Источниковедение и историография Китая
131
well as manuscript collections of the major libraries contained an impressive number
of documents and other reading materials related to the domestic organization and
foreign policy of Qing China.
With the frames of this presentation, it does not seem possible to describe or
even list all these manuscript treasures, which, however, have been systematized in
several academic publications. The number one of those is the fundamental work by
Peter E. Skatchkov “Essays on the History of Russian Sinology” [“
Ocherki istorii
russkogo kitaevedeniya
”], with itsAddenda 3—‘Reference official archive materials’
rather fully presenting the above-mentioned heritage of history. Publication of this
work in China would enable the team of historians to order the necessary materials
at the Russian repositories.
Very interesting edition was issued by the Oriental Faculty of St.Petersburg State
University. There are a huge collection of old Chinese books andmaterials in its Library.
This book supplied with a title “The Description of the Chinese Book’s Collection by
Academician V. P. Vasiliev”. It is published in Russian and Chinese languages.
Documents on the early history of Russian-Chinese relations prior to the 18
th
century are concentrated mainly in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts.
The more recent acts of international law — such as the correspondence between
Lifanyuan and the Ruling Senate, office correspondence between the Office of
foreign Affairs and the embassies going to Beijing, as well as the reporting docu-
mentation of such embassies — all these are stored mainly in the Foreign Policy
Archive of the Russian Empire under the RF Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Russian Federation State Archive on Russia’s history of the 19
th
— early
20
th
centuries also stores documents on the later period of the Qing China. Here [in
fund 1167 (1825–1917)], one may find the Russian press comments on the Boxers’
Rebellion, while fund: “Byutsov E. K., Russia’s Ambassador to China, Sweden,
Germany and Japan. 1837–1904” contains documents with data on Russia’s relations
with China and Persia in 1874–1892, and оn the Taiping rebellion (1864). Materi-
als on dispatch of the Russian military corps to suppress the Boxers’ Rebellion,
as well as on the Russia-Japan war are available in the Prince Volkonskiy’s fund
(1810–1917), while documents on Russia’s relations with China can be found as
well in A. I. Gouchkov’s archive (1863–1917)
1
.
Interesting documents can be found in the Russian National Archive of Military
History, which contains descriptions of the whole Qing Empire and its regions made
by Russian ground and sea expeditions to Central and East Asia. The Russian State
Naval Archive, which moved to the specially constructed new building, also has
documents on the Qing China. As in all fleets of the world, commanders of Russian
1
See: Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoy Federatsii. Putevoditel. [State Archive of
the Russian Federation. Guidebook]. Vol. 1: Fondy Gosudarstvennogo arkhiva Rossiiskoy
Federatsii po istorii Rossii XIX — nachala XX vv. [Funds of the State Archive of the
Russian Federation on Russia’s History of the 19th — Early 20th Centuries]. М., 1994.
(Now — Russian State Historical Archive).
