Every year, the ISU graduates specialists of Chinese nationality. Most of them see themselves as translators. They soberly assess their chances of employment and say that despite the desire to work in Russia, it is likely to return to China. However, among the graduates of International Institute of Economics and Linguistics (IIEL) there are also those who did not want to leave the Irkutsk region and successfully settled here. For example, Huang Liwen, working at the Irkutsk plant "Profstal." A young man has lived in Irkutsk since 2006, then he enrolled first in the preparatory department of IIEL, then graduated from the bachelor's program of the International Institute of Economics and Linguistics News [Novosti]. Sayt Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Available at: https://isu.ru/ru/news/newsitem.html?action=show&id=2667 (accessed 12 May 2019)..

In addition, on the basis of the International Institute of Economics and Linguistics of the ISU in 2007, the Confucius Institute was opened. Specially for this event, a delegation from China led by Vice-Premier of the State Council Chen Zhili arrived in Irkutsk.

The Center promotes the strengthening of cooperation between the two countries and enables the students of the Institute not only to learn Chinese, but also the centuries-old history and culture of China. Such a deep immersion in the country's atmosphere helps the residents of Irkutsk region to better understand their eastern neighbor, become more tolerant towards migrants.

The educational partner of the Confucius Institute of the ISU is the Liaoning University, located in Shenyang City. Cooperation between the two universities began in 1993, and the opening of the Chinese Language Center was the logical result of long-standing friendship.

At the Confucius Institute, a number of different events are held: holidays, competitions, exhibitions, lectures, film shows, sports events, etc. They are attended by both Russian and Chinese students and representatives of different strata of the population.

There are a special "Irkutsk city public organization to expand international relations" Chinese Society" in Irkutsk. This organization was registered in September 1998 to support Chinese migrants. The Chinese society was headed by Miao Lihun, known to her Russian friends as Yakimova Lina Alexandrovna. Up to 2008, there were more than 200 people from different cities of the Irkutsk Region in this society, but because of the crisis many returned to China.

The society helped and supported those who first arrived in Russia, supplied with all the necessary information, up to briefing, how to behave in a foreign country. Therefore, for example, the society financially helped to leave home to a group of deceived Chinese workers.

"Chinese society" has created all the necessary conditions for the socialization of Chinese migrants in the host society. Therefore, great importance was attached to cultural cooperation and the organization of various events for Russians and Chinese. For example, a joint celebration of the Chinese New Year, October 1, the Moon Festival in August, etc. The Chinese society actively participated in such events as the Baikal Economic Forum, or the Altargan-2008 Festival, where it passed its column among the representatives of other nationalities living in Irkutsk, and stood out among them with its colorful, oriental exotics.

The society is not limited to helping compatriots, it allows opportunities, sponsors orphanages, helps with medicines, and the neighboring 33rd school.

In 2009, the Federal Migration Service of Russia in the Irkutsk region accused Miao Lihong of facilitating illegal immigration, and she was deported from Russia through the court. Despite the fact that Miao Lihong was personally vouched for by the Consul General of China. After the deportation, Chinese society ceased to exist and now its reconstruction is still not planned.

Two more societies were also created. All of them were in very difficult, sometimes conflictual relationships, but nothing is known about their activities and status at the moment.

Closure of Chinese society greatly complicated the life of the Chinese diaspora in the region. It performed important functions to support and socialize Chinese migrants in the host society.

At the moment, the region also cooperates with China in the health sector. December 18, 2017 in Harbin was signed a comprehensive plan for the interaction of health systems of the Irkutsk region and Heilongjiang Province for 2018-2020. Within its framework, it is planned to hold joint master classes, scientific conferences and other educational activities. As well as training of Chinese and Russian specialists. Irkutsk region and People's Republic of China are expanding cooperation in the field of health. Site of the Ministry of Health of the Irkutsk region. Available at: https://minzdrav-irkutsk.ru/news/irkutskaya-oblast-i-kitayskaya-narodnaya-respublika-rasshiryayut-sotrudnichestvo-v-sfere-zdravookhra.html (accessed 12 May 2019).

