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This study is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of Russian-Chinese trade in the 18th–19th centuries as a key element of Eurasian integration in the pre-modern period. The relevance of the topic is due not only to the importance of the Kyakhta Trade Canal for Russian-Chinese relations, but also to its multifaceted influence on the economy, politics, and social structure of Eastern Siberia. The paper examines the evolution of the contractual and legal framework, the transformation of the commodity exchange structure, the development of trade infrastructure, and institutional mechanisms for cross-border interaction. Based on archival sources and statistical data, the main trends have been identified: the transition from the dominance of furs to the prevalence of tea, the growing role of textiles and metals, and the deepening of industrial cooperation. Particular attention is paid to regional consequences: the formation of a road network, the growth of fair trade, the involvement of the Buryat population in monetary circulation, the development of the financial system of Irkutsk and the institutionalization of the border space. It is concluded that Russian-Chinese trade acted not only as an economic instrument, but also as a factor in foreign policy stabilization, regional development and spatial colonization of Siberia. It anticipated the modern principles of Eurasian cooperation and soft power.
Russian-Chinese trade; Kyakhta; furs; tea; cross-border cooperation; economic history; Siberia; border regions; geoeconomics; infrastructure.
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