Russian Diplomats-Sinologists at the Turn of the 20th Century: Training, Qualifications and Personnel Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Abstract

The article studies activities of Russian diplomats-sinologists in the Qing Empire and the Republic of China at the end of the 19th — beginning of the 20th centuries. The main emphasis is given to the level of their qualifications, the specifics of training and those educational institutions of the Russian Empire that trained the required personnel. The issues related to the personnel policy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the system of selecting qualified orientalists who could speak Chinese and other Oriental languages to work in Asian countries are examined separately. The study of the environment in which diplomats were educated and trained in the Russian Empire is also an important task within the framework of the stated research topic. Analyzing the system of education and training of diplomats in the Russian Empire makes it possible to identify the attitudes with which young diplomats entered the service and in accordance with which they improved their professional skills. During that period, the Faculty of Oriental Languages at St. Petersburg University, founded in 1854 by decree of Emperor Nicholas I, became the most important educational center for training highly qualified sinologists where young people not only mastered the Chinese language but also studied hard the history, literature, culture, religions and the current situation of the Qing China. The merit of the Faculty staff is that they trained both future scholars and practical sinologists, including future employees of Russian diplomatic institutions in China. The article provides examples of the routes by which the formation of highly skilled Russian diplomats for China took place, and therefore they played an important role in the development of Russian-Chinese relations.

Keywords:

Russian-Chinese relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, diplomats-sinologists, Qing Empire, St. Petersburg University, Faculty of Oriental Languages