Russian Dalian

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Territory of Imperial Russia from 1898 to 1905

title: "Russian Dalian" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["history-of-dalian", "oblasts-of-the-russian-empire", "former-russian-colonies", "concessions-in-china", "china–russian-empire-relations", "states-and-territories-disestablished-in-1898", "1898-establishments-in-asia", "1905-disestablishments-in-asia"] description: "Territory of Imperial Russia from 1898 to 1905" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Dalian" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Territory of Imperial Russia from 1898 to 1905 ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox former subdivision"]

Field	Value
native_name	Дальний
Квантунская Область
conventional_long_name	Russian Dalian
Kvantunskaya Oblast
common_name	Dalniy
national_anthem	"Боже, Царя храни!"
Bozhe Tsarya khrani! (1898–1905)
("God Save the Tsar!")
era	New Imperialism
status	Colony, Leased Territory
empire	Russian Empire
status_text	Leased territory (colony) of the Russian Empire
government_type	Absolute monarchy
life_span	1898–1905
year_start	1898
year_end	1905
event_start	Pavlov Agreement
event_end	Ceded to Japan
p1	Qing dynasty
s1	Kwantung Leased Territory
image_flag	Flag of Russia.svg
flag	Flag of Russia
flag_type	Flag
image_map	Карта к статье «Дальний». Военная энциклопедия Сытина (Санкт-Петербург, 1911-1915).jpg
image_map_caption	Russian Dalian
capital	Dalniy
common_languages	Russian (official)
Mandarin Chinese
currency	Russian ruble
title_leader	Emperor
leader1	Nicholas II
year_leader1	1898–1905
today	China
::

Russian Dalian, also known as Kvantunskaya Oblast, was a leased territory ruled by the Russian Empire that existed between its establishment after the Pavlov Agreement in 1898 and its annexation by the Empire of Japan after the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

Located near the southernmost point of the Liaodong Peninsula, the city of Dalian came under the territorial control of the Russian Empire from 1898 until their defeat in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. The Russians called the city Dalniy (), which means "distant" or "remote", describing the city's location relative to the Russian heartland. The modern Chinese name, Dalian, comes from a Chinese reading of the Japanese colonial name Dairen, which itself was a loose transliteration of the Russian name Dalniy. Under Russian control, Dalniy grew into a vibrant port city; before its loss in 1905 it was one terminus of the Russian-controlled Chinese Eastern Railway.

Background

The 1890s saw the intensification of rivalries among Qing China, Japan, and Russia—with the lesser interests of Great Britain, Germany, and the United States—over paramount influence in Manchuria. For Russia, the region of the Liaodong Peninsula was of particular interest as one of the few areas in the region that had the potential to develop ice-free ports. These rivalries came to their first armed conflict during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, which resulted in Japan's resounding victory over the Qing Dynasty, a contest that involved a battle over the port of Lushun (later called Port Arthur) near what would become Dalian or Dalniy. The engagements on the Liaodong Peninsula between Japanese and Chinese troops confirmed to the Japanese the strategic importance of the region, and in particular the strategic positioning of the region around Dalian. Though Japan seized control over the peninsula and was awarded it in the subsequent Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895), it was forced to retrocede it to Qing China following the diplomatic pressure of Russia, Germany, and France, the so-called Triple Intervention of 1895. This would contribute to the growing and bitter rivalry between Japan and Russia while also paving the way for the Russian seizure of the region three years later.

In 1897 Russia signed with Qing China a secret agreement for the establishment under Russian guidance of the Chinese Eastern Railway. On December 15, 1897, Russia, fearing that without decisive action it might lose its chance to seize the port of Dalian to another imperial power such as Germany, which earlier that year had taken control of Qingdao, had its fleet steam into Dalian harbor. On March 27, 1898, Russia signed the Pavlov Agreement with China, which granted Russia a 25-year lease on Dalian and Lushun and exclusive right to lay a branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway to them—what would become the South Manchurian Railway. At first, the flags of both China and Russia were raised over the city, something that assuaged the anger of some local Chinese. Within a few weeks, however, the Chinese ensign was no longer flying.

Development

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Dalny_c1898_LOC.jpg" caption="A panorama of Dalniy around 1898."] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Dalny_Panorama_1903.jpg" caption="Dalniy panorama around 1903."] ::

Dalniy soon became a center of Russian military power in the Far East. In 1897 there were already 12,500 Russian troops in Lushun and the surrounding area, a number that would grow to 35,000 by 1904. However, the powerful Russian Finance Minister Sergei Witte had larger visions for the region than just a military garrison. Witte was overseeing the development of the Chinese Eastern Railway and soon pushed through plans to extend the railway from Harbin to the port at Dalny. In such a vision the city would become a powerful open trading port in the Far East while nearby Port Arthur would be an exclusive Russian military city. On 8 November 1899, Nicholas II ordered the start of construction of this port city, and—at Witte's suggestion—christened the city Dal'nii (or Dalniy: Dalian), meaning "far away" in Russian. Between 1899 and 1903 the Chinese Eastern Railway, which had obtained the concession to build the South Manchurian Railway terminating in Dalny, pumped nearly 20 million rubles into the city's development.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Sergei_Yulyevich_Witte_1905.jpeg" caption="url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape17/PQDD_0020/NQ27316.pdf }}"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Russian_Dalny_1904.jpg" caption="page=5 }}"] ::

