The Chinese Russians

With a population of 8,500, the Chinese Russians in Xinjiang live in the cities of Ili, Tacheng, Altay and Urumqi. They began to move to China from Tsarist Russia after the 18th century. More entered various parts of Xinjiang after the 19th century, and even after the October Russian Revolution in 1917.

The language of Russians belongs to Slavonic of Indo - European Language Family and most of them believe in the Orthodox Eastern Church. Under the leadership of Sheng Shicai, they are termed “assimilated nationality”. Because of intermarriage with other ethnic groups in recent 100 years, some of the second and third generations take the names of Han people as the first names or their names.

The Chinese Russians are famous for their songs and dances. Men and women, the old and the young, are singing and dancing in their traditional festivals - Easter and Christmas, especially Easter. Before the festival, it is a taboo to eat meat. On the every of the festivals, except the colorful “Biqieni”(a kind of cake), boiled color eggs must be presented - eggs are coated with red, yellow, blue, brown, green, and purple. Tap dace is one of their unique dances and their favorite instruments are three-string and accordion.