing tour of Harbin, we examined the buildings of the Railway Assembly, the Directorate of the CER and the consulate of the Russian Empire; the residence of the road manager D.L. Croatian, which later housed the consulate of the USSR; Harbin Polytechnic Institute; mansions of the tea merchant I.F. Chistyakov and architect A.K. Levteeva; We passed through the former Russian streets, avenues and squares: Officerskaya, Policeskaya, Sadovaya, Kazachya, Artilleryskaya, Diagonalnaya, Birzhevaya. We also stopped by the famous "Churinsky shops", from the tsarist times selling delicious sausages and kvass, now huge supermarkets have grown ...

    Angels of the Church

    The city, which arose during the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, began not only with a railway, but also with a small church in honor of St. Nicholas of Myra. By the beginning of the 1940s, there were already more than 20 Orthodox churches in Harbin, in each of which, until the liberation of the city by Soviet troops from the Japanese invaders, the August Martyrs were commemorated on July 16-17 on the Day of Sorrow.

    In 1936, in Harbin, with the blessing of Archbishop Nestor (Anisimov), formerly of Kamchatka, a chapel-monument to the Crowned Martyrs - Emperor Nicholas II and Yugoslav King-Knight Alexander I was erected. By the way, King Alexander's sister, Princess Elena Petrovna, was married to the Imperial Prince blood of John Konstantinovich, who was killed near Alapaevsk along with other members

    us of the Russian royal family - their remains were delivered through Harbin to Beijing. Vladyka Nestor called the chapel "the oil of Russian repentance and sorrow." The chapel was located at 24, Battalionnaya Street, at the church of the Joy of All Who Sorrow icon.

    By the beginning of the 1940s, there were more than 20 Orthodox churches in the city, in each of which on the Day of Sorrow
    On July 16–17, the most august martyrs from the royal family were commemorated

    Now in Harbin there is neither St. Nicholas Church on Cathedral Square, nor a chapel-monument to the Crowned Martyrs - they died during the so-called cultural revolution. But the Angels of the Church cannot leave their post of consecrated places - they are waiting for people's repentance and admonition.

    Under the shadow of the Orthodox cross

    The Russian Harbin cemetery "Huangshan" consists of two parts. The first of them - the graves of Soviet soldiers under five-pointed stars - is given as an exemplary order at the expense of the Russian government. Another part of the cemetery - the burials of old Harbin residents under crosses - has a fine appearance thanks to the efforts of the Orthodox community, which is in charge of the cemetery. On some graves there are inscriptions in Chinese, which speak of the kinship ties of the deceased. The Tsarist-emigrant and Soviet parts of the modern Russian churchyard in Harbin are reconciled by the cross of the cemetery church dominating the surrounding area. Rest with the saints, Lord, the souls of the departed servants of Your rightly glorious people, who have rested in the Chinese land, and may the memory of their hearts be strong from kindred!

    There are still plenty of Russian Orthodox churches in Harbin. We visited both Pokrovsky and St. Alekseevsky churches, and St. Sophia Cathedral, which has become a symbol of Harbin. God willing, Chinese candidate priests studying at the Moscow and St. Petersburg Theological Seminaries will soon return, having received education and initiation, and then divine services in city churches will be performed in full rite. The angels of the Church are patiently waiting for those who pray and those who work.

    For good memory

    Members of the Russian Club and the Orthodox community proved themselves to be real hard workers and hospitable hosts. The meetings were remembered by sincere cordiality. In a friendly atmosphere, O.N. Kulikovskaya-Romanova told the Russians of Harbin about the 400th anniversary of the imperial dynasty, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna and the exhibition of her watercolors in Vladivostok, and answered numerous questions. The reception of the pointer of the Russian club, Lyudmila Boyko, was held in a home-style. The library of the Russian Club and the Orthodox community accepted the publications of the Charitable Foundation as a gift, and in response, the owners presented Olga Nikolaevna with a wonderful loaf and a book-research by N.P. Kradin "Harbin - Russian Atlantis". The final meeting was also a success, where Olga Nikolaevna handed over to the secretary-assistant of the Consul General of Russia in Shenyang a commemorative sign in honor of the 400th anniversary of the accession of the Romanov dynasty. From Harbin, our delegation took with them the most important gift - the warmth of the hearts of our Orthodox compatriots.

