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PHJ №1 (45) 2025 — L. V. Antonova. EXHIBITIONS IN LONDON IN THE CONTEXT OF BRITISH FOOD CULTURE OF THE LAST THIRD OF THE 19TH — EARLY 20TH CENTURIES

The article, based on materials from international, colonial and national exhibitions in London, examines the culinary preferences of the British, their habits of preparing and consuming food in the last third of the 19th — early 20th centuries. At that time, visiting exhibitions, in the organization of which Britain had the most advanced experience, was a popular pastime for Londoners and tourists and necessarily included a “culinary program”. At the exhibitions of the turn of the century, visitors could try dishes prepared from colonial products, buy oriental spices, alcoholic beverages, fruits and various exotic delicacies. A large selection of restaurants, coffee shops and inexpensive eateries were offered to the exhibition guests. This factor among others contributed to the consolidation of the habit of eating in public places for people of different classes. The educational program of the exhibitions included educational master classes and lectures on healthy eating, foreign, including native, cuisine. It is concluded that the exhibitions were effective advertisements for new food products, the delivery of which to Europe was made possible by progress in transport and storage technologies. In a practical sense, this contributed to the development of intra-imperial trade. At the same time, the new gastronomic experience gained at the exhibitions contributed to the interpenetration of European and Eastern culinary traditions, which, to a certain extent, helped ordinary people better understand the lifestyle, customs and mentality of “the other”.

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PHJ №1 (45) 2025 — A. I. Makurin, D. M. Nechiporuk. THE TRUTH IS IN THE MIDDLE: THE EXPERIENCE OF STUDYING THE SIBERIAN EXILE BY THE SCOTTISH SCIENTIST JAMES YOUNG SIMPSON

This article examines the debate about Siberian exile among English and American travelers in the late 1880s and mid‑1890s. It shows that initially the Siberian exile did not attract much attention among Anglo-American travelers who published books about their travels in Russia. After the journey of the English missionary Henry Lansdell through Siberia in 1878, the Siberian exile became the main subject of discussion among Anglo-American travelers in the 1880s. For example, an 1885 trip to Siberia by the American journalist George Kennan and his criticism of the treatment of political prisoners paved the way for a lively debate among Englishmen about the harshness of Siberian exile. Some of them disputed Kennan’s conclusions. The main opponent was the avid traveler and writer, the British aristocrat Harry de Windt. He pointed out that since Kennan’s visit to Siberian prisons, conditions for prisoners had been improved by the Imperial authorities. Until the mid‑1890s, however, the British press largely supported Kennan’s view. News of the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began to change attitudes in the West towards both Siberia and exile. An analysis of the work of the Scottish traveler and diplomat James Young Simpson (1873–1934), who visited the Siberian exile after Kennan and de Windt’s trips, shows that attitudes towards the region had begun to change after 1895; Kennan’s conclusions were no longer relevant. Simpson, impressed by the scale of the railway onstruction, believed that the transport of prisoners on foot and by water should cease. He expected prisoner conditions to improve. Simpson warned that it was wrong to generalise about prison conditions in Siberia. He pointed out that attitudes towards criminals varied according to the style of prison administration and the type of prison. After Simpson foreign travelers were more interested in the prospects of Siberia’s economic development, as well as the geopolitical position of the region in the Far East at the beginning of the 20th century.

PHJ № 1 (37) 2023 – B. B. Pak. On the issue of diplomatic negotiations on the eve of the Russo-Japanese war of 1904–1905

This article highlights the course of Russian-Japanese negotiations in 1903–1904, analyzes the positions of the parties, examines the reasons for the intransigence of the Japanese side in the negotiations on the conclusion of a new agreement, studied the reaction in the ruling spheres of Russia to the amendments of the Japanese government to the Russian text of the agreement, the nature of Russian-Korean relations on the eve of the Russian-Japanese war. The author focuses on Japan’s responsibility for starting the war, showing Japan’s aggressive policy in Korea.