CHAPTER 3. The Image of Chinese Migrants through the Irkutsk Mass Media

In order to track the main events that occurred in the Irkutsk region with the participation of representatives of the Chinese diaspora during such a significant period of time, it was decided to analyze the regional newspapers. Conducting content analysis had several main tasks.

First, it was necessary to track how the image of a Chinese migrant was changing. Since this image was broadcast through local media, the research would help us answer this question.

Secondly, to understand how their influence on the cultural and business life of the region has been transformed. How their role and occupation changed.

Thirdly, to identify the main problems that concern both the host society and the visitors themselves.

To solve these problems, two regional newspapers were selected: «SM Nomer Odin» and «Pyatnitsa». Since the electronic database contained only newspapers since 2004, newspapers that were published between 2004 and 2018 were analyzed.

These newspapers are very popular among the local population. According to a survey conducted by the Russia Public Opinion Research Center in 2010, “SM Number One ”occupies a leading position in the Irkutsk region in terms of the rating of trust in information published in the newspaper, and the quality assessment of newspaper materials by the readers themselves.

The "Pyatnitsa" newspaper is a newspaper «About People and Their Way to Live». This newspaper is interesting to several social groups: middle class, employees, financially active audiences and retirees. The newspaper has a strong image of an interesting newspaper and a high popularity rating among the residents of Irkutsk.

For convenience, it was decided to divide the work into two parts. The first part included newspapers from 2004 to 2010. The second part contains articles from 2011 to 2018. Thus, it was possible to conduct a comparative analysis of these two parts and find the main differences between them.

From the two newspapers for the entire analyzed period from 2004 to 2018 all articles about China and citizens of the PRC were sorted. As can be seen from the two tables below, 247 articles from 23151 articles (1%) were published in the newspaper “SM Number One” for the period under study. In the “SM Nomer Odin”, there are 98 articles more than in the “Pyatnitsa” newspaper, where for the same period only 149 articles out of 22312 (less than 1%) were published.

Table 2

The number of articles (2004-2018)

Continuation of Table 2

The number of articles (20011-2018)

For clarity, based on collected data, a diagram was constructed (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2

Using this diagram, you can see that the total number of articles related to Chinese migrants and China is declining, both in the newspaper “SM Number One” and in “Friday”. It can be noted that in “SM Number One” the maximum number of articles (32) was published in 2006, during the Year of China in Russia.

Then in 2014, 24 articles were published. This is related to the conclusion of a major contract for the supply of gas to China from the Kovykta field in the Irkutsk region this year. In addition, in 2014, the Shanghai market in the center of Irkutsk was liquidated, and some articles were devoted to this event. From 2004 to 2010, the number of articles per year varies from 20 to 30, the average number is 20.7. From 2011 to 2018, the number of articles per year was significantly reduced and on average was equal to 12.7.

The number of articles in the “Pyatnitsa” newspaper, starting from 2005, is getting smaller. If in 2005 there were 25 articles, then in 2009 and 2010, 6 and 7 articles were published, respectively. Between 2011 and 2018, the number varies from four to seven articles per year.

Our task is to find out why the number of publications has decreased over the study period and how the image of Chinese broadcast through the media has changed.

For this purpose, general categories or keywords were developed. They were assigned to articles depending on their content. As a result, we received 60 categories for the newspaper “SM Nomer Odin” and 44 categories for the newspaper “Pyatnitsa”. All these categories were grouped into several large groups:

1) Criminal activity;

2) Agriculture;

3) Strikes , conflicts with the local population;

4) Substandard Chinese goods;

5) Siberian resources (Siberia is a raw materials appendage of China);

6) The territorial issue;

7) Infections and viruses, environmental problems;

8) Cooperation and partnership;

9) Positive feedback about the Chinese;

10) Chinese culture and Chinese language;

11) Articles about China;

12) Chinese entrepreneurship in the region;

13) "Shanghai" market;

14) The life of the Chinese in the Irkutsk region.

