Chinese on Olkhon. Chinese tourists go wild on Olkhon
“The Chinese politician traveled to Siberia. They ask him about his impressions.
Irkutsk - beautiful city. Krasnoyarsk is a beautiful city. And we’ll leave Omsk to you.”
Once upon a time they laughed at this joke, but now they almost cry. Residents of the tourist village of Listvyanka on the shores of Lake Baikal wrote a petition to Vladimir Putin asking for protection from Chinese expansion. It’s as if businessmen from the Middle Kingdom have already bought a tenth of the local land and are building it up with hotels. The entire village is plastered with advertisements with hieroglyphs, and guides tell tourists that Baikal is the northern sea of the Chinese, where their tribes used to live, and simply temporarily belongs to Russia. KP correspondents understood the situation.
“Baikal belonged to the Celestial Empire 200 years ago”
“Two Chinese hang a banner on the fence without hesitation,” writes Evgeniy Kravkl, director of the art song theater on Baikal, on his social media page. - A year ago, this scene began the struggle of local residents against the future Chinese enclave on our land. The ad contains a so-called QUAR code. Chinese tourists point a smartphone at it and receive a complete database of plots that can be bought on Lake Baikal. We didn’t immediately realize what was happening...”
Listvyanka resident Evgeniy Kravkl: “Omul fishing has been banned and locals can only sell their lands”
And it's true. Already at the entrance to the tourist village next to the cemetery you can see the walls of what is probably a future Chinese hotel. A dozen foreign workers are trying to grow a reinforced concrete monster.
What will happen here? - we are trying to establish international friendship with one of the builders, but he is hiding in the corridors in English.
We drive further and after ten meters we see a huge banner in Russian and Chinese “For sale land plot" Immediately another sign invites you to a Chinese restaurant, from which a crowd of tourists emerges with ice cream in their hands - almost like native Siberians!
Isn't it too cold for you to eat ice cream? - we ask and hear a roaring laugh in response.
This is what I suggested to them,” admits the Chinese guide, who has been working in our area for three years now. - They came from the south of China - from Guangzhou. In winter, tourists are mainly from there, and in summer - from Hong Kong. My fellow countrymen miss the snow and ice. There is no ice in Listvyanka yet, so I thought that I could compensate for this with ice cream.
Do you like the living conditions?
You can live! Of course, it’s worse than what we have in China, but better than it was here before.
While we were talking, a tourist bus drove by. There was no doubt - it was carrying passengers from Asia. We say goodbye to some guests from the Middle Kingdom and set off in pursuit of others. Surprisingly, the bus parked next to... a Russian hotel. And who then stays in Chinese ones?
Where are the guests from? - we ask the guide.
From the province of Wenzhou,” he tries to explain himself in broken Russian. - Do you know? South of China.
Chinese man in Listvyanka: “All our people know their history... about Baikal”
Who came? Businessmen?
Yes, businessmen, pensioners, students. They will rest here for a week and look at the snow.
What do you tell them about Baikal?
That it belonged to China 200 years ago. But they already know our history.
They buy land for houses and build hotels
Both in Russian hotels and in Chinese - the living conditions and prices are the same. We were convinced of this when we crossed the threshold of the Asian hotel. Although how can you say Asian: the name is Russian, the building is built of wood in the best Russian traditions, and the cuisine is European. Only the interior gives away the Chinese owner: paintings with landscapes of the Middle Kingdom, hieroglyphs at the reception.
Doctor from Ust-Ilimsk Denis Matveev: “Let the Chinese build hotels, but ours will work in them”
I’m happy with my vacation, the conditions are comfortable, I’ve been coming here for several years now. Maybe the Chinese are an eyesore for the local population, but they don’t bother me,” Denis Matveev, a guest and general practitioner from Ust-Ilimsk, surprised us.
“Called” is not the right word. In Listvyanka there is only talk about the invasion of foreigners. We went to the local museum, and there three employees, like conspirators, were discussing an accident caused by a Chinese man.
Do you remember the accident on Ostrovskaya? He rushes along in a truck, sees no one. He crashed and said that it was not his fault. But the police arrived and decided that he was guilty.
Well, he didn’t deliberately crush people.
Still arrogant Chinese. Don’t you know how they block the street with their suitcases and don’t react when you honk at them...
Were there any clashes? - we intervene in the dispute and say that we are from the newspaper.
