Russian-Chinese school of commercial knowledge in Hankou (1907-1911)
At the beginning of the twentieth century the Russian authorities intensified the propaganda of the Russian language teaching in the Qing Empire to form the stratum of people loyal to Russia. During the inspection of the Chinese Russian language Schools which was organized in 1907-1908 by the Russian minister Dmitry D. Pokotilov to Peking, the sides reached an agreement to establish the Russian-Chinese School of Commercial knowledge in the most economically favourable region of Central China, Hankou. In this school, Chinese students studied Russian and trade and economics disciplines. It was a completely Russian school managed and financed exclusively by the Russian government. Locals showed an interest in studying at this school as it guarantied quite good perspectives to get a job in the commercial field, especially in the Russian-Chinese tea trade which was booming in that time. However, the fate of the school turned tragic. As a result of the revolutionary processes in the Qing Empire in 1911-1912, the school was closed without leaving its first students a chance to graduate. This minimized the school’s contribution into developing of Russian language study in China.