Counselor Undrits and Chinese Merchants
The article deals with the life of Gustav von Undrits, a graduate of the Oriental Institute (1909), a Russian officer who participated in three wars including the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion (1900), Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), and World War I. On the eve of World War I the protagonist served as the Head of the 4th Department of the Primorsky regional government (1911-1914) and enjoyed the patronage of the Governor. According to the unpublished documents held by the Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East, he took advantage of his official position and organized a system of unlawful tribute collection from the Chinese and Jewish communities of Vladivostok. Together with his friends, including the vice-governor Lodyzhenskiy, he visited the restaurants and cafe-shantants intimidating the owners not to pay for their services. The article shows the conflict between Undrits and the prominent representatives of the Chinese diaspora including the criminal part of them, which ended up with the dismissal of the official suspected of corruption and abuse of office. For the first time the article provides information about his further service during World War I.