The RFE as a Frontier Melting Pot 25trope of “yellow peril” often referred to Chinese and Korean workers in Rus sia
as a pos si ble vanguard or as a reverse piedmont for an expansionist Japan.PO LITI CAL IDENTITIES AND RUS SIA’S FIRST
WORLD WAR DEPORTATIONSIn 1904, the Russo- Japanese War began. The minister of the interior, Ple-
hve, had even pushed for the war because “We need a small victorious war
to stem the tide of revolution [1905s].” Plehve argued that it was nearly im-
possible to lose to Japan. Unfortunately, Rus sia was routed in nearly every
battle and surrendered after only eigh teen months. Astonishingly, Japa nese
intelligence prior to and during the war had developed networks with roots
throughout Eu rope among Georgians, Latvians, Poles, Finns, Rus sians,
and even po liti cal émigré populations in France. They had spent around 12
million rubles on intelligence, while the Rus sians invested only 100,000
(their bud get being 56,590 rubles per year).^78 During this brief conflict, the
Rus sians and Japa nese had attempted to recruit spies from among the Chi-
nese and Koreans. Both sides had numerous spies. The Japa nese were particu-
larly adept at recruiting spies by confiscating the properties and livestock of
Chinese peasants and then making them “an offer they couldn’t refuse.”^79
Koreans from Rus sia and Korea, along with agents and diplomats of all
nationalities, formed the elite Rus sian intelligence division, the Shanghai
Serv ice. These Koreans were typically Rus sian speakers who had attended
or graduated from Rus sian military academies.^80 Ji Fengtai, a tsarist subject
and Chinese merchant, or ga nized a Chinese partisan group (Bindui) of five
hundred soldiers for collecting intelligence and fighting against the Japa-
nese. Chinese and Koreans provided some of the best translation work for
the Rus sian Army during this conflict.^81 In 1904, five Russified Koreans
from the Kazan Seminary were sent to Manchuria to translate intelligence
documents along with gradu ates from Vladivostok’s Far Eastern Institute.
Of the five, only Andrei Abramovich Khan/Han (also known as Khan
Myon She) ended up serving during the war.^82
The Russo- Japanese War strengthened the feeling of Rus sian “encir-
clement by Asiatics” in the RFE. After the war (1905), the term “yellow
peril” began to refer much more to Japan than to China, at least geopo liti-
cally. “Yellow peril” began to be taken much more seriously as a geopo liti cal
term because it referred to Japa nese expansion into the RFE and Manchuria.^83
This significance, coupled with Rus sia’s military defeat, helped those offi-
cials, ethnographers, and experts on the “yellow peril” garner more atten-
tion, resources, and funding for their work and proj ects. The Northern