Mathematics teacher from Listvyanka Lidiya Korovyakova: “Every second resident has cancer”
“Not yet,” answered math teacher from the local school Lidia Korovyakova and explained the situation in the village. - The main problem is this: the Chinese are buying land for individual housing construction (individual development), and building hotels. At the same time, they dig up the entire earth and open up the mountains. But under no circumstances should you do this! Radon radiation comes from under the rock layers and that is why every second resident here suffers from cancer. I’ve lived here for 20 years and haven’t plucked a single twig from the forest. But for foreign businessmen, the main thing is money. And it doesn’t matter how they are earned. Again, there is no central sewerage system in the village, and the hotel is located 15 meters from the shore. And where will all the waste go? To Baikal!
The answer to how much land was purchased this year was given to us by the administration. It turned out that local authorities have nothing to do with the sale, since they have no free space in their property.
We have nothing to do with the sale of private lands and cannot influence the owners, assures the head of the Listvyanka administration, Alexander Shamsudinov. - I know that on paper these are residential buildings, but in fact they are commercial properties that are not officially registered anywhere. And all because in Russia citizens of other states have the legal right to buy land (except for farmland). During this year, Chinese citizens purchased 27 plots in Listvyanka. However, we do not intend to turn a blind eye to this, and have sent out an appeal to various structures. Our main goal is to bring Listvyanka's business into compliance with the law.
P. S. The day after our trip to Listvyanka, the director of the Art Song Theater on Lake Baikal, Evgeniy Kravklyu, published a new post about the fight against illegal construction by Chinese businessmen: “Two hours ago, a detachment in uniform and with machine guns arrived at the illegal construction site. Looks like riot police or FSB. The arrival was sudden. I am pleasantly surprised by the determination of the security forces. According to eyewitnesses, attempts to resist by Chinese workers were abruptly suppressed. After some time, a team of electricians arrived here. Obviously, to disconnect the construction site from the network.”
In the Olkhon district, local residents continue to discuss the emergency that happened in late July 2017. At the same time, regional authorities, through law enforcement agencies, are taking all measures to ensure that information does not spread.
Let us remind you that on July 29, the third ferry to Olkhon “Semyon Batagaev” was out of order. The breakdown occurred at the height of tourist season, as a result of which the queue to the island instantly grew to 700-800 cars.
Considering that the Dorozhnik ferry transports only local residents and regular buses, only the Olkhon Gate ferry remains for tourists. Tourists, stuck in line for several days, in the heat and without any service, naturally became nervous and tried by any means necessary to get on the ferry.
Antonina Sizikova, the daughter of the captain of the Olkhon Gate ferry, helped the sailors arrange their cars on the ferry. According to the rules of ferry transportation, cars are arranged first, and only then passengers on foot are allowed on board. These are obvious safety requirements.
However, the moment the cars began to load onto the ferry, a huge crowd of Chinese tourists, arriving on several buses, literally began to storm the ferry.
Let us remind you that Chinese hotels located on Olkhon, back in 2016, created a fairly convenient way to transport tourists from the Middle Kingdom. Large buses bring them to the mainland part of the crossing, tourists cross the strait on their own, and on Olkhon they are met by minibuses belonging to hotels. As a result, Chinese tourists practically do not linger at the crossing, since there are no restrictions on the number of foot passengers on the ferry.
The crowd of Chinese who poured onto the ferry actually blocked the passage of cars. Antonina Sizikova ordered not to let the Chinese in until all the cars were loaded. In response, one of the Chinese began to beat her with a stick, after which the rest of the Chinese began to beat her with their fists.
The ferry captain came down to help the girl Sergey Sizikov. However, the Chinese beat him too.
The beating of the girl took place in front of a police patrol ensuring security on ferry crossing. Subsequently, when asked why they did not intervene in the fight, the police calmly replied that their task was to ensure order on the shore, and not on the ferry.
Immediately after the incident, Sergei Sizikov was fired without explanation. He worked on the ferry for 38 years, from the very first ferry designed for two cars, and is considered one of the most experienced captains on Lake Baikal.
All attempts by the Sizikov family to file a complaint with the police are blocked by the authorities. The family is also being intimidated by Chinese hotel owners who do not want publicity. The situation is completely incomprehensible, as are the actions of Chinese tourists on Lake Baikal in general.
