The history of Russian and Russian studies in China spans over three centuries. Its beginning is connected with the emergence and growth of diplomatic, economic and cultural contacts between China and Russia in the XVII - XIX centuries. However, the appearance of the first information about Russia and Russians in Chinese sources should be attributed to an earlier time. Information about the Slavs of Eastern and Southeastern Europe could reach the capitals of the Chinese and non - Chinese empires, which succeeded each other in the vast expanses of East Asia, along the trans-Asian trade highway-the "Silk Road" that connected China with the West for 13 centuries. 1 When Genghis Khan set out on a campaign to the west of Subede - bagatur, among the countries that he was to conquer, he also indicated the country "Orosat" (Rus), and as the point to which the Mongol army was to reach, he named " the city of Khiy-e, surrounded by a wall "(Kiev) 2 . The chronicle of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) "Yuan shi" is the first official source in Chinese, which records information about the Mongol campaigns against Russia, as well as about a special unit in the Khan's guard, made up of Russian captured soldiers and located near Beijing .3 Yuan authors Wang Hui and Yu Tangjia suggested that the Russians are descendants of the Usun tribe, who inhabited present - day Northern Kyrgyzstan and Southern Kazakhstan in the II-I centuries BC (references to them can be traced in sources up to the V century).

Although in Chinese historiography the history of relations between China and Russia dates back to the reign of the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty that succeeded it (1368-1644), Chinese authors do not cite any evidence from the sources of the Ming period that would contain information about Russia. Their usual narrative scheme of early Russia is reduced to describing the reigns of Ivan III and Ivan IV, which marked the beginning of the"Eastern policy of Moscow" 5 , and the relevant information is drawn from European or Japanese writings. Even the visit of Russian explorers to Beijing in 1618 is not mentioned in the Chinese chronicles.

At present, we have only Russian translations of the letters of the emperors of the Minsk dynasty to the Russian tsars .6 These letters gave permission for trade to people who came "from Russia" and testified to the desire of the ruling circles of the Ming Empire to maintain trade and diplomatic relations with the Russian state .7 But after his government in the middle of the XVII century showed the following signs:

1 Konrad N. I. West and East. Moscow, 1972, pp. 77-102. See also: Lubo-Lesnichenko E. I. The Great Silk Road. - Voprosy istorii, 1985, N 9. For a detailed analysis of the eastern source of the X century "Khudud al-Alem", which summarizes the main information about Russia, see: Rybakov B. A. Kievan Rus and Russian principalities of the XII-XIII centuries. Moscow, 1982, pp. 186-234.

2 DanzanL. Altan Tobchi ("The Golden Legend"), Moscow, 1973, pp. 228, 368.

3 Skachkov P. E. Ocherki istorii russkogo sinaevedeniya [Essays on the history of Russian Chinese Studies]. Moscow, 1977, pp. 14-15, 293.

4 Kuner N. V. Kitayskie izvestiya o narodakh Yuzhnoi Sibiri, Tsentral'noi Azii i Dalnego Vostoka [Chinese News about the peoples of Southern Siberia, Central Asia and the Far East]. Moscow, 1961, p. 68.

5 Chen Dengyuan. Essays on the history of China's relations with Russia. Shanghai. 1929, pp. 14-17 (in Chinese); He Hanwen. History of Sino-Russian relations. Shanghai, 1935, pp. 64-65 (in Chinese); Zhou Ruobin. History of Sino-Russian relations. Siangan. 1960, pp. 1-2 (in Chinese).

6 Russian-Chinese relations in the 17th century (hereinafter: RKO). M-ly and doc. Vol. 1; 1608-1683. Moscow, 1969, pp. 71-72.

7 Demidova N. F., Myasnikov V. S. On the dating of the letters of the Minsk Emperors to Tsar Mikhail Fyodorovich. - Problems of Oriental Studies, 1960, N 1; Myasnikov V. S. The Qing Empire and the Russian State in the XVII century. Moscow, 1980, pp. 63-65, 271.

