When Herzen was writing his words, Moscow was not only busy successfully putting down the Poles, reasserting its rule there for another half-century, but also, together with China, carving up Central Asia, known then as Turkestan. The eastern part of the region fell under Chinese rule, and was renamed Xinjiang, or New Frontier.
而当赫尔岑写下这些文字的时候，莫斯科不仅忙于镇压波兰人并确保能继续统治波兰近半个世纪，而且还努力和中国一起瓜分中亚（所谓土耳其斯坦地区）。最终这一区域的东部沦为中国统治区，并被重新命名为“新疆”，意思是“新的边界”。