One article can be assigned to several categories at the same time, depending on the keywords found in the text. Such keyword filtering allowed us to obtain quantitative indicators and understand how many articles this or that topic met.

For a more complete picture, it was necessary to consider the semantic coloring of words in a context. It is much more difficult to do. It was decided to introduce such an indicator as “emotional coloring”. Thus, each article was assigned one of three emotional values: positive, negative, or neutral.

Articles with a positive emotional coloring include all articles in which the Chinese are described as friendly, hardworking, non-conflicting and tolerant people. This group also includes articles on good relations between Russia and China, on strategic partnership and further development of cooperation between the two countries. Finally, articles on joint projects and Chinese investments in the development of the region.

Articles about Chinese culture, traditions, and about the history of the development of relations between the two countries, written for educational purposes, were classified as neutral articles. In addition, there are all articles of an informative nature in this group. Consequently, among the neutrals one can find articles about travel, Chinese cuisine or medicine. Their main goal is to tell about the subject of the article, but not to give any assessment. The result can be seen in the tables below.

Table 3

The emotional coloring of articles (2004-2010)

Table 4

The emotional coloring of articles (20011-2018)

Since the analysis was performed in two stages, the results obtained are distributed over two tables. This will make a comparative analysis easier.

It can be seen from the tables that quite a lot of disapproving articles were published in both newspapers. For the entire analyzed period from 2004 to 2018, the number of negative articles in “SM Nomer Odin” is 13.7% higher than the number of articles with the same emotional coloring on “Pyatnits” and is equal to 56.7%.

Next come neutral articles: about 43% in the “Pyatnitsa” newspaper and 26% in “SM Nomer Odin”. The percentage of positive articles in “SM Nomer Odin” is 17% and exceeds the same indicator of “Pyatnitsa” newspaper by 3%.

If we compare the articles published before and after 2010. It may be noted that over time the number of negative articles in “SM Number One” increased by 15% and in the period from 2011 to 2018 amounted to 65.7%. In addition, the number of positive articles also increased by 6% and amounted to 21%, which is three times less than the articles with negative coloration.

At that time, in the “Pyatnitsa” newspaper, on the contrary, the number of negative articles decreased by 10%, while the positive ones increased by the same value, and amounted to 36% and 23%, respectively.

From this, we can conclude that Irkutsk readers are more likely to find articles with negative coloring among articles about citizens of China and the PRC itself. Next, we look at individual categories. Of all the categories were selected the most common. Results for the newspaper “SM Nomer Odin” is presented in the table below.

Table 5

The most common categories in “SM Nomer odin” (2004-2010)

As can be seen from the table, in the “SM Nomer odin” from 2004 to 2010 there are many articles about criminal activity committed not only by the Chinese, but also against the Chinese. Newspapers write about non-compliance by foreign citizens of the Russian legislation, illegal migration, kidnapping and theft.

The “crimes against the Chinese” category also includes articles about abductions in which the Chinese themselves were the abductors. For example, in 2004, three Russians and Chinese kidnapped a 45-year-old Chinese, from whom they demanded a ransom of 500,000 rubles Criminals demanded a ransom of 500 thousand dollars from a kidnapped Chinese man [U pokhishchennogo kitaytsa prestupniki trebovali vykup v 500 tysyach dollarov]. (2004). Available at: baikal-info.ru/sm/2004/29/004003.html (accessed 12 May 2019)..

Moreover, in 2006, three representatives of the Chinese diaspora together with Russian citizens organized the abduction of Chinese women with the same ransom goal The kidnapping case is sent to court [Delo o pokhishchenii cheloveka napravleno v sud]. (2007). Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/sm/2007/20/005004.html (accessed 12 May 2019). .

Most of the articles were published in the “Criminal activity” category (69), followed by the “Articles about China” category (21), which mainly includes articles with a neutral color, which will be confirmed in the table below. Then, “Agriculture” (19).

