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

Abstract

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 The study examines statutes and regulations, reports of the Russo-Chinese Bank, and previously unpublished records management and statistical documents stored at the State Archive of Buryatia (Collection of Kyakhta Customs Station and that of Kyakhta-based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.

Keywords

• russo-chinese bank
• kyakhta office
• qing empire
• mongolia
• merchants
• trade
• silver