We laughed at Sergei's non-standard pronunciation, and little Vanya patiently corrected his pronunciation. Sergei said that he really should learn a little Chinese, and it is rare to have so many good teachers.

Sergei said that the last time he met my parents, he always thought we were Russian expatriates, but he was embarrassed to ask how our family came to China.

It was inaccurate for me to tell Sergei that we were Russian nationals, and that even though we were of Russian descent, we were all genuine Chinese citizens. There is such a group of people in China, and they are part of China's 56 ethnic minorities - ethnic Russians.

Hilgei wondered what kind of people we were.

Ethnic Russians, one of the ethnic minorities in China. Ethnic Russians are distributed in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, mainly concentrated in the northwest of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the north of Heilongjiang and the northeast of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, with a total of about 14,000 people.

The ancestors of the Russian people in China first migrated from Tsarist Russia in the early 18th century. After the October Revolution in Russia, some people entered China to avoid the war. At that time, they were called "naturalized people", and the villages where they lived were called "naturalized villages".

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was changed to ethnic Russians, and was recognized as an ethnic minority in China, enjoying equal rights like other ethnic groups.

The living customs, material and spiritual culture of the Russian ethnic group in China are basically the same as those of the Russians in Russia.

Since ethnic Russians have not been in China for a long time, many of them still have relatives and friends in the former Soviet Union. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, relations between them were restored, and many asked to return to their hometowns to reunite with their relatives.

The Russian language is spoken by ethnic Russians. In social interactions outside the family, they generally use Chinese and Chinese.

Orthodox Christianity (also known as Greek Orthodoxy) is the traditional belief of ethnic Russians. However, due to close contacts and intermarriage with other ethnic groups, religious beliefs have become increasingly indifferent.

There is a considerable proportion of ethnic Russians living in cities and towns, such as teachers, doctors, engineers, skilled workers, and cadres.

Most of the ethnic Russians in rural and pastoral areas are knowledge-based farmers and herders, generally skilled in horticulture, livestock and poultry raising, and beekeeping.

In the 50s, the Chinese and Soviet governments negotiated and agreed to help them move back to their hometowns one after another. In addition, some ethnic Russians have moved to places such as Australia and Canada, where they also have relatives, so the number of existing ethnic Russians in China is no longer large.

I told Sergei that ethnic Russians of pure Russian descent like my cousin's family are very rare in China. The vast majority of them have merged with other ethnic groups, and their descendants are mostly mixed-race, just like me.

Sergei said excitedly, Linna, everyone has been speculating about your identity, and now I finally understand what is going on.

- "I told you that I was a guest on "Chinese Family", I didn't lie to you, right? I asked him with a smile.

- "Haha, in a legal sense, Lina, you really didn't lie to me! Sergei smiled slyly.