RUSSIAN DIALECTS IN CHINA IN THE XXth CENTURY

The article proves the existence of Russian dialects in Russian east foreign countries, in China, in the 20th century. Russian dialects appeared in China due to social factors, namely, immigration of people from Russia. Pre-revolutionary immigration played an important role, as it was connected with Chinese Eastern Railway construction and forming of Russian colony in China, which included people of different social levels, in particular, peasants and Cossacks, who were Russian dialects speakers. Post revolutionary immigration resulted in appearing of Russian villages in China, in particular, Old Believer villages, where people spoke dialects. Dialectal speech influenced the speech of a city. Besides, some Harbinians spoke dialects being a native of Russian villages of Three River Region.

The material for the analysis includes speech records of Russian east foreign countries representatives, made by the author in the early 21st century, and Russian east foreign countries periodical publications of the early and middle 20th century.

Thus, the Russian language in the east foreign countries had a high preservation level during the Russian Diaspora existence, as there was a live language environment included different variants of the national language, particularly, dialects.