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Vladimir Vasilevich Lanin
Group of Chinese migrants in Russia
1870 (ca)
Albumen print
16 x 12 cm
Bassenge Photography Auctions
19th - 21st Century Photography, 3 June 2015, Lot: 4069
LL/59759
After establishing himself as a trader in Niokolaevsk, Lanin pursued a successful business career in the Russian Far East, becoming a respected member of the local merchants' guild and later serving the town as its mayor. In 1862, he opened the first photographic studio in the region, and over the following decade, styling himself 'V.V. Lanin on the Amur River', he went to document the places and inhabitants of the new territories Russia had acquired from China in 1860. Around 1880, Lanin relocated to Vladivostok and continued to operate his photographic studio until he sold it in 1888.
'Manzy' (literally 'Manchus') was the Russian word for the Chinese population of the territories acquired from China in 1860, including those who migrated there subsequently, mainly to work in the goldfields near Vladivostok. Tensions between the Russian authorities and Chinese gold-diggers erupted in the so-called Manza War of 1868, during which several Russian villages were burnt and 60 Chinese were taken prisoner. Most of the captive Manzy were then deported to China, while some were exiled to other parts of the Russian Empire.
The same image appears in the National Library of Russia album (vol. 3, no., 35) with the title Manzy Kitaiskie Izgnanniki na russkoi granitse (Manzy - Chinese Exiles on the Russian Border.
The description of the sitters as 'exiles' in the National Library of Russia album is ambiguous but suggests that they were among the victims of the forced relocation.
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