The fact is that the Irkutsk region does not receive a penny from the influx of tourists to Olkhon. The hotels are owned by Chinese citizens and are designed like garden houses. Tourists pay for transportation, service and accommodation directly to the card of the hotel owner, thus the entire flow of money bypasses the Russian budget. Meanwhile, Chinese tourists feel like masters on Olkhon and regularly get into fights with local residents. By the way, the hotel charges about five million rubles from one group of Chinese. Not a penny is paid in taxes.
The situation is aggravated many times over by the fact that there is only one (!) local police officer on Olkhon. The island has an area of 730 square kilometers, a population of about two thousand people and hundreds of thousands of tourists a year.
Subjective observations of a Baikal guide-photographer.
Although now I don’t live on Baikal itself, I am there 6-7 months a year. Working as a guide, on my own photo expeditions, just visiting, on tours with my guest photographers. So, I'm stewing in this soup.
The situation with the tourism business on Lake Baikal is very strange.
Several problems converged into one point. Chinese tourism expansion, an attempt by law to reduce the water protection zone of Lake Baikal, the explosive growth of anthropogenic pressure on small areas, problems with toilets in winter on the ice and throughout the year on the shore, when the most beautiful grottoes of Olkhon are littered to the extreme, traditional garbage, inspections tourist centers with their subsequent closure, incomprehensible “attacks” on Russian guides by law enforcement officers.
Petitions are signed and sent to various government agencies. structure of the letter, complaints are written to the prosecutor's office. But the chaos is only gaining momentum.
According to the Chinese.
Just three years ago, the number of Chinese tourists was small. Of course, due to their national characteristics, groups of Chinese stood out because of the noise, commotion and dust they made. In 2015-16 Chinese tour operators began to actively enter the tourism industry of Lake Baikal. They turned to Irkutsk and other Russian tour operators with tour orders. Many began to rub their hands, saying, this is happiness. Now there will be a flow of money, we will live gloriously and richly. But you need to know the psychology of the Chinese. They are strictly focused on obtaining maximum benefit for themselves. They will be friends with you if you are irreplaceable at some stage of the business process. Indispensable for now. Due to your hellish efficiency and ability to learn, over time your Chinese partner will exchange you for one of his own, whom he will train and teach everything that you know. They watch, observe, assign their people who learn from you, making your participation in the business process no longer necessary. And at one fine moment you are in flight. That's it, you are nothing to your Chinese partner-brother, with whom you were almost already bosom friends, making plans and enjoying the prospects. Now your place is taken by a Chinese.
That's what happened with Russian tour operators. At one point they found themselves overboard. Having quickly gotten used to it, the Chinese created their own travel agencies (through dummies and executive chairmen). These companies have their own Chinese personnel, often working illegally in Russia, their own buses, their own guides, their own hotels and tourist centers, their own ships, their own shops for tourists. Our southern neighbors have a lot of money. And they are ready to invest it in what is profitable now. And in Siberia, the tourism business on Lake Baikal is profitable. By the way, it is worth noting that this situation also exists in other tourist-attractive places. Now the Chinese are sending their Cossacks to the Kola Peninsula. There is already a stream of groups. For now through Russian tour operators. But this is for now...
And naturally, almost all the money remains in China. The Chinese travel in groups. The percentage of individual tourists from China is extremely small. They buy tours in China. The money that tourists spend in stores (furs, cosmetics, jewelry, honey and its components, souvenirs) also goes to China. Believe me, a Chinese businessman knows how to minimize costs on foreign territory and direct cash flow home.
An example from my practice. In the fall of 2016, Irkutsk tour operators received a flood of calls from the Chinese. We urgently want to order photo tours for Chinese groups of photographers! Tour operators began to pester photographers working in similar programs around Lake Baikal. They called me too. And I admit, I fell for the bait. I made programs, sent them and waited for calls that it was time to pack my things and go as a photo guide with Chinese groups. But everyone was lost. The Chinese put together high-quality and detailed programs and brought their own groups with Chinese “photo guides”. What a Chinese photo tour looks like is a separate story. Thank God that the Chinese still do not have enough capacity to properly implement the burnt programs. Well, to hell with them. All the same, making a high-quality and effective photo tour on Lake Baikal is not an easy task. For those who are not in the know, this is unrealistic. But the Chinese already know how to drag groups of 12 people led by the “chief photographer” in formation, lining them up on a spot in the direction of who knows where.