    The first ever visit of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church to China

    During his May trip to the Celestial Empire, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited Harbin, a city in whose history our compatriots occupy a special place. The former "Russian Atlantis" met him with flowers and bread and salt.

    While inspecting the St. Sophia Cathedral, which now houses the museum of the history of the city, His Holiness spoke about the importance of preserving historical monuments and Russian Orthodox churches in Harbin, which had been destroyed or rebuilt at one time. After visiting the museum's exposition, the Russian delegation sang the Pascha troparion, which was resounded within the walls of the cathedral for the first time in several decades.

    The Divine Liturgy was performed in the Church of the Intercession. The leaders of many universities let their Russian students leave their classes so that they could attend the patriarchal service.

    Earlier in Beijing, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church presented his book in Chinese, Freedom and Responsibility: In Search of Harmony, and also met with representatives of the five largest Chinese religious denominations. According to Patriarch Kirill, they have common goals and objectives that stem from universal morality. “We see a sharp decline in morality in many countries of the world, especially in Western civilization. If the moral principle in people's lives is undermined, the entire system of human relations collapses, humanity will commit suicide,” the Primate emphasized.

    Huangshan Memorial Cemetery ("Yellow Mountain") is located in the suburbs of Harbin. The necropolis was equipped in 1959 after the old Russian Orthodox cemetery was moved here - about 1,200 graves, which were previously located in the city center. Now here you can see the memorials of Russian Harbin residents, among them there are famous writers, artists, sculptors, architects and religious figures. True, not all names have been restored. Former Russians from Harbin, from Australia, Canada, Russia, Israel and other countries, came here from all over the world to find the graves of friends and relatives and light candles for the repose in the local chapel.

    Olga Bakich arrived in Harbin from Canada. She is a well-known scientist, a bachelor at the University of Sydney, a master of Asian studies and at the same time a world-famous researcher of Russian Harbin. She was born here in 1938 and left her hometown in 1959. From time to time she returns to her homeland to participate in conferences, and now she managed to get to the Huangshan Russian cemetery.

    “When I lived in Harbin, I was very friendly with Irina Magarashevich, she was from Yugoslavia, like my father,” recalls Olga Bakich. - She was a wonderful person! I remember that Irina married a Chinese and took the surname Deng. She died in Harbin.

    In general, I visited this cemetery every time I came home. The last time I was here was in 2012 and did not yet know that she had died. I left Harbin in 1959. It was such a time when it became bad here. Before my departure, Irina and I said goodbye, she told me: "I will never forget you, but do not write to me." Because her husband was an important person. Then they suffered greatly during the Cultural Revolution. So I'm glad we didn't correspond and it didn't add to their accusations that she was Russian.

    When I visited Harbin for the last time, I was told that Irina Deng had died, that they buried her in this cemetery. I came here and for a long time could not find her grave. I remember it was raining heavily. Some old Chinese told me that there are recent burials at the far end of the cemetery. And then I found her!”

    Olga Bakich with flowers in her hands again came to visit her friend. After another long search, she found the grave of Irina Dan and laid down the bouquet.

    Vladimir Ivanov is also a former Harbin resident. Here in 1946 he was born, and in 1959 he was forced to leave for Australia. He came to the Russian cemetery to visit his grandfather.

    “His name was Stepan Nikonovich Syty,” says Vladimir Ivanov. - He came to Harbin from Russia. But my grandfather had nothing to do with emigration. He was a simple peasant, dreamed of making money. And in Harbin he became an entrepreneur. And his dream came true - he made money.