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After taking the initiative to establish diplomatic and trade relations with China, more systematic information about the Russian state began to accumulate in official institutions in Beijing. This process of mutual familiarization between the two countries took several decades.

Views on Russia were formed in China under the dominant influence of traditional ideas about the world around them and the "special" nature of relations between the Chinese and all those who came into contact with them. 8 Moreover, the Manchus who seized China also adopted and used traditional doctrines about the system of China's external relations. The foundation of Chinese ideas about other states and peoples was the sinocentric model of the world, according to which their country was the highest achievement and the main link of human civilization. Therefore, the ruler of China ,the "son of Heaven", was presented as the supreme ruler of all things, acting as a suzerain in relation to the head of any state of the world at that time .9 This postulate persisted for thousands of years, and deviations from it, dictated by the balance of power between China and its neighbors, were considered temporary and subject to correction. 10 Views on Russia, being part of the general doctrine of relations with neighbors, could therefore have no ideological basis there other than sinocentrism.

The fact that China was under Manchu rule for more than two and a half centuries also gave a certain color to the ideas about Russia in China. The Manchus, who created the Qing Empire after seizing China and some adjacent territories, have long pursued an expansionist policy. Their aggressive aspirations also affected the Russian possessions in the Far East. Preparations for the invasion of them were conducted in accordance with the principles of traditional Chinese diplomacy. One of the main rules was the use of political disinformation, designed to conceal the true reasons for the armed action from both their own people and foreign states. For this purpose, provisions containing hostile characteristics of the Russians and the Russian state were introduced into the documents of the government institutions of the Empire, although such characteristics sharply contradicted objective facts.

Another feature of the formation of the Chinese knowledge about Russia at that time was that the very approach to the object of study was significantly influenced by the Jesuit missionaries who labored at the Peking court. "Just as the Mongols used Arabs and other West Asians, as well as Russians and other Europeans," notes the American researcher J. Fairbank, "so the Manchus used the services of the Jesuits, and later invited Western advisers and civil officials to serve." 11 To the xenophobia cultivated by the Manchus, a negative attitude towards everything foreign, missionaries and advisers added targeted Russophobia, considering it as one of the means of fighting for political influence at the Peking court.

The first Russian envoys and trade caravans arrived in Beijing, passing through Mongolia. For Qing officials, Russia's representatives were initially little different from Mongol ambassadors and merchants. Therefore, almost the same strategy and tactics were applied to the Russians. They sought to impose on Russia the status of a" vassal " of the Qing Empire, using the traditional procedure for receiving ambassadors at the Peking court .12 Russia received the name "Olos" in Qing documents (cf.: Mongolian "orosat"," orosut "- Russian), its head was called " chagan khan "(white Khan), which is also borrowed from the Mongols. The decree of the Shunzhi Emperor of June 25, 1655, handed over to the head of the first Russian merchant caravan, at-

8 The Chinese World Order. Traditional China's Foreign Relations. Cambridge (Mass.). 1968.

9 Duman L. I. Foreign policy relations of ancient China and the origins of the tributary system. In: China and its Neighbors in Ancient and Medieval Times, Moscow, 1970.