Table 6

The most common categories in “SM Nomer odin” (2011-2018)

In the period from 2011 to 2018. You can see how the categories and number of articles have changed in each of them. Articles from the Strikes categories have stopped appearing. Indeed, there has not been a single article about conflicts between local residents and representatives of the Chinese diaspora. On the part of the migration authorities, migrants were still checked, but neither fights nor strikes with the police are mentioned. There was also no article from the “Entrepreneurship” category.

There were significantly fewer articles on criminal activity (17), while until 2010 their number was 69. Instead, there were significantly more articles on agriculture (84). Since the zero quota was introduced in 2015, the peak of articles on agriculture falls on this year (19), then their value significantly decreases.

In addition, a new category “Tourism” has appeared. The flow of tourists has increased significantly in recent years, so the first articles appeared only in 2017.

Below is a table with emotional coloring articles.

Table 7

Emotional coloring of articles in “SM Nomer odin” (2004-2010)

There is one of the articles on criminal activity in the group of positive. This article talks about the Chinese who were suspected of illegal migration. When checking the documents, it turned out that the representatives of the diaspora had no problems with the law Did someone throw a grenade to guests from China? [Gostyam iz Podnebesnoy podkinuli granatu?]. (2005). Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/sm/2005/47/007009.html (accessed 12 May 2019).. For this reason, it was decided to refer this article to a positive one.

The next most frequent category is articles about China. It included neutral articles on relations between Russia and China, as well as on Chinese culture, cuisine and traditions. In 2009, the newspaper briefly published “The Notes of the Irkutsk Tradesman”, but this column did not become permanent.

The first association that occurs among the locals at the thought of the Chinese is Chinese vegetables and Chinese products. Therefore, it is not surprising that newspapers often write about Chinese greenhouses, fertilizers and crops. In 2004, two neutral articles appeared about the rich harvest of watermelons grown by the Chinese The Chinese again planted watermelons [Kitaytsy opyat' posadili arbuzy]. (2014). Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/sm/2004/23/003001.html (accessed 12 May 2019).. Then all the articles were negative.

The Chinese are accused of using pesticides and poisonous fertilizers, as well as of heating greenhouses in the coal, causing local residents to complain of acrid smoke. In the period from 2011 to 2018, there are even more such articles, which is reflected in the table below.

Table 8

Emotional coloring of articles in “SM Nomer odin” (2011-2018)

From the table for 2011-2018, it can be seen that out of 84 articles on agriculture, 81 are articles with negative coloring. Two positive articles were written about cooperation with Liaoning Province in the field of agriculture and the construction of greenhouses using Chinese projects Like a stone wall [Kak za kamennoy stenoy]. (2017). Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/kak-za-kamennoy-stenoy (accessed 12 May 2019)..

It is also worth noting that all five articles on tourism are negative. Among them there are either articles related to any incidents, such as the article on the fire on Olkhon Island, where Chinese tourists were injured Fire on Olkhon: the Chinese died [Pozhar na Ol'khone: pogibli kitaytsy]. (2018) Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/pozhar-na-olhone-pogibli-kitaycy (accessed 12 May 2019) . However, there are negative articles about Chinese tourism.

For example, in June 2017, an article appeared where it said that “the Chinese themselves are more and more often engaged in the organization of recreation for guests from China, and more often illegally. They form routes, conduct excursions, populate compatriots in Chinese hotels.” Fire on Olkhon: the Chinese died [Pozhar na Ol'khone: pogibli kitaytsy]. (2018) Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/pozhar-na-olhone-pogibli-kitaycy (accessed 12 May 2019).

The emergence of a new category shows how the role of Chinese migrants in the region has changed. “Previously, there was no such influx, but something unimaginable has been going on for the last three or four years. There are not enough places at the camp sites, because in winter only 30% of the total number work.” Fewer tourists [Turistov stalo men'she]. (2017). Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/turistov-stalo-menshe (accessed 12 May 2019).

It is also worth noting that the number of articles on partnerships and cooperation with China has increased.

