GUEST LECTURE: Role of the Chinese-Eastern Railway and the City of Harbin in forming the Image of Russia in Northeast China Venue: Unioninkatu 35, SH114 Time: March 27, 2018, 10:15 -11:15 Speaker: Prof. Nikolay Samoylov (St. Petersburg State University) The Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) and the city of Harbin historically played an important role in Sino- Russian relations. They not only influenced economic and political development of Northeast China, but also played sociocultural role in interaction between the two countries. The Chinese Eastern Railway (CER) and the city of Harbin actively made influenced on the formation of the image of Russia and Russians in China. Formation and development of the image depend on numerous factors including visual objects. In this context architectural monuments and engineering structures, especially if they are carefully preserved, occupy an important place in the historical memory discourse. Nowadays, the attitude to the foreign heritage has generally changed in China. In particular, this refers to the evaluation of the achievements brought to China by foreigners and their significance for the country. This also applies to what has been preserved from the Russian buildings in Harbin and along the line of the CER. The architectural and construction heritage of the CER becomes an object of studies. In his lecture Prof. Samoylov will present a consistent outline of the history of Sino-Russian sociocultural interaction in Northeast China and analyze various stages of formation of the image of Russia and Russians in that region. Sino-Russian mutual images formed in previous times have an influence on contemporary Sino-Russian relations. Their role is also important within the process of political and sociocultural interaction. Prof. Samoylov is the head of Department of Theory of Asian and African Social Development as well as the director of the Center for Chinese Studies at St. Petersburg State University. This event is organized by Confucius Institute at the University of Helsinki..