From Pacification of the rakshasas to Preparation of the defense of the northern side: on the translation of an unknown 19th century chinese work about Russia

The article, based on a manuscript from the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (Moscow), examines the translation of two Chinese materials prepared by hierodeacon Ilarion (Ovodov) (Mikhail Grigorievich) (1827–1857) of the 13th Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing (1849–1859) in 1853. Both articles were written by an unknown Chinese author from the first half of the 19th century and are devoted to the history of Russian-Chinese relations – primarily to events on the Amur River. The first of the Chinese articles is entitled “On Russia’s Relations with China” and is a description of the most important events in Russian-Chinese relations from the first half of the 17th century to 1805, including references to the conclusion of the Nerchinsk (1689) and Kyakhta (1727) treaties. Following the traditional Chinese concept of foreign policy towards foreigners, the Chinese author concludes that throughout this period the Russians sent an ambassador to China only once – in 1805, and all previous embassies were merchant caravans. The first Chinese embassy to Russia is also mentioned. The second article, “A Study of the Russian Company in the Manchurian Army,” is a brief description of the formation of the Albazin company as part of the Eight-Banner Manchurian troops in the 17th century from among Russian captives. The translation of both articles is provided with comments by the reviewer, Archimandrite Avvakum (Chestny) (in the world – Dmitry Semenovich) (1801–1866) from the 11th Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing (1830–1840). His negative review was the reason for the refusal to publish Fr. Hilarion’s material in the 19th century. Fr. Avvakum was provoked by some theses set forth by the Chinese author, as well as erroneous information about the history of Russian-Chinese relations. The authors are attempting for the first time to publish Fr. Hilarions translation with the addition of Fr. Avvakums comments, as well as their own clarifications.