It can be concluded that the concern of local people has shifted from the criminal activities of the Chinese in the region to the problems associated with agriculture. Due to the negative impact of Chinese migrants on local lands, in 2015 a zero quota was introduced. Nevertheless, even after that, articles appear on cases of the capture of migrants that are engaged in illegal agricultural work. The Chinese began to hide better [Kitaytsy stali luchshe pryatat'sya]. (2015). Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/kitaycy-stali-luchshe-pryatatsya (accessed 12 May 2019).

In addition, residents of Irkutsk are very worried about the Chinese travel industry, the main problems that were described in the second chapter of this work. A big stir on the Internet caused a project of a plant for bottling water in the village of Kultuk, but there were no articles on this topic in any of the newspapers.

Next, we will look at tables containing the data obtained from the “Pyatnitsa” newspaper. The table below shows the most common categories.

Table 9

The most common categories in “Pyatnitsa” (2004-2010)

The “Pyatnitsa” newspaper contains significantly fewer categories. Articles from such categories as “Strikes”, “Chinese goods”, “Good relationship, strategic partnership” are found either very rarely (1-2 articles), or not at all, so the data about them is not listed in the table.

Few articles are devoted to crime, only 16 articles about violation of the law. Nevertheless, there is a significant number of articles on China (31).

Therefore, it can be said that the newspaper is more entertaining and educational in nature. The number of articles published in “Friday” (149) for the studied period of time is significantly less than in “CM Number One” (247), as already mentioned above.

Table 10

The most common categories in “Pyatnitsa” (2011-2018)

After 2010, there were articles that can be attributed to the categories "Sport" (6), "Cooperation and partnership" (6), "Chinese goods" (3).

The articles on cooperation include articles on visits by high-ranking officials to China to discuss projects. For example, in 2015, an agreement was reached on the construction of one of the largest data processing centers in Asia in the Irkutsk region Eroschenko and Putin in Beijing [Yeroshchenko i Putin v Pekine]. (2015). Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/eroshchenko-i-putin-v-pekine (accessed 12 May 2019).. The data center began operating in 2017 Siberia's first commercial data center launched in Irkutsk [Pervyy v Sibiri kommercheskiy Tsentr obrabotki dannykh zapustili v Irkutske]. (2017). Available at: http://vestiirk.ru/news/society/189245/ (accessed 12 May 2019). . In addition, as in the “CM Number One”, there are articles about the project of gas supply to China.

Articles from the category "Sport" are informative in nature and tell about competitions between athletes of the Irkutsk region and athletes from China.

As before 2010, articles about China prevail. The number of articles on crime dropped to four.

Next, we analyze the emotional coloring of the articles found in each of the categories of the “Pyatnitsa”.

Table 11

The emotional coloring of articles in “Pyatnitsa” (2004-2010)

The data obtained from the table shows that there are many negative articles prevail in the category of “travel to China”. These articles are about attacking Russian tourists in China To go to China for goods [Za tovarom v Kitay]. (2006). Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/friday/2006/43/023001.html (accessed 12 May 2019). Nightmare in Manchuria [Koshmar v Man'chzhurii]. (2006). Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/friday/2006/05/013001.html (accessed 12 May 2019).. Negative articles about entrepreneurship tell about Chinese fakes of famous brands Chinese fake Russian brands [Kitaytsy poddelyvayut rossiyskiye brendy]. (2005). Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/friday/2005/35/018001.html (accessed 12 May 2019).. In addition, about how representatives of the Chinese diaspora lure customers from local vendors The Chinese are fighting off clients barbecue [Kitaytsy otbivayut kliyentov shashlychnykh]. (2004). Available at: baikal-info.ru/friday/2004/18/013004.html (accessed 12 May 2019). .

Table 12

The emotional coloring of articles in “Pyatnitsa” (2011-2018)

In the second table we can see a significant reduction in articles with negative coloring. Six positively colored articles on cooperation and partnership between the Irkutsk Region and China were published.