10 China among Equals. The Middle Kingdom and Its Neighbours, 10th - 14th Centuries. Berkeley. 1983.

11 Fairbank J. K. Synarchy under the Treaties. In: Chinese Thought and Institutions. Chicago. 1957, p. 211.

12 For more information, see: Myasnikov V. S. Uk. soch., pp. 73-106.

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His visit to Beijing, P. Yarizhkin, reflected the style of traditional Chinese diplomacy, which hoped to turn Chagan Khan and his country into a Beijing vassal. "To the Russian white tsar," Shunzhi wrote to Alexey Mikhailovich. "Your country is far to the northwest; no one has ever come to China from you. Now you have reached out to our civilization and sent an ambassador to present the works of your country as a tribute. We highly approve of this. We specifically reward you with gracious gifts and instruct you to immediately release your ambassador with them. They express our exalted desire to always receive strangers graciously. After receiving the gifts with gratitude, be loyal and obedient forever, so that you can respond to the mercy and love expressed to you. " 13
Almost simultaneously, the Qing government began to receive information about Russian explorers in the Amur region from its military leaders who headed the garrisons in Manchuria. At first, they were considered "a special tribe in the neighborhood of Ninguta "14 and tried to" pacify " them by traditional methods - sending punitive expeditions to the Amur. The heroism of the Russian defenders of the Amur region, who repelled the attacks of numerically superior Chinese military teams, earned them the glory of desperate braves. To explain their defeats, the Qing military leaders, using traditional superstitions, declared that they were dealing not with humans, but with demons, a huge number of which numbered in the Chinese syncretic religion .15 The Sanskrit word "raksha" (demon that haunts people) was used to denote these "demons", from which the Chinese name "lacha" or "locha"is derived .16 This epithet was used for a long time in Qing documents when referring to the Russians on the Amur. Along with it, the name "Eugene" was used when it came to Russians in general. In the Shunzhi edict above, Russians are not associated with "locha".

A noticeable acceleration in the accumulation of information about Russians in China occurred in the second half of the 17th century. 17 This was due to the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Qing Empire and Russia, and the establishment of trade contacts. Russian diplomatic missions and caravans with goods periodically visit Beijing. They (for example, the embassy of N. G. Spafariya) provide a wide range of information to the Peking court about the Russian state. The Qing government, having suffered a natural failure in its attempts to impose vassal status on Russia, begins preparations for an armed aggression against the Russian possessions in the Far East and intensifies the collection of information about Russia as a whole and its Far Eastern territory. Here, imperial intelligence operates on the borders of the Russian state, and in Beijing they receive additional information from Jesuits 18, European ambassadors arriving there, as well as captured defectors and "languages" obtained on the Amur by the Manchus during skirmishes with Russian Cossacks.

Gradually, the Qing government receives fairly reliable information about the Russian state, its size, military strength, and political intentions. The Qing court paid particular attention to the fact that the vital centers of Russia lay at a great distance from its eastern territory and that Moscow has many problems with Poland, Sweden and the Crimean Khanate. All this hindered the defense of Siberia and the Far East, including the Russian Amur region. This kind of information made it easier for the Qing Empire to implement its plans for expansion in the Amur region and Mongolia. For diplomatic cover-up of aggressive intentions, Emperor Kang-

13 Cit. by: ibid., p. 85.

14 Fu Lo-shu. A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western Relations 1644 - 1820. Vol. 1. Tusson. 1966, p. 14.

15 Vasiliev L. S. Kulty, religii, traditsii v Kitae [Cults, Religions, traditions in China]. Moscow, 1970, pp. 412-416.

16 Hsia T. A. Demons in Paradise: the Chinese Images of Russia. - The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Philadelphia, 1963, September, vol. 349, p. 28.

17 Not having, apparently, relevant Chinese sources, Z. I. Gorbacheva mistakenly attributed the beginning of the accumulation of such knowledge about Russia in China to the first quarter of the XVIII century. (Gorbacheva Z. I. First information of the Chinese about Russia. In: From the history of science and technology in the countries of the East. Issue II. Moscow, 1961).

18 Iakinf (Bichurin). Information about Europe provided to the Chinese by Catholic confessors. - Son of the Fatherland, 1845, vol. XI, pp. 91-93.

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xi (1662-1722) made a number of far-fetched accusations against the Russians: the Russians showed "disobedience", did not heed his decrees, allegedly "invaded the borders" of the vassal dynasties of the tribes, and then the empire itself .19 The negative stereotype of Russia created by Qing diplomacy was reflected to some extent in the first works devoted to the relations of the Qing Empire with Russia before the signing of the treaty of 1689 and the conference of ambassadors of the two countries in Nerchinsk.