The Russian development of the city by necessity involved the uprooting of the location's original Chinese inhabitants. In the summer of 1899, this sparked an angry riot in which Chinese attacked the railway office with stones, dragging away the Chinese clerks and interpreters working for the Russians. Nevertheless, the city's development also brought opportunities, and during the years of Russian tenureship tens of thousands of Chinese migrated into the area.

In terms of the railroad, construction linking Dalniy with Harbin was begun apace and by January 1903 the rail link between the two cities was complete. In February 1903, the first express train arrived in Dalniy from Harbin and by that August Dalniy was successfully linked by rail to the Russian homeland.

By 1904, enough progress had been made on the development of the city to embolden the Comte Cassini, Russian minister to the United States, to declare that "Harbin and Dalniy are monuments to Russian progressiveness and civilization."

Legacy

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/OldDalnyCityHall.JPG" caption="The former Russian City Hall of Dalniy (built {{circa}} 1900)"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Russian_Culture_Street,_Dalian.jpg" caption="Commemorative sign at Russian Culture Street"] ::

Most remnants of Russia's seven-year tenure in Dalian are located along what is today called Russian Street (Русская улица Russkaia ulitsa), originally Engineer Street (улица Инженерная ulitsa Inzhenernaia), the oldest street in Dalian.

Soviet occupation

During World War II, Dalian was occupied by Japan. After the war, with the unconditional surrender of Japan in September 1945, the city passed to the Soviets, following the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. Described in 1949 as "New China's model metropolis" by the Chinese Communist Party, the former colonial city was occupied by the Soviet military from 1945 to 1950. Soviet-inspired policies were enacted in the city and contributed to ideas of socialist urbanization.

Modern

In the mid-1990s, the mayor of Dalian, Bo Xilai, conceived the idea of renovating the remaining Russian-era structures on the street, adding new ones built in a Russian style, and renaming the street Russian Street. Work on the project began in 1999 and brought in Russian architects and other experts. Eight Russian era buildings were renovated, including the former Russian Dalniy City Hall, six new buildings were built, and six other existing structures were given "Russian façades" to match the street's theme. The newly renovated street was inaugurated on 1 October 2000.

Administrators

::data[format=table] | No. | Portrait | Name (Birth–Death) | Term of office | Took office | Left office | Time in office | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Командир (Commander) | | | | | | | | 1 | [[File:Moscow, Governor Fyodor Dubasov, 1905-1906.jpg|60px]] | Fyodor Vasilyevich Dubasov (1845–1912) | 27 December 1897 | 13 May 1898 | | | | 2 | [[File:Oskar Victorovich Stark.jpg|60px]] | Oskar Ludwig Starck (1846–1928) | 13 May 1898 | 18 September 1898 | | | | Администратор (Administrator) | | | | | | | | 3 | [[File:General Subotich.jpg|60px]] | Dejan (Ivanovich) Subotić (1852–1920) | 18 September 1898 | July 1899 | | | | Главный администратор (Chief Administrator) | | | | | | | | 4 | [[File:Alexeev E I.jpg|60px]] | Yevgeni Ivanovich Alekseyev (1843–1917) | 29 August 1899 | 1 January 1905 | | | | – | [[File:Anatoly-stessel.jpg|60px]] | Anatoly Mikhaylovich Stessel (1848–1915) Acting for absent Alekseyev | 12 March 1904 | 1 January 1905 | | | ::

Notes

References

Hess, Christian A.. (2006). "From colonial jewel to socialist metropolis: Dalian, 1895–1955". University of California, San Diego.
{{harvnb. Hess. 2006
March, G. Patrick. (1996). "Eastern Destiny: Russia in Asia and the North Pacific". Praeger.
{{harvnb. Hess. 2006
Semyonov, Yuri. (1963). "Siberia, its Conquest and Development". Helicon Press.
{{harvnb. Hess. 2006
Perrins, Robert John. (1996). "'Great Connections': the Creation of a City, Dalian, 1905–1945. China and Japan on the Liaodong Peninsula". York University, Canada.
Stephan, John J.. (1994). "The Russian Far East, a History". Stanford University Press.
Whigham, H. J.. (1904). "Manchuria and Korea". Isbister and Company.
Comte Cassini. (1904). "Russia in the Far East". The North American Review.
Hess, Christian. (2018-01-01). "Sino-Soviet City: Dalian between Socialist Worlds, 1945-1955". Journal of Urban History.
[http://ias.khstu.ru/pages/dalyan Institut arkhitektury i stroitel'stva] {{Webarchive. link. (2021-02-16 {{in lang). ru

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