At the same time, neither tour operators nor tourists themselves are concerned about the state of the environment, garbage and other “nonsense”. Also, Chinese tourists are not interested in the history or culture and traditions of the place they visit (well, not only the Chinese are guilty of this). “Must have” photos, contemplation of landscapes, screaming a song at dawn on a shaman, getting drunk in the evening at a hotel or camp site. Although, in principle, they are ordinary tourists. Only very noisy and waste-generating.
By the way, about the flexibility of Chinese business. Due to the huge flow of Chinese during the Baikal ice season, they have a lot of bells and whistles for such trips. Very high-quality “ice melts” for shoes, chemical warmers for smartphones and cameras, and a lot of other little things. They are great at this! Although every time I came to Shamanka and other places this year, I took with me in a garbage bag a dozen or two used heating pads, which after use are simply thrown onto the ground or ice.
Why is there such demand for the Baikal destination in China? Why is the Chinese tourist flow turning into a very aggressive expansion?
There are several reasons. The main one is ideological. The Chinese, for the most part, consider Baikal to be their northern sacred sea. And that's it. In the fall, I did a tour for a photographer from Israel, and our program included a trip on a steam locomotive along the Circum-Baikal Railway. There were three of us. Opposite us, in fourth place, was a young Chinese boy. He sat and read some book almost the entire way (and the trip along the Circum-Baikal Railway lasts more than 10 hours). Well, I went to the toilet, got something to eat, and went out in the parking lot to look down at the carriage. That's all. Already in front of the port of Baikal we asked him. Isn’t he really interested in nature (the golden Baikal autumn floated past the windows of the carriage), beautiful views? He replied no. His parents bought him a tour to Lake Baikal. Because he, like any normal Chinese, must visit Great Wall and on Baikal. "Must have" and nothing personal.
Transport accessibility and low cost (by Chinese standards) of tours to Lake Baikal. There are flights to Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude from China and Mongolia (many groups come from Mongolia), there is a railway connection. Chinese expansion takes place in those places where roads lead. I won’t say anything for Buryatia, but in the Irkutsk region these are Listvyanka, Circum-Baikal Railway, Olkhon. For some reason, there are almost no Chinese tourists on the mainland of the Small Sea, except perhaps “vagrants” who came from the Island as part of an excursion. The construction of a normal road to Bolshaya Goloustnoye also opened this place to the Chinese. Those. where there is a road to Baikal - expect Chinese tourists, Chinese hotels and camp sites.
Lack of legislative regulation of the tourist flow to Lake Baikal. Yes, specially protected natural areas strictly limit the possibility of visiting them. Especially in large groups of tourists. And the whole flow flows into those places where there are no such restrictions. I am not calling for the opening of protected areas. It is necessary to regulate the flow of tourists to other territories of Lake Baikal. The state must decide. Baikal is unique natural object, requiring security or a tourist site for scooping up money.
In places with huge tourist flows (in the small tract of Uzury on Olkhon, on one day almost 100 UAZ loaves of bread were counted at the same time. That’s at least 700 people at the same time in Uzury, in the Haga-Yaman Bay and the surrounding grottoes!) there are no toilets. All the shit ends up in the grottoes (for which they go). Yellow spots on the snow, used heating pads, and other garbage do not add beauty and do not bring any benefit to Lake Baikal.
Early morning at the office of the national park on Olkhon. The first UAZ cars arrive for permission to visit Khoboy. 
Yes, organizing toilets and garbage collection and removal will solve the problem a little.
The main thing, without which toilets and waste collection areas are ineffective, is a special service that monitors the order and frequency of tourist routes. For example, as in US national parks, there are Visitor Use Assistants, guides, rangers, and support workers. We have wonderful guides on Lake Baikal, but they work with isolated groups, independently or from tour operators. And with protected areas there is often not just interaction, but also mutual understanding. Our guides are more interested in preserving Lake Baikal than anyone else.
What else is going on lately? In the fall, a large-scale audit of tourist centers and hotels was carried out by various supervisory authorities. Various orders were issued, some of the bases were closed or promised to be closed in the near future. Lawsuits were filed.
The most interesting thing is that this movement did not affect large hotels and tourist centers, incl. and Chinese. Strange?