The first Chinese authors to write about Russia were Zhang Penge, Qian Liangze, Chang Shu, and Yang Bin. Zhang Pengge (1649-1725) was a prominent official. In 1670, he successfully passed the state examinations for the degree of "jinini" (Doctor of Science)20 and was enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Sciences, later serving in the capital and provinces, holding the posts of Assistant Minister in the Military Order, Chairman of the Imperial Censor, Head of the Criminal Order, Governor-General of Jiangnan and Jiangxi, Minister in the Criminal Order, Finance Order, and Civil Order 21 . Thus, Zhang belonged to the elite of the imperial bureaucracy, to those circles of officials who actively cooperated with the Manchu invaders, and it was not by chance that he was included in the Qing embassy that was heading to Selenginsk in 1688 to negotiate with Russian representatives. He was assigned the role of historiographer of the embassy.

Due to the invasion of Khalkha-Mongolia by the troops of the Oirat Khan Galdan, who sought to unite the Mongol lands, the Qing ambassadors had to return to Beijing halfway. But Zhang still described the journey in a special essay. In the original version, it was called "A complete description of the trip during the embassy in Russia" and was included in a special anthology 22 . Another version of this work, which has some textual differences, has gained great popularity. It was included in many anthologies of the Qing period and repeatedly reprinted later .

Zhang was an ardent Confucian. He became "famous" for the persecution of Christians in 1691 in Zhejiang, where he was governor. All his life he was a conductor of imperial politics, its highly educated and active adept, which affected his writing. In the form of "Notes on the Embassy to Russia" - a travel diary 24, which opens with an introduction, which describes the reasons and tasks of the embassy to Russia from the perspective of the Qing court. "The Russian backwater," Zhang begins with great Han arrogance, " is located north of Shamo (Gobi Desert). Since ancient times, [they] had no ties to China, and it was dangerous and far away to present gifts to [the court]. They haven't been tamed yet, and they're invading our borderlands. First, we sent troops for a punitive campaign, which quickly inflicted a crushing defeat . Then [they] were granted the Emperor's favor, and [their] captives were released and returned. " 25
The firm defense of the Amur region by the Russians, especially the key point of the Russian possessions - the Albazinsky prison, forced the Qing authorities to seek a diplomatic settlement of the conflict. Zhang puts it this way: "The enemy persisted and did not improve at all. He retook Albazin, and troops were sent to lay siege to it. The enemy was in a cramped position

19 Analysis of the relevant decrees of Kangxi: Myasnikov V. S. Uk. soch., pp. 174-176, 180-183.

20 Brunnert I. S., Gagelstrom V. V. Modern political organization of China. Beijing, 1910, pp. 222-223.

21 Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (1644 - 1912). Taipei. 1964, pp. 49 - 51.

22 Motes of pearls in the sea of literature (xylograph of the XVIII century). 4 tao. B. M. B. G. (in Chinese).

23 Zhang Penge. Notes about the Embassy in Russia. Taipei. 1967 (in Chinese). One of the earliest editions of this book is in the Skachkov Collection of the Department of Manuscripts of the Lenin State Library of the USSR (f. 1068). See also: Morozova N. V. Materials on the History of China in the collection of K. A. Skachkov. - XIV scientific conference "Society and the State in China". Abstracts and reports. Part 2. Moscow, 1983, p. 207. Zhang Penge in her article is mistakenly called the secretary of the head of the embassy Soigotu.

24 Typologically, it is similar to such sources as the article lists of the Russian embassies of F. I. Baykov and N. G. Spafarii to the Qing Empire, the notes of the Jesuits of T. Pereira and F. Gerbillon.

25 Zhang Penge. Uk. op., with 1.

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and requested peace. At present, we have received the highest instructions, in which everything is calculated to the smallest detail. Songotu, the senior assistant chief of the Imperial bodyguards, and others are specially assigned to conduct negotiations. " 26 This is the limit of Zhang's essay on the Russian state. The rest of the text describes the route through Mongolia and provides insights into the history of Sino-Mongolian relations. With a relatively small volume, this essay contains a variety of information about the Great Wall of China, counter cities, customs of the Mongols and their economic way of life. The author notes that, having moved about 60 km away from Zhangjiakou, the embassy has already left the imperial possesses27 . It was only after almost a month's journey that the Qing diplomats and their accompanying army entered the territory of Khalkha.

