Participation of Archimandrite Palladius (Kafarov) in Tianjin Negotiations of 1858

Abstract

Article deals with a reflection of Tianjin treaty of 1858 in the diary of Archimandrite Palladius (Kafarov), head of 13th Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing (1850–1858), one of the best expert on China of his time. Diary covers a period from the winter of 1858 to the end of the summer of 1858 and provides some valuable data on the history of Russian-Chinese relations in the middle of the XIXth century, especially in the dimension of daily work of Russian diplomats of this time. On the pages of the diary we can find some critical remarks on Russian representative count Putiatin behavior and clear misunderstanding of the China situation and Russian interests in the region, showed by him. For this reason, the original diary was published in abridged form and fully published only in 1912.