It was a perfectly ordinary evening of May 2020 in Copenhagen, Denmark. After a long workday and dinner, I was perusing the site of the Facebook Group “Harbin and Harbintsy”, run by the energetic former Harbin resident Abram Troiczyn from Australia. I was a member since 2014, invited by an old family friend with analogous roots. For me, Harbin was not just a remote spot on the map. It was a city where my family members lived for at least half a century.  

Suddenly, my eye caught an old photo that I knew well, as I had inherited it from my late maternal grandmother.  It was posted by some unknown person, with a brief caption reading “Family”.  And not only that. I could see from the comments that there were at least two others clearly showing knowledge of the Belov kin (my maternal great grandmother’s line). My evening tiredness evaporated. I  jumped up on the sofa, knocked down a glass with tea and made noises that were loud enough for my husband to come and check what on earth was going on. 

Next,  I threw myself into correspondence with those intriguing unknowns and then – lo and behold – the post owner turned out to be a direct descendant of the Belovs. Better still, another person in the trail knew about the issues, and she was not just a person, she was a historical researcher with access to the right archives. Now, to find family members I never knew of and after all those years! That was short of a miracle.

The reader is most likely wondering what is all this about China, Australia and Russia … Not to worry, this is a totally normal Russian émigré family life story.  

Ever since my youth, I thirsted to know more about the various branches of my maternal family, but the priorities of my ‘normal’ life were forever getting in the way. Yet, this time it literally felt like history had stretched its tough, bony hand towards me and given me a proper jolt. Clearly, this was not something one could easily ignore. Therefore, I rolled up my sleeves and embarked on an in-depth family roots research. Amazingly, this old picture became, after some unexpected help from the macrocosm, a kind of catalyzer for my book writing project. You can see it under the “Specks of Wisdom” tab on this website.