The unusual climate, the hardships of the journey, and the lack of water, which they had to search for every day, undermined their strength and morale. When the Mongol princes and lamas, whose coalition was defeated by the Oirats, were met, the ambassadors were already preparing a report to the president of the Tribunal in charge of relations with Mongolia and Tibet (later with Russia), about the impossibility of traveling with the embassy to the Russian possessions. 28 Finally, an imperial decree was issued authorizing the ambassadors to return to the empire .29 In general, Zhang's notes are more of a source for the history of Mongolia than for Russia. However, since this work opens up a list of works by Chinese diplomats who were engaged in relations with Russia or wrote about it, familiarity with it is important for understanding the nature and content of subsequent works by Qing authors.

Zhang wasn't the only one who gave a detailed account of the failed embassy's journey. Unaware of his "Notes," another Chinese scholar, Qian Liangze, personal secretary to the head of the Songotu Embassy, also kept a diary .30 In terms of social status, Qian was at a considerable distance from Zhang and was better known as a traveler and poet. He managed to travel all over China. He wrote poems of a peculiar content and had many admirers, 31 but he was far from a high-ranking bureaucracy. It is no coincidence that Zhang, often quoting fragments of conversations with Songotu and embassy member Chen Shian in his text, never once mentioned Qiang.

Qian's diary is almost the same size as Zhang's and is also chronologically organized, but it is divided into thematic chapters. In it, too, we find a description of the embassy's departure from Beijing, the journey to Zhangjiakou, and the scene of arrival at the Great Wall 32 . However, while outside of it Zhang carefully noted the availability of food supplies, water and horse feed, determining the possibilities of passing the army (he often refers to the embassy in which he was located as an army, meaning a huge military escort), Qian admires flowers, fish caught, and intersperses the dry prose of the diary with lyrical poems .33 In addition, Qian has notes on the border between Southern Mongolia and Khalkha, on the Dzungars - eluts , 34 information on the administrative structure of foreign lands. Most of all, Qian was thinking about the state " whose representatives the ambassadors were sent to negotiate with. He, who had read many historical works and visited all the frontiers of the empire, could not in any way include the Russian state in the system of his usual ideas about the "frozen world" and tried to break out of the existing circle of knowledge, turning to those periods of history when the Chinese Empire reached its highest power, and its troops, embassies and travelers managed to remote frontiers: during the Han (206 BC -220 AD) and Tang (618-907 AD) dynasties.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid., p. 10.

