Russian Kerosene on the Chinese Market in the late 19th – early 20th centuries

Abstract

The article raises the problem of Russian kerosene trade on the market of the Qing Empire in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. During the second half of the 19th century, the oil industry of the Russian Empire began to actively explore foreign markets in Europe and Asia, including the Chinese market. At the same time, other major world exporters of petroleum products – the American company Standard Oil, the Dutch company Royal Dutch and the English Shell were also interested in developing the Chinese market. As a result, at the beginning of the 20th century, Russian kerosene was practically ousted from the Chinese market. The article examines the general situation of foreign kerosene trade in China; the activities of the main companies selling kerosene; the reconstruction of the process of kerosene delivery to China; the organization of trade in goods on the Chinese market. The materials of the central archives of Russia (Archive of the foreign policy of the Russian Empire, Russian state historical archive) also helped to reconstruct the process of trading Russian kerosene in certain "open" ports of the Qing Empire – Tianjin, Fuzhou, etc. The main difficulties associated with the Russian kerosene trade in China are shown, the main reasons for the decline of this trade direction are identified. Copyright © 2022 by Cherkas Global University.