“… and they have directed the activities of these secret organizations to espionage and sabotage”. Chinese sworn brotherhoods and secret societies during the period of The Great Terror
In the second half of the XIX century, by the terms of the Aigun and the Peking treaties the Russian Empire acquired new territories of Amur and Ussuri regions. Soon after the Russian administration faced the fact that the Chinese living in this region and migrant workers did not consider themselves to be dependent on the Russian government and were administered by their own organizations. The shadowy activities of Chinese societies and organizations, as well as sworn brotherhoods were a cause of concern for Russian administrators and explorers. After the October revolution the situation did not change. The Soviet administration regarded Chinese secret societies and brotherhoods as obstacles to the integration of the Chinese workers into Soviet society. By the time of the "Great Purge" these institutions had been considered as "reactionary". The NKVD used this image of Chinese societies and brotherhoods to justify the need for an operation against the Chinese diaspora.
十九世纪后半叶,根据瑷珲条约和北京条约,俄罗斯帝国获得了阿穆尔州和滨海边疆区的新领土。不久之后,俄罗斯政府就面临这样一个事实:活在这个地区的中国人和移民工人并不认为自己依赖俄罗斯政府,而是由他们自己的组织管理。中国社会和组织以及结拜兄弟会的暗中活动引起了俄罗斯一系列本地区研究者和官方人士的不安。十月革命后,情况没有改变。苏联政府把中国的秘密社团和兄弟会视为中国工人融入苏联社会的障碍。到 1937-1938“大清洗”时,这些机构已被认为是“反动的”。远东的内务人民委员部用中国社会和兄弟会的形象来证明有必需使华人遭受镇压手段。