‘Silver Road’ from Europe to Asia: Kyakhta Office of the Russo-Chinese Bank in Precious Metals Exports to the Qing Empire

Introduction. The article deals with exports and imports of precious metals between Russia and the Qing Empire in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Special attention is paid to activities of the Russo-Chinese Bank that established its offices across Russia-Mongolia frontiers for the latter to arrange silver trade with China. Goals. The paper aims to reveal actual causes, conditions and mechanisms of silver transit from Europe to China — and identify the role played by the Russo-Chinese Bank therein. Materials and methods. The study examines statutes and regulations, reports of the Russo-Chinese Bank, and previously unpublished records management and statistical documents stored at the State Archive of Buryatia (Collection of Kyakhta Customs Station and that of Kyakhta-based first-guild merchant M. Nemchinov, respectively). The work employs a number of historical research methods, special emphasis be laid on the principle of historicism and the comprehensive analysis method that have proved instrumental in interrelating the mid-to-late nineteenth and early twentieth century geopolitical events across Asia-Pacific — to the intensification of Russia-China precious metals trade. Results. The paper virtually reconstructs the mechanism developed by the Russo-Chinese Bank in Russia-Mongolia frontier territories to export precious metals from Western Europe to the Qing Empire. Conclusions. The late nineteenth-century weakening of the Qing Empire and subsequent changes in the balance of power across Inner Asia significantly modified the region’s geopolitical agenda. The altered vectors of external policies towards Asia Pacific enabled the Russian Empire to successfully expand its economic presence in China at the turn of the 20th century. The Tsarist government did succeed in holding strong positions in China’s market of precious metals via a specially created ‘tool’ — the Russo-Chinese Bank. The efficient combination of Russia’s smart trade strategies and special customs preferences yielded a highly profitable business of precious metals transit from Europe to China. And it was Kyakhta Office of the Russo-Chinese Bank that played a key role in securing uninterrupted supply of precious metals.

1. State Archive of the Republic of Buryatia.

2. Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire [Collection One: From 1649 to 12 December 1825]. In 45 vols. Vol. 26. St. Petersburg: H.I.M. Own Chancery (Second Section), 1830. 875 p. (In Russ.)

3. Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire [Collection Three: From 1 March 1881 to 1913]. In 33 vols. Vol. 19. St. Petersburg: State Printing House, 1902. 1347 p. (In Russ.)

4. Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire [Collection Two: From 12 December 1825 to 28 February 1881]. In 55 vols. Vol. 30. St. Petersburg: H.I.M. Own Chancery (Second Section), 1856. 778 p. (In Russ.)

5. Hertslet E. (comp.) Treaties, &C., Between Great Britain and China, and Between China and Foreign Powers; And Orders in Council, Rules, Regulations, Acts of Parliament, Decrees, &C., Affecting British Interests in China. Vol. 1: In Force on the 1st January, 1908. London: Harrison and Sons, 1908. 208 p. (In Eng.)

6. Russo-Chinese Bank: 1900 Operations Reports. St. Petersburg: Z. Kreis & Co., 1901. 36 p. (In Russ.)

7. Russo-Chinese Bank: 1901 Operations Reports. St. Petersburg, 1902. 53 p. (In Russ.)

8. Russo-Chinese Bank: 1907 Operations Reports. St. Petersburg: Yakor, 1908. 24 p. (In Russ.)

9. Russo-Chinese Bank: Charter [and Articles]. St. Petersburg: A. Benke, 1895. 39 p. (In Russ.)

10. The Emergence, Development and Current Conditions of [Russia’s] Trade Relations with China via Kyakhta: A Brief Essay [by the Kyakhta Guild]. Moscow: I. Kushnerev & Co., 1896. 90 (27) p. (In Russ.)

11. Aleksandrov V. A. Russia in the Far Eastern Frontiers: Mid-to-Late 17th Century. Khabarovsk: Khabarovsk Book Publ., 1984. 275 p. (In Russ.)

12. Flynn D. O., Giráldez A. Born with a “silver spoon”: The origin of world trade in 1571. Journal of World History. 1995. Vol. 6. No. 2. Pp. 201–221. (In Russ.)

13. Gladkov I. S., Zorina I. Yu. Development of Russia’s industries: 19th to early 20th centuries. Regional Economics: Theory and Practice. 2009. No. 5. Pp. 72–76. (In Russ.)

14. Izgachev V. G. From the history of Transbaikalian industry: Building the first Argun silver-refining plant in the XVIIth century. Uchenye zapiski Zabaykal’skogo gosudarstvennogo gumanitarno-pedagogicheskogo universiteta im. N. G. Chernyshevskogo. 2009. No. 3. Pp. 9–16. (In Russ.)

15. Krit N. K. Future Prospects of Kyakhta Trade. St. Petersburg: Ministry of War (Artillery Dept.), 1862. 101 p. (In Russ.)

16. Kuras L. V., Kalmina L. V., Mikhalev A. V. Captains of Russia’s Oriental Policies at the Turn of the 20th Century. Irkutsk: Ottisk, 2018. 112 p. (In Russ.)

17. Latov Yu. V. The Silk Road as a prologue to the world economy and globalization: Celebrating the 2130th anniversary. Journal of Economic History & History of Economics. 2010. Vol. 11. No. 1. Pp. 123–140. (In Russ.)

18. Lukoyanov I. V. ‘To Keep Pace with World Powers …’: Russia in the Far East, Late 19th to Early 20th Century. St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriya, 2008. 662 p. (In Russ.)

19. Lyakhovich E. V. Tracing the origin of Chinese porcelain in Europe. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies. 2017. Vol. 9. No. 3. Pp. 246–254. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.21638/11701/spbu13.2017.302

20. Muravyova L. A. Economics and finance in seventeenth-century Russia: A historical aspect. Finance & Credit. 2001. No. 4(76). Pp. 81–87. (In Russ.)

21. Petrov A. M. The Silk Road: Insights into the Simplest Yet Least Known Things. Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura (RAS), 1995. 127 p. (In Russ.)

22. Petrov G. Yu. Opium Wars and legalization of drug consumption in modern China. Journal of Economic History & History of Economics. 2008. Vol. 9. No. 2. Pp. 140–150. (In Russ.)

23. Romanova G. N. Shaping the Russia-Chinese trade relations (XVII – the first third of XVIII centuries). Customs Policy of Russia in the Far East. 2014. No. 2. Pp. 101–112. (In Russ.)

24. Stakheev D. I. Beyond the Baikal and on the Amur: Travel Pictures. St. Petersburg: K. Wolf, 1869. 347 p. (In Russ.)

25. Sun Yizhi. Emission policy of Russo-Chinese (Asiatic) Bank in China (End of the 19th century - beginning of the 20th century). In: Dvornichenko A. Yu. (ed.) Mavrodin Readings — 2018. Jubilee conference proceedings (St. Petersburg, 29–31October 2018). St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoriya, 2018. Pp. 334–337. (In Russ.)

26. Vedernikov V. V. Siberian mining press of the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries about the liquidation of silver smelting production and perspectives of mining in Altai. Izvestiya of Altai State University. 2016. No. 4(92). Pp. 34–41. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.14258/izvasu(2016)4-04