At the height of the winter season, law enforcement suddenly showed a passionate interest in Russian guides. They stopped buses and checked the docks for groups. Moreover. Often this was done by traffic police officers. IN international airport Irkutsk, guides meeting their groups with signs, the airport security service took them to a separate room, where they held “conversations”, more like an interrogation. But the Chinese guides (almost all of whom were illegal immigrants) were not touched. Why?
The fuss about changing the water protection zone of Lake Baikal? For what? Legalize tourist centers and private buildings and plots that have already been built illegally and illegally? For whom?
In the fall, with the proposal of the GDP, the movement to build a road on Olkhon began. It is clear that this is a lot of money that needs and can be cut. I won’t say anything about the expected quality of the road. But is an asphalt road from the crossing to Khuzhir really necessary? What will be more beneficial or harmful? What damage will the construction itself cause to the nature of Olkhon? Now there is a road, a terrible stone ridge. It at least somehow deters motorist tourists. Will asphalt add hundreds, if not thousands of cars to the tourist flow on Olkhon?
For the current gravel road to be in good condition, it is enough to simply maintain it. Sprinkle and grade regularly. And without huge financial costs, which could be reasonably spent on creating a normally functioning general tourist infrastructure on Olkhon. For the organization of trails and routes, for the creation of appropriate guide and ranger services, for the organization of toilets and the removal of waste to the mainland. In fact, this travel money can be spent with great benefit. But something is wrong again in the Danish kingdom.
In fact, it seems (not only to me, but also to many of my fellow guides) that someone is coming to Lake Baikal, and primarily to Olkhon, with a lot of money in order to take over the tourist industry. Displace small tourism businesses, private carriers, and guides from the market. Taking into account the peculiarities of national business and the availability in Baikal tourist market Chinese players, the most interesting things are yet to come!
People coming to Irkutsk in the last few years have noted an influx of Chinese tourists. Abundance of signs on Chinese, many sellers of jade and amber souvenirs and all that stuff. And guests of the Angara region, including media persons, having wandered around the center of Irkutsk, having seen enough of the Chinese in Listvyanka and Olkhon, continue to carry the “good news” that Irkutsk has almost been captured by the Chinese.
At the same time, we ourselves understand that no one has captured us, that the signs in Chinese are nothing more than a marketing ploy, we see the Chinese mainly at construction sites and in the historical part of the city, and in general we try to treat this philosophically.
But for the reputation of Irkutsk and Baikal, stories from travelers, coupled with traditional fears, are, of course, more important.
However, a serious information wave today cannot be fueled by stories alone.
About deputies, media and real statistics
We are all accustomed to the fact that statistics are a crafty thing. We are also accustomed to the fact that politicians often lie. But when politicians begin to operate with statistical data, the degree of deceit begins to go off scale, so it is almost impossible to digest it without serious consequences for the psyche. Or is this no longer deceit?
At the beginning of 2018, former State Duma deputy, and now deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk Region, Anton Romanov, tells the online newspaper “Vzglyad” about the Chinese invasion of Olkhon:
“Last year we had 800 thousand tourists in the Olkhon region, the majority were Chinese. For comparison: the population of Irkutsk is 640 thousand. The budget of the Olkhonsky district is somewhere around 150 million rubles a year. That is, if the Chinese left at least 1 thousand rubles there, then in total there would be 800 million a year.”
We subtract from 800 million 150 million already available in the budget of the Olkhon region, convert to Chinese - and we get approximately 650,000 Chinese tourists who, according to Anton Vasilyevich, visited Olkhon in 2017. Where they came from, where such a crowd could physically fit on the island is completely unclear. But this does not stop Romanov from escalating.
His colleague, State Duma deputy Sergei Ten, in the “Reflection” program dedicated to the Chinese on the Public Television of Russia, as if by chance, casually adds fuel to the fire:
“The Chinese, by the way, predict that the number of tourists will increase annually to almost a million people. And this needs to be taken under very strict control.”
And it is precisely this statement of his that the Internet resource puts in the headline in the Internet version of the conversation. Sergei Yuryevich did not specify where he got such information from.
What do the popular media, for example, say about this?