    By the way, I came here on his money. Although he died 70 years ago - in 1953, I still came with his money. Imagine how much he earned that they still have left! This is our legacy."

    James Metter is from USA. A young American student at Heilongjiang University has been studying the history of Harbin for a year and a half. “Harbin is a unique city, unique,” ​​says James. - And a lot of incredible stories are connected with the fate of Russian residents of Harbin. It’s very interesting to dive into it and explore.”

    Natalya Nikolaeva-Zaika from Australia also came to visit her relatives. Her family lived in exile for 117 years. First, her grandfather came to Harbin, carrying a royal charter, then her parents and herself were born here. She had to leave Harbin in 1961 just before the cultural revolution. She brought flowers to her family and friends. And I remembered such stories about them that hardly anyone will tell.

    On the way to the graves of her relatives, Natalya Nikolaeva-Zaika spoke about this legendary necropolis: since 1957, the Chinese began to demolish the old Russian Pokrovskoye cemetery, which was located in the center of Harbin. It has been a cemetery since the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. Russian soldiers, Cossacks, who guarded the city and the Chinese Eastern Railway, rested there. The Chinese consulate ordered to demolish these graves, some of them were moved to Huangshan.

    Natalya Nikolaeva-Zaika showed where the graves of Russian soldiers were brought here, and added: “The Manchurian land is flooded with Russian blood!”

    Natalya Nikolaevna walked through the cemetery and showed: “Here are two graves. This is Petya Chernoluzhsky, and this is my dear aunt. But the husband and wife Nikulsky. Pure Ukrainians. Shura Dzygar, a famous Russian violinist, lived in Harbin. Nikulskaya was the godmother of the famous Dzygar.

    Here is Lidia Andreevna Danilovna - she is my godfather. And this is Valya Khan - my wonderful girlfriend. She is older than me, she was like an aunt to me! A wonderful person, sincere, educated. She was a very cultured woman. And, one might say, I spent 11 years in the camps for no reason.”

    Natalya Nikolaevna showed another monument, where her friend Feodosia Nikiforova, the latest Russian Harbinka, rests.

    “Oh my God, everything is broken. Look, here are fragments of former Russian monuments, Russian surnames are written on them. This is a real stone! My older brother Nikolai Zaika bought them from the Chinese. And I wanted to build a common monument from such fragments, but so far it has not been possible, ”the narrator complains. Now fragments of memorials lie in a heap in the cemetery near the grave of her relative.

    Finally, Natalya Nikolaevna exclaimed with glee: “This is my main grave: Alexander Efremovich Chernoluzhsky! He died on February 9, 1969. This man was a walking encyclopedia. He died terribly! His Red Guards (uncontrolled youth in the cultural revolution - Note. author) were put on his knees, and he was already an old man with a beard, and they threw bricks at his feet. Then the gangrene started. He became paralyzed and died two days later. Before that, I wrote it to Australia. All paperwork has been done. But China did not let foreigners out, so as not to talk a lot. It was such a period of time. Alas, I could not pull it out.

    Natalya Nikolaevna laid flowers and asked to be photographed at the memorial. Perhaps this is their last meeting.

    Now Natalya Nikolaevna is trying to find any information about her relatives, who may have died tragically around 1920 in Blagoveshchensk. This is the family of Dimitri Ustyuzhaninov. He had two children born in Harbin, and two more in Blagoveshchensk. In the capital of the Amur region, even before the revolution, he had a wine store.

    “His wife is the sister of my great-grandmother, who is buried here in Harbin,” said Natalya Nikolaeva-Zaika. - Ustyuzhaninov came to Blagoveshchensk to start his own business. Prior to that, in Harbin, he worked for my relative, the merchant Chernoluzhsky.

