Black Dragon River by Dominic Ziegler
Penguin, £19.99
The author, Asian editor of The Economist, relates his journey down the Amur River “at the borderlands of empires” – the Russian and the Chinese. This makes for an enthralling read: 2,826 miles of a river which marks a natural boundary between two proud and prickly countries, and where the history of Russian expansion into the Far East involved Cossack adventurers, bloodshed and decline.
In 1854, looking eastward rather than towards the West – always a tussle when debating Russia’s identity – the country took over land from China that was as large as France and Germany combined. This had followed centuries of pushing further and further into Siberia during which, as Ziegler ironically puts it, “the blessings of Russian civilisation began to be bestowed upon one sixth of the face of the earth”.
Having got as far as the Amur River, the question arose among Russians about what to do about the colonisation of this immense area, how to develop its economy and, crucially, how to defend the new eastern border. We learn from this fascinating story, in which the author neatly intersperses history alongside his own experiences, that between 1882 and 1907 nearly a quarter of a million peasants, mostly from Ukraine, settled in the Russian Far East. The border was guarded and defended by Cossacks, traditionally associated with fervent patriotism, readiness to fight and the Orthodox faith.
The glory days of the eastern empire are now long over. Although President Putin wants to resurrect Russia’s far eastern ambitions, it is an improbable mission. The author comments: “Russians have always felt their presence in the Far East to be precarious – so few Russians and so vast a space, pressed on by a pitiless nature and a billion Chinese to the south.”
The Chinese, as local people in the few desolate and depopulated local towns report, are everywhere, slowly and seemingly invisibly expanding their presence through trade and influence. Travelling by horseback, boat, on foot and by aeroplane, Ziegler conjures up this forbidding landscape and the colourful personalities that have defined it over the centuries.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.