28 Ibid., p. 21.

29 Ibid., p. 24.

30 Qian Liangze. Notes about a trip abroad. In: Shilao congbian. Taipei. 1968 (in Chinese).

31 Chinese biographical dictionary. Shanghai. 1940, p. 1614 (in Chinese).

32 Ibid., p. 6.

33 Ibid., pp. 21-25, 40.

34 Ibid., pp. 27-33.

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Qian began his research with toponyms and ethnonyms known to him to the northwest of Mongolia, phonetically resembling the name of the Russian state ("Elos", or "Elos", in Qian's transcription). "On the map of the Nine Borders of Yuan Zhuen," he noted, " there is the Eludi area 36, located to the west of Helin 37 and to the north of Yumingguan 38 . This is probably the ancient Usuni mountains. In the History of Han 39, the Western Region 40 is divided into 35 states. The entire northern part is Usun territory. Although their customs are similar ,it is not known how close their lands are... It seems that if we talk about them, it is as if we should talk about those locha that are called the state of Elos. And that is where [our] embassy is intended to go. " 41
We don't know how Qian chose to serve Songot as his secretary. Probably, the interest was mutual: a Manchu nobleman needed a competent assistant, and a lover of travel was curious to go to distant lands. Qian was not privy to the diplomatic history of relations with the Russian state. But he had heard of Russian embassies arriving at the Imperial court. Some of the information provided by these embassies about their country was made public. This is why Qian's information is interesting, because it reflects the range of ideas about Russians that developed among the academic and official class of China at that time. Although these ideas are still vague, they are already showing some grains of true knowledge (even if you take into account that Qian himself carefully emphasizes that much of what he has learned is questionable). "This state," he says, " is so remote and remote that it is impossible to gather reliable information about it. They [the Russians], boasting, claimed that their lands extended for more than 40 thousand li .42 Their kind, according to legend, [exists] for more than 6 thousand years " 43 . If the information about Russia was only obtained from the Russians, then Qian probably wouldn't believe it at all. But the objectivity of this information was also confirmed from other sources, double-checking information collected from European Jesuits, Dutch and Portuguese embassies. "This backwater," Qian continues, " boasts in a way that [they] can't be trusted at all. However, it was reported that the western border [of their country] touches the Atlantic Ocean; in the east it reaches Albazin in the very north of Khalkha; in the south [they] border on Persia; in the east [their possessions] reach as far as Khalkha, and in the west - to the borders of the Muslim and Elut states. All the neighboring States are in fear and obedience. " 44 Qian convinces himself: "No matter how much you think about it, it's better to find out for sure."

It defines some features of the composition of the Qing embassy: why the Jesuit Europeans were included in it. After all, it is known about Russians that "their customs consist in the fact that they profess Christianity. Literature and official correspondence use the Latin alphabet,., which is now known in China as the Western alphabet. " 45 Based on this, Qian concludes: "In all likelihood, the customs and customs of [Russians] are not far from those in Western countries. For this reason, when [our] embassy was being sent, the Emperor specifically ordered that two people should be sent to the same place.-

35 Under the Ming Dynasty, the northern part of the empire was divided into 9 districts, which were called "nine borders" (For their management, see: Svistunova N. P. Organization of the border Service in the north of China during the Ming era. In: China and its Neighbors in Antiquity and the Middle Ages).

36 Another reading is Aludi.

37th District of Karakorum.

38 One of the outposts at the western end of the Great Wall, now Yumin in the prov. Gansu.

39 The first official dynastic history written by Ban Gu (AD 32 - 92).

40 This is what the ancient Chinese called all the lands located to the west of their country, mainly in the territory of present-day Xinjiang. Other sources divide it into 36 states.

41 Qian Liangze. Uk. soch., p. 37-37ob.

42 Over 23 thousand kilometers.

43 Qian Liangze. Uk. soch., p. 37ob.

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid., pp. 37ob -38.

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two of the officials were traveling together [with us]. " 46 Qian expressed regret that the Emperor did not include Chinese officials equal in status to the Manchus in the embassy. This, in his opinion, made it difficult to discuss matters within the embassy. Let us clarify that Qian is not quite right here. According to the original plan, the embassy was to consist of an equal number of Manchu and Chinese dignitaries. The Chinese were appointed based on their positions (for example, the head of the Military Order-Zhang Yu, shilang 47; the Order of Ceremonies-Zhang Qi). But not everyone was attracted to the opportunity to personally find out what a distant Russian state is, and many, under one pretext or another, evaded participation in the mission 48 .

And those who, as part of the embassy, advanced through the Mongolian steppes, had to " find out everything thoroughly about this state or [continue to] suspect that it is the country of precisely those Jiankuns of the Han Dynasty, about whom in the History of Han, in the report about Siyu, it is shown that the Jiankun shangyu 49 to the east extends its possessions to 7 thousand li, in the south [his land] reaches up to Cheshia 50, [stretching] for 5 thousand li. " 51 Who were the Jiankun and why did Qian try to associate the Russians with them?

