Claims that Russia’s Far East should be Chinese date from the Jin dynasty, established in the 12th century by Jurchens, a non-Chinese people from Manchuria. It featured a Chinese military invasion of the Russian Far East fired by demands for vengeance against past land grabs by czarist Russia. Even under Russian rule, Vladivostok has at times had nearly as many Chinese residents as Russians. Chinese social media, however, bubble with demands that territory ceded to the Russian Empire in the 19th century not be forgotten. “All this was Chinese until the Qing dynasty was forced to give it to the Russians,” he said, gesturing at streets packed with Chinese traders and their Russian customers.

Source: New York Times July 23, 2016 17:48 UTC