Word has been received from the three actresses—Mrrs. V. V. Panova, Mme M. I. Kokoreva and Mme L. Kniajevitch—who left Shanghai some time ago to join a troupe in Harbin. Mme Kniajevitch, who has not been in Harbin for 15 years, finds the city quite different to what it was when Mr. B. V. Ostroumoff headed the Chinese Eastern Railway. What especially took the travellers unaware was the bitter cold they were plunge ed into after Shanghai's comparative warmth. However, the situation has its recompense in the skating and to-boganning they are enjoying in the northern city. Across the Sungari river there are artificial hills with excellent toboganning facilities and a restaurant famed for its pelmeni nestled near by. New-comers to Harbin in the winter months are taken there as soon as they arrive, this being a feature of the city's life vieing in popularity with the Sungari river in summer.
Local Russian newspapers carry a large advertisement from a young Russian residing in America—single and of the Orthodox religion and American citizenship—who wishes to marry a young Russian Orthodox girl of typically Russian upbringing and coming from a Russian family of the old school. The young man is willing to come all the way to the Far Bast to fetch the girl who will strike his fancy most after some correspondence. This is not the first time that Russians living in America write to Harbin or Shanghai in an effort to find themselves life-partners, as the Americanized Russian girls of the United States seem to them less appealing.
Well-known in local philatelic circles, Mr. A. N. Vansoviteh, editor of the "Philatelists' Page" in "The Shanghai Zaria," has received a diploma of thanks from the international philatelic exhibition held in Prague in 1938 for his work as general representative of this exhibition in the Far East.
On Friday, February 17, a dinner organized by the Society of Russian Chartered Accountants and Bookkeepers was held in the Russian Club. The Society was founded exactly a year ago, and has had very successful beginnings, working in close contact with the Russian Business College. A number of speeches were given at the dinner at the Russian Club.
Fur Market Good That the European fur market is not suffering from the current political crises and that currency fluctuation only increases the demand for goods of permanent value—fur goods included—is the opinion of Mr. F. Shikhman, Director of the Eastern Fur Trading Company, who recently arrived here from Paris. Mr. Shikhman, who has for many years been employed in the fur business in Harbın and Tientsin, notes that the silver fox, bred in Canada, Scandinavia and the USSR, is at present in great vogue. He explains the falling demand for fur for male attire by the victory of the sports styles and the resulting popularity of pullovers, are at present held in London and Leningrad. An interesting angle on the auctions in the Soviet metropolis is the fact that among the fur experts attending them there are often Russian emigres who travel to Russia with the Nansen passport of the League of Nations and special Soviet guarantees of their safety. As a fur-centre, Leipzig has lost its place to London and Paris. Among Russians in the latter city there are many former Harbin residents and Old China Hands in general. The Russian Theatre is having a highly successful season. The interest towards its Productions is so great that Ostrovsky's classic "Ihe Forest" has seen fifteen performances with a full house each time.
As from February 15, instruction in the radio courses conducted by a group of young Russian electrical engineers headed by Mr. A. E Shimanovsky will be given both in the English and Russian languages. theoretical instruction embraces everything from the first principles of electricity to the talking cinematograph. The radio-telegraph department gives courses in international codes and the composing of wireless messages. The school's laboratory has been enlarged and augmented with new apparatus.
Tribute to Former Envoy In connection with the death in Altadena of the former American Ambassador to China, Mr. Charles Crane, it would be interesting to note that the deceased was a great Rus-sophie. He resided in Russia before the first Revolution of 1905 and was on friendly terms with many members of the intelligentsia and scientific circles of St. Petersburg. He was especially friendly with Prof. P. N. Miliukoff, leader of the opposition in the Parliament and later Minister for Foreign Affairs. In his recently published memoirs Prof. Miliukoff tells of the time and money spent by Charles Crane to help Russian youth. It is also interesting to note that the deceased was a lover of Russian choir singing and one time subsidized a church choir. He was also a keen ikonographer and had a large collection of ikons. In the old days in Peking he was friendly with General D. L. Horvath and other members of Russian diplomatic and scientific circles.
Local Russian teachers have long cherished the hope that the Russian language will one day be officially included in the curriculum of Municipal schools. Their basis for this hope is the fact that if pupils of British citizenship constitute 47 per cent. of the students, Russians constitute 19 per cent. or even more if the nationalities that went into the Russian Empire be included. Altogether 38 nationalities are represented in local schools. Americans compose 7 per cent, Portugese 4 per cent, and the 34 other nationalities a total of 23 per cent. In scholastic successes Russians are among the first, very often taking first place in the English language. If the Educational Department instituted Russian lessons the colony would welcome this new step with great enthusiasm. It would be of incalculable benefit to Russian pupils and would only take a few hours a week. The fact is, Russians point out, that Shanghai gives its citizens no separate citizenship; each nationality lives in a sort of separate colony and the complete denationaliza~ tion of Russians would be most unwelcome. Inasmuch as the SMC. finds itself in a position to subsidize different national schools, it should not, after all, find it so hard to organize classes in the Russian language.
Russians are truly exerting themselves in trying to ind all possible channels of use for their talents. The "Kai Tak Beehive," a Hongkong magazine devoted to the promotion of aviation, has just been received here. The journal's patron is Sir Robert H. Kotewall, while the editor is a young Russian journalist, Mr. Basil E. de Kanel. Photographs in the magazine include several of Russian pupils entering the Hongkong Aviation school, among them one of Mr. V. Ossorgin who has just arrived there from Shanghai and who has without any waste of time commenced his flying training. Mr. Ossorgin is well-known in the local Russian community.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.