The portal irk.ru in an article dated June 22, 2017 (random magic of numbers or a well-thought-out media plan?) entitled “China is advancing on Baikal” writes:
“The Chinese began actively buying land and opening businesses in Listvyanka and the Olkhon region when, due to the favorable dollar exchange rate, there was a large flow of tourists from the PRC to Lake Baikal. Last year, 150 thousand visited the Irkutsk region - almost 60% more than in 2015. This season, Irkutsk airport is expected to increase by another 40–50%.”
The inexperienced reader will, of course, swallow the figure of 150,000 Chinese, although there is no reference in the text to the source of this information. Maybe it's an airport, maybe it's not. And, strictly speaking, there is no direct indication that all 150,000 are Chinese. Just read it! And what is very convenient: you can always say that some word just fell out or the employee was illiterate and did not know how to write.
The portal “Baikal-Info” in the article “The Chinese are buying up Irkutsk” decided not to bother searching for information at all, but to refer to abstract guides and give free rein to your imagination:
“According to Irkutsk guides, during the peak season the number of charter flights from China to Irkutsk reaches eighteen per week. Imagine: 18 flights, 160 people on each plane. Relatively speaking, about three thousand Chinese tourists arrive in Irkutsk every week. Plus, many transit groups stop in Irkutsk on their way to Moscow. It turns out that flying from Shanghai to Moscow with a stop in Irkutsk is much cheaper than flying directly. Why not take advantage?
But the funny thing is that it was Baikal-Info that turned out to be closest to a quantitative understanding of the tourist flow from China.
The Teleinform news agency helps to understand the real picture.
According to the deputy head of the department of permitting and visa work of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Irkutsk Region, Ekaterina Lazarchuk, in 2015 the number foreign tourists in the region was about 20.5 thousand, in 2016 - more than 39.5 thousand. And this is the total number, where everyone is taken into account: Koreans, Germans, Japanese, Americans, and God knows who else. How many Chinese are there? And in 2016 there were only 26 thousand Chinese, or 66% of the total number of foreign tourists who visited the Angara region.
As they say, feel the difference: 1 million, 800 thousand, 150 thousand and 26 thousand.
To be fair, it must be said that the flow of Chinese is growing very quickly. According to data announced at a meeting of the tourism committee of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Irkutsk Region by the head of the visa processing department of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Elena Dynkina, in the first eight months of 2018, 132 thousand Chinese visited the Irkutsk region, which is 40% more than in 2017. m. But this figure is far from the million that Sergei Ten frightened. But can it really turn into a million?
Growth limits and risks for tourist flows from China
Despite the phenomenal growth rate of tourist flow from the Middle Kingdom, it obviously cannot grow indefinitely. This was discussed back in 2015, when the flow of tourists from China increased significantly for the first time - by as much as 30% compared to 2014. Then the CEO travel company“Baikal-Complex” Yuri Nemirovsky expressed the opinion that “the Chinese direction has almost reached the ceiling of possible growth and is now limited not by demand, but by the shortage of inexpensive accommodation facilities and places on charters.”
This is why the Chinese are trying to build in Listvyanka, this is why projects such as a large international resort in Baikalsk are appearing, and so on. And if we ourselves do not make very serious efforts to attract the Chinese to Baikal, they simply CANNOT COME TO US.
How seriously the tourism sector of the Irkutsk region is preparing to receive Chinese guests can be judged by the remark of Alexey Kalachev, an expert analyst at the Finam holding: “Negative changes are occurring in the business structure, says Alexey. - This trend also applies to tourism-related enterprises. As of January 1, 2017, there were 759 legal entities operating in the tourism sector in the region. At the same time, 73 new legal entities were registered and 75 were liquidated during the year. Dynamics - minus 0.26%. Hotels and restaurants: 1433 legal entities, 123 registered, 188 liquidated, dynamics - minus 4.75%.”
However, the tourist flow from China may dry up and not reach the maximum indicators if the ruble exchange rate against the yuan suddenly changes - and it will simply become unprofitable for the Chinese to vacation in Russia.
“I believe that there is no strategic process that can be formulated that we are being occupied by the Chinese,” says State Duma deputy Mikhail Shchapov. – There is economic feasibility, and at the moment Chinese tourism on Lake Baikal became profitable. The exchange rate difference, the enrichment of China, their standard of living there has increased greatly - and they have become interested in traveling around the world. Baikal is an interesting and accessible point for them.”
It turns out that the “arrogant Chinese” are simply trying to create the necessary infrastructure for a vacation on Lake Baikal for us, actually risking their money. Here are the occupiers!