    When the mess began in Russia, they decided to go back to Harbin. Ustyuzhaninov's granddaughter, who now lives in Irkutsk, told me that at night they decided to cross the Amur to the Chinese side in two boats. In one boat Paraskeva Kharitonovna's wife with two older children, Misha and Alexander, went ashore.

    But Dimitri in the second boat with two kids - Nikolai and baby Victor - did not get there. The boat was shot by the Bolsheviks. They killed those who left. My great-grandmother and grandmother later raised these guys. Now I want to know if that was really the case. Find at least some information about Ustyuzhaninov.

    Natalya Nikolaevna suggests that information about Dimitri Ustyuzhaninov and his children, Nikolai and baby Victor, can be found in the Blagoveshchensk archive. According to one version, they could survive and stay in Blagoveshchensk.

    After a trip to the Huangshan cemetery, Natalia Nikolaeva-Zaika addressed her fellow tribesmen and the world community: “I brought greetings from Australia from our old Harbin residents, but not former Harbin residents! A Harbiner will forever remain a Harbiner! Take care of the historical memory of the city of Harbin! It was an absolutely unique city, there will never be another like it in the world!”

    S. Eremin,

    member of the Russian Geographical Society,

    Chairman of the Historical Section of the Russian Club in Harbin,

    member of the club PKO RGS - OIAK "Russian Abroad"

    HOW IT ALL BEGAN

    On May 9, 2007, we visited the currently abandoned church of the Iberian Icon of the Mother of God and saw an unsightly picture: heaps of garbage, dirt and desolation. The decision was born right on the spot - our students decided to get together and clear the perimeter of the temple. No sooner said than done. In the summer of the same year, the first, now traditional, subbotnik was held to restore order in a holy place for us Russians.

    Subbotnik 2015 at the Holy Iberian Church

    For four years we carried out such labor landings constantly, twice a season. In the spring, they planted and watered home-made flower beds, lined them with pieces of red brick, and closer to autumn, weeded all this beauty. And in 2011 we saw a pleasing picture! Chinese workers, apparently for budget money, put things in order around the walls of the temple. They made beautiful capital flower beds, laid out the area around the temple with paving stones, paved the driveways from Officerskaya Street to this place. I want to say that no one forbade us to work. The Chinese authorities have realized that we are simply and quietly doing a good deed. And put things in order at their own expense.

    ORTHODOXY IN KHARBIN

    Previously, there were 22 Orthodox churches in Harbin, but only five have survived. Three of them are the decoration of the city. These are St. Sophia Cathedral on the Pier (Museum of Architecture of Harbin), St. Alekseevsky Church on Gogol Street (transferred to the Catholic community of the city) and the current Intercession Church. In it, in 2013, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' served on Radonitsa. Now the temple is in full swing repair work, since April it has been closed for reconstruction.

    Sophia Cathedral in Harbin

    Waiting for their repair, built at the same time, in one year - in 1908, the Holy Iberian Church, located near the railway station, on the former Officer Street and Uspensky - at the former New Cemetery.

    And the first shock that reminded me that from early childhood I dreamed of becoming an archaeologist, a servant of the goddess Clio, was the exhumation of the remains of the legendary Russian general Vladimir Oskarovich Kappel in December 2006. I had the opportunity not only to observe, but also directly participate in this work.


    Visit of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill to Harbin in May 2013. Photo at the Church of the Intercession

    RUSSIAN CEMETERIES IN KHARBIN

    Once upon a time, in the 80s of the last century, the Huangshan cemetery was looked after by "senior Harbin". Eduard Stakalsky drew up a diagram of burials in this last Russian churchyard in the suburbs of Harbin. This scheme was given to us by Igor Kazimirovich Savitsky, President of the Harbin-Chinese Historical Society (HKIO) from Sydney (Australia). Alexey Eliseevich Shandar, Mikhail Mikhailovich Myatov and Nikolai Nikolaevich Zaika put a lot of work to maintain order in Huangshan in different years.

