Russian Press in China: 1898-1956 provides good reference for scholars. Provided to China Daily

A Russian-language academic monograph on Russian newspapers' expansion in China in the 20th century's first half was published in Moscow in late April.

Russian Press in China: 1898-1956, written by Renmin University of China journalism professor Zhao Yonghua, is the first such study for Russian readers.

"Studies on Russian newspapers in China are rare," she said at the book launch.

Zhao earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in Russian language and literature in the 1990s. She studied journalism history for her doctoral degree.

This gave her an advantage in undertaking the research.

"And it helped me forge a special bond with the Russian people and culture," she says.

The book examines newspapers published by Russian imperial officials, Russians who fled to China after the October Revolution and Soviet journalists.

Zhao put a special focus on prominent Russian emigrant M.S. Lembich.

Lembich worked as a correspondent for imperial Russia's military.

He moved to Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province after the Soviet Union's founding and started the Russian-language newspaper Zarya, or Dawn, in 1920.

He then founded the Shanghaiskaya Zarya newspaper in Shanghai in 1925 and the Nasha Zarya in Tianjin in 1928, forming the Far East's largest Russian-language newspaper group.

Chapman University international communications professor Jia Wenshan calls Russian Press in China a "major contribution to the historical study of global communication".

Lomonosov Moscow State University's journalism dean, Elena Vartanova, says the book is beneficial to Russian students and scholars, and will be included in such courses as the history of Russian journalism and journalism in foreign countries.