“Doshirak”: just add Baikal
So who, and most importantly - why, is hanging “Doshirak” on our ears that the Chinese are about to drink up Baikal, trample down the entire forest and will not give us any life near the “North Sea” at all?
The peak of materials about the dominance of the Chinese on Lake Baikal occurred in 2017. At the same time, the famous petition appeared on the Internet to protect Baikal from the Chinese, which was signed by more than 100,000 people. And it was then that the Baikal Environmental Prosecutor’s Office was created. Which, in general, can be considered an ordinary coincidence, or it can not be considered. Sergei Ten on OTR, before revealing secret plans for Chinese expansion, spoke very flatteringly about this decision:
“The specifics are so complex, and so is environmental legislation, that we need to deal with this more professionally than law enforcement agencies are doing now. Therefore, I think that, firstly, this needs to be done so that the prosecutor’s office works more actively, more efficiently, namely the Baikal Environmental Prosecutor’s Office. I think this is absolutely the right decision."
Already in 2018, an active process of land acquisition began within the boundaries of the central ecological zone of the Baikal natural territory and the Pribaikalsky National Park. By April, 46 cases were being heard in the courts. Most of the law-abiding people came under attack from the law enforcement system. Russian citizens– owners of popular hotels on the coast of Lake Baikal.
However, the Chinese also got it, but in the second place. In April 2018, a criminal case was opened against the head of Listvyanka, Alexander Shamsudinov, on suspicion of exceeding his authority when issuing construction permits. And in August, there were demonstrative raids by bailiffs on Chinese hotel construction sites in the village, although someone managed to warn the Chinese. Therefore, it is not entirely clear how this story will end and whether the Chinese will be expelled from Listvyanka.
Afterword
Now, in my opinion, it is becoming obvious that all the hysteria about the Chinese invasion was a carefully planned action and media support for certain management decisions.
It is clear that if we take the development of tourism on Lake Baikal seriously, a million tourists a year is a small, but still a good figure, which we should strive for provided that potential tourist destinations are increased, roads are built, sewage treatment plants are launched, and so on. But for this we need to work very seriously and invest in Baikal, including at the state level. A corresponding attempt was made when a special economic zone of the tourist and recreational type “Gates of Baikal” was created. But this project stalled. In 2016, the government threatened to close down ineffective SEZs, but then simply transferred them to the regional level, where they apparently should have quietly died. This happened in the Irkutsk region. At the same time, the Federation seemed to have lost interest in the development of tourism on Lake Baikal.
It turned out not really. The state has taken the path of tightening regulation, effectively beginning the redistribution of property on Lake Baikal. And all the anti-Chinese hysteria, which began to gain momentum after 2016, is more like a cover operation.
If only because, despite all the hype around the “Chinese invasion,” any attempts to actually support at the legislative level the interests of Russia and the Russians in the dispute with the Chinese have so far ended in nothing. Which puzzled the same Mikhail Shchapov, who was working in the State Duma for the first time:
“We have all the competitive advantages in our territory to seize the initiative,– Mikhail Viktorovich shares his pain. – Here we just need to take a systematic approach, from the point of view of legislation, perhaps get ahead of ourselves a little, for example, limit the activities of foreign uncertified guides and interpreters. This issue was raised at the Federation level, but apparently there is some kind of lobby there, because such an obvious thing did not pass. Or here's a very simple way. I personally made the following amendment regarding Crimea: let’s also take money from foreign tourists on Lake Baikal. This, I was told, is contrary to the Constitution, and it is impossible to distinguish between the rights of our citizen and a foreign citizen.”
Of course, such an approach, in which the state, while protecting its citizens in words, actually cuts the ground from under their feet, can hardly be called completely state-based. We will soon see how well it will justify itself. Well, those who fell under the wheel of bureaucratic fortune can only sympathize.
What about the Chinese? The situation with the nightmare of Chinese business, even through the media, and even more so through the courts in the absence of clear laws, does not add respect to the Russians in the eyes of the Chinese. And it definitely works against friendship and any alliance with the PRC. And this seems to hint at the political orientation of those who are launching this wave on Lake Baikal today.
In fact, we have no chance of taming the Chinese dragon unless we learn to deal with the dragon within ourselves and within our country.
Artyom SvetovostokovIrkutsk couloirs