    It is hard to imagine how thirty or twenty years ago they would come here from Harbin on a bicycle for more than two hours in order to work for a few hours and go back. Even today, a taxi ride on smooth asphalt sometimes takes about an hour one way.

    The most recent keeper of the cemetery was and remains Nikolai Nikolaevich Zaika. Although he was forced to leave Harbin due to illness about five years ago, he also helped us from a distance. Gave very important information for the burial plan.

    Only together with our partners, with the "senior residents of Harbin", will we be able to do something useful to preserve the memory of our compatriots.

    Orthodox Harbin residents at a subbotnik at the Huangshan cemetery, 2010

    We have established 463 surnames. It turned out that 87 monuments were moved here from two Harbin cemeteries closed in 1957-58.

    The Khabarovsk archive of the Bureau of Russian Emigration in Manchuria contains data on 122 people lying in this loamy land (hence the name - Yellow Mountain). Here lie the railroad workers, doctors, soldiers and priests...


    Monument to Doctor Vladimir Alekseevich Kazem-Bek after repair

    Over the past five years, we have managed to repair about 20 monuments. The largest monument in terms of volume of work is the grave of the unmercenary doctor Vladimir Alekseevich Kazem-Bek, known throughout the city. From the homeland of the doctor, from Kazan, we were given his portrait by the employees of the Baratynsky Museum. There was also a monument to Colonel of the White Army Afinogen Gavrilovich Argunov - a hero of the First World War and the Civil War, five monuments to students of the Harbin Polytechnic Institute who died in 1946 under unclear circumstances.

    The graves of KhPI students were repaired in August 2015

    In 2011, the Russian Club in Harbin had a chance to put a cross on the grave of the most famous man of prayer and the holy life of a man - Schemamonk Ignatius. For many years he lived and served in the Kazan Bogoroditsky Monastery. Thanks to the Chinese leaders of the city for allowing us to do this good deed.


    Funds for the cross came to us through Father Dionysius from Hong Kong, from distant fraternal Serbia, from Belgrade. On Trinity, June 12 (that year this holiday coincided with the Day of Russia), we placed an additional two more crosses and three slabs on the neighboring graves of Russian Orthodox priests. The money donated by our Serbian brother in Christ, thanks to savings, but not to the detriment of the quality of work, was enough to repair all four monuments to the priests.

    Schiegumen Ignatius from the Kazan Bogoroditsky Monastery in Harbin

    Involuntarily, we turned to Father Ignatius, as a prayer book, with a request for help in restoring the Russian cemetery. And ... in half a month they sent us money to repair two monuments from the times of the Russo-Japanese War. Funds were donated by KhKIO (our longtime partner) and the Russian Club in Shanghai (chairman - Mikhail Drozdov). We handed over our project for the restoration of these two large tombstones to the Chinese side and, after obtaining their consent, we started work.

    On August 28, 2011, on the feast of the Assumption, the Orthodox people of Harbin who came here to the cemetery were pleasantly surprised.


    Parishioners at the renovated Church of the Intercession. July 2016.

    A CUP OF HARBIN TEA

    In the club we have held and are holding various events - we celebrate holidays, organize competitions, chess tournaments, sports competitions, excursions around Harbin.

    Meeting-talk on the history of Harbin, 2014

    The list of events is born when there is an interested person, an initiator who is ready to do something important, interesting for the Russian diaspora.

    One of the most interesting, in my opinion, events in the work of the club was the “Harbin Cup of Tea”. Everyone knows about the Chinese tea ceremony? Is our Russian tea tradition any worse? We showed our Chinese friends the scope of Russian tea drinking! Samovar, pancakes, jam, sour cream, honey, Russian costumes, paintings and still lifes on the theme of the Russian tea ceremony, fragments from our films about Maslenitsa - the Chinese were delighted! We took pictures, ate, thanked.