International Events: "Russia and China: friendship of nations through ages" exhibition to open at the National Library of Russia

February 17, 2020, "Russia and China: friendship of nations through ages" exhibition was opened in the New Building of the National Library of Russia (Saint-Petersburg).

The exhibition presents documents from the Department of Literature of Asian and African countries of the National Library of Russia, featuring the history of the Russian-Chinese relationships from the beginning to the present. Among the exhibits is a unique edition of “Eastern journey of His Imperial Majesty Tsarevich in 1890-1891” in Chinese by the orientalist and ethnographer Esper Ukhtomsky about the journey of the future Emperor Nicholas II.

The Chinese Collection is one of the most significant collections in the Department of Literature of Asian and African countries. The collection contains 74 Chinese woodcuts, the first editions of the classics of contemporary Chinese literature, the complete encyclopedia of Chinese culture (XVIII century) in 1360 volumes, the famous history of the Qin Dynasty (about 900 volumes) and other rarities.

Besides, the Department of Literature of Asian and African countries has a unique collection of Russian newspapers in Chinese, published at the beginning of the XX century in the Far East. Many of these periodicals are presented only in the National Library of Russia.