Evolution of the Image of China on the Pages of the Magazine “Mir Bozhiy” at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries

The article examines the reflection of the image of China and the Chinese on the pages of the magazine “Mir Bozhiy” at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. It was during this period that the policy of the great powers in China was undergoing serious changes, and the Qing Empire itself was entering a period of serious crisis associated with coups d’etat and rebellions, which contributed to the growing interest of the reading public in the events in the Far East. As a result of the analysis of the contents of the magazine issues, containing both original articles and brief reviews of articles from other domestic and foreign publications devoted to Chinese topics, it became possible to identify the main problems that worried Russian public opinion during that period. Above all, those were issues of economic cooperation with China and the problem of Chinese migration in the Far East. Introduction to the internal life of the Qing Empire, its political system and social structure occupy the largest volume of publications up to 1900. With the aggravation of the situation within the Boxer Rebellion and the beginning of foreign intervention, the main interest in the publications was focused on those events and the reaction of the population of the border regions of the Russian Empire to the occurrence. The defeat of the rebels returns to the pages of the publication the polemics about the role of foreign powers in Chinese events and criticism of the barbaric behavior of the “civilized Europeans.” By 1902, interest in Chinese topics in the publication weakens and gradually moves to a new threat posed by the Japanese Empire.