Russian Treasures (3)

With the advent of Joseph Stalin to power in 1927, the Soviet Union begins to turn into a monstrous totalitarian state eager to enslave its own population and consume the neighboring countries. But the world is not aware of what is going on since Soviet Russia closely guards its secrets and knows how to deal with the inquisitive. Nina Kupina, a Russian political exile, is abducted by the Soviet agents in China who bring her to Moscow. She takes refuge at the house of Oscar Reich, an American millionaire who, unaccountably, has a privilege to run a private enterprise in the USSR. Nina suspects that Mr. Reich is not who he pretends to be, and there is some shady deal between him and the Bolsheviks. But she accepts his advances, knowing that he is the only person able to help her return home to her husband, Klim, who is living in Shanghai. Little does she know that Klim is already in Russia looking for her. To make inquiries about Nina’s whereabouts, he takes a position in the United Press as a correspondent in Moscow. His search leads him not to the reunion with his wife but to his imminent arrest as a spy. And Oscar Reich is ready to do everything to make sure Klim gets into the trap set by the OGPU (the predecessor of the KGB).

Welcome to an awe-inspiring world of Shanghai in the roaring 1920s. White colonialists see themselves as the supreme race exploiting China for its cheap labor and reaping the rewards of its opium market. But then Russians come and ruin the perfect world Europeans and Americans built for themselves in China. Fleeing the Bolsheviks, Russian refugees arrive in thousands, noblemen and common laborers alike, ready to take any job and get their hands dirty. They don’t care if it made other white people look not so exceptional in front of the locals. Klim Rogov, a Russian journalist famous for his wit, used to be a rich man who won the heart of a brilliant, passionate young business woman, Nina Kupina. Now, they find themselves in a rusty refugee ship anchoring in Shanghai harbor without money, documents, and any prospect in the near future, but Klim believes that he and Nina can cope with any challenge as long as they are together. One night, Nina disappears from the ship amidst strange circumstances, and Klim’s fellow refugees suspect that she ran away with another man. Once in the city, Klim is rejected by both the whites and the Chinese, and his only dubious ally is a difficult teenage dancer who decides to seduce him for sport. Klim knows that the “fallen gods” should keep a low profile, but he is obsessed with winning his life back and finding out what happened to Nina. He writes a diary, which becomes a whimsical China travel guide to the world of weapon smugglers, opium traders, corrupt police, and communist agents doing everything possible to ignite a civil war in China. But when Klim discovers Nina’s dark secret, he begins to doubt if he can handle it. And to make things worse, the Chinese nationalists gather an army and launch an attack on defenseless Shanghai.

The year is 1917. Ten years after leaving his home on bad terms, Klim Rogov returns to Russia to claim his inheritance after his wealthy father’s death. As a famous journalist now holding Argentinean citizenship, he wants nothing to do with the ongoing Great War, Tsar Nicholas II, or the collapsing Russian Empire. Klim knows that he should leave the country as soon as possible, but then he meets Nina, a young businesswoman, and falls in love with her. She is, in some ways, an “immigrant” too—a brave soul who dared to enter the hostile, man-dominated world of business and succeeded despite the odds. But all of her achievements are ruined during a gloomy October night when the Reds seize power and ban all private property. People like Klim and Nina suddenly become public enemies. As a foreign citizen, Klim has a chance to escape the civil war unleashed by the Bolshevik revolution, though now he feels like a first-class passenger on the Titanic, who has to save only himself or die. Time is running out, and Klim must make a fateful decision that will cost him dearly either way.