Nikolay Przhevalsky - Przhevalsky's Imperialism and Racism

Przhevalsky's Imperialism and Racism

According to David Schimmelpenninck Van Der Oye's assessment, Przhevalsky's books on Central Asia feature his disdain for the Oriental— particularly Chinese civilization. Przhevalsky explicitly portrayed Chinese people as cowardly, dirty and lazy in his metaphor, "the blend of a mean Moscow pilferer and a kike"...in all respects inferior to..."European civilization". He purportedly argued that Imperial China's hold on its northern territories, in particular Xinjiang and Mongolia, was tenuous and uncertain, and Przhevalsky openly called for Russia's annexation of bits and pieces of China's territory. Przhevalsky said one should explore Asia "with a carbine in one hand, a whip in the other."

Przhevalsky, as well as other contemporary explorers including Sven Hedin, Sir Francis Younghusband, and Sir Aurel Stein, were active players in the British-Russian struggle for influence in Central Asia, the so-called Great Game.