From the study, it is clear that the image of the Chinese, broadcast through the Irkutsk media, is more likely to have a negative color, as evidenced by the result obtained in assessing the emotional coloring of the articles. For SM Number One, this figure was 51%, for Friday, a little less than 50%. Therefore, for many residents of the Irkutsk region, the Chinese are associated with low-quality goods, toxic fertilizers and the “Shanghai” market.

It is noteworthy that in 2006, during the Year of Russia in China, there were only 2 mentions of this year in “SM Nomer Odin ”, and there was not a single article in the “Pyatnita” newspaper. In 2007, during the Year of China in Russia, there are not a single newspaper mentioned any events dedicated to the Year of China in Russia.

Despite the fact that there are relatively few articles with positive coloring, the Chinese are described as friendly, tolerant, always ready to help people. Quite often they talk about the zeal of this people Chinese and Tajiks build Irkutsk [Irkutsk stroyat kitaytsy i tadzhiki]. (2007). Available at: http://baikal-info.ru/sm/2007/20/002008.html (accessed 12 May 2019).

.

CONCLUSION

Despite the fact that improvement of relations between China and Russia is being broadcast everywhere, there are many problems in the region related to Chinese migrants.

An acute shortage of labor resources is felt in the Irkutsk region. The Chinese come to the region mainly for earnings. They reach the goal and return to their homeland. Few people plan to stay in the region for a long period of time. It is very difficult to get a job legally, in connection with the maintenance of restrictions. For example, in order to obtain a work permit, temporary residence permit or residence permit, foreigners must pass exams on knowledge of the Russian language, Russian history and Russian legislation. The author considers these measures necessary as they protect both the host society and the migrants themselves from problems that may arise in the territory of the Russian Federation. However, this greatly complicates the process of moving for foreign citizens. In addition, the work is often poorly paid. Therefore, migrants give preference to alternative ways of earning money, that is, they either find workarounds or work illegally.

In the second chapter of this work, the main directions of economic activities of representatives of the Chinese diaspora in the region over the past twenty years were considered. This made it possible to identify the main points of influence of Chinese migrants on the life of the region. During the study, we found that Chinese migrants are currently working in areas such as forestry, trade, agriculture and tourism.

Based on the above information, we can conclude that the problem with illegal logging remains important. The increase in tariffs for the export of raw wood should have contributed to an increase in the flow of investment in the domestic woodworking industry. As a result, instead of investing, Chinese entrepreneurs began to independently open their sawmills in Russia with Chinese participation.

Currently, the practice of marking wood used in the Irkutsk region gives positive results. Nevertheless, the volume of illegal logging is still significant. Therefore, it is necessary to further develop measures to prevent this problem.

After the introduction of zero quotas in agriculture, the number of Chinese migrants has decreased, but sometimes there are still articles about their illegal activities in the newspapers.

New problems in the region appeared after the increase in the flow of tourists. Unlicensed guides, the emergence of Chinese hotels, etc. Migrants cooperate with corrupt officials and local companies, and find workarounds in Russian legislation. They have acquired a difficult system of relations with local officials.

Chinese business is very changeable. It adapts to changes in the economy and politics, so it is no longer possible to eliminate it. Together with it, the city and people are changing, as well as the language and culture of the local population.

As long as Russian legislation allows representatives of the Chinese diaspora to conduct a shadow business, this will continue.

Content analysis helped to show how the influence of Chinese migrants in the region has changed. Over time, fewer articles appear on Chinese migrants in the local newspapers. However, they are still more negative or neutral, than positive. This indicates the concern of the local population towards representatives of the Chinese diaspora. Which once again confirms our hypothesis.

As for investment projects, after the signing of agreements, many of them remain in their infancy. On the other hand, their implementation is delayed for many years.

It can be concluded that despite the external improvement of relations between countries, there are still many problems that need to be solved.

On the positive side, cooperation between the Irkutsk Region and the provinces of China in the fields of education, tourism and culture can be noted. Special attention is also paid to healthcare cooperation.

There is an exchange of students between universities in China and the Irkutsk region. There are cooperation agreements ...