In ancient Chinese writings, under the name of Jiankun (jiangun), gegun, jiegu, juyu, Xiajas, there was a tribal association of Hyagas, i.e. Khakas. The Chinese chronicles described them as " Tall and large in body, with red [red] hair and green [blue] eyes."52 . Chinese authors identified the same anthropological features in a number of other peoples who lived outside the Great Wall .53 Modern paleoanthropology considers information about the ancient Caucasian fair-haired and light-eyed population of Central Asia to be a legend created by Chinese chroniclers .54 But the Chinese author of the late 17th century did not doubt the accuracy of the information provided by traditional historiography. To associate Russians with representatives of the blond Qianyu race was based on the idea of them that developed in Beijing after the visit of the first Russian embassy headed by F. I. Baykov: I. Neuhof, who met in 1656 with members of the Russian embassy in the capital of the Qing Empire, a participant in the embassy to China from the Dutch colonies in Indonesia, noted that the Russians were tall, blond, and light-eyed 55 .

Tracing the historical destinies of the Hyagas ethnic group, Qian noted that the Hyagas were defeated by the Uyghurs during the Tang period. "Since then, they lived in a remote area, had no connections with China, so we did not know about them in detail. And this time, we also sought to find out about these Jiankun, not only because this state, which was small in Han times, has changed over a number of generations, [but because] the state, whose very existence was once unsure, has somehow returned to our days. it suddenly increased and intensified. It follows that when we talk about them [Russians], we still cannot accurately judge and recognize them

46 Ibid., p. 38. We are talking about the Jesuits Pereira and Gerbillon (for more details, see: Russo-Chinese relations in the XVII century, M-ly and doc. Vol. 2: 1686-1691. M, 1972, pp. 702-761).

47th rank, roughly equal to the position of Assistant Minister.

48 Zhang Penge. Uk. soch., p. 3.

49 The highest feudal title among the nomads of the Xiongnu (Huns).

50 Ancient state on the territory of Xinjiang. It occupied the current counties of Turfan, Sanzhi and Tsitai. Under the Xuandi Emperor (73-48 BC), it split into two states: The front Cheshi, which was located west of Turfan, and the Rear Cheshi, which was located south of present-day Fuyuan County.

51 Qian Liangze. Uk. soch., p. 38.

52 Kuehner N. V. Uk. soch., p. 55.

53 Grum-Grzhimailo G. E. Why do the Chinese draw red-haired demons? (On the question of the peoples of the blond race in Central Asia). St. Petersburg, 1899; his own. The blond race in Central Asia. - Notes of the IRGO on the Department of Ethnography. Vol. XXXIV: Collection in honor of the seventieth anniversary of Grigory Nikolaevich Potanin. SPb. 1909; Debets G. F. Once again about the blond race in Central Asia. - Soviet Asia, 1931, N 5-6.

54 Alekseev V. P. Paleoanthropology and history. - Voprosy istorii, 1985, N 1, p. 30.

55 Neuhof J. Die Gesandtschafft der Oost-Indischen Compagney... Amsterdam. 1669, bl. 164.

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from the first time " 56 . Unfortunately, as a result of the most difficult journey, which claimed more than 900 lives and cost the Qing treasury 1 thousand camels , 27 thousand horses and 2.5 million liangs of silver, 57 no new information about the Russian state was received in Beijing.

While Zhang and Qian were making their way through Mongolia and writing diaries, the Imperial Academy of Sciences had been working for two years on compiling the first documentary chronicle of the Qing Empire's relationship with the Russian state. Kangxi ordered this work to begin on October 8, 1685. Its head was one of the Academy's presidents, Chang Shu. The work being prepared, which was completed in 1690, was called "Strategic plans for the pacification of the Russians". Chang Shu's name remained unknown for a long time. It was only relatively recently that the Soviet researcher G. V. Melikhov, while preparing for the publication of a new version of the translation of Strategic Plans, 58 managed to establish that it was Chan who was the main compiler of this work .59
"Strategic Plans" is a well-studied source. It has been repeatedly analyzed in relation to the history of the Manchu invasion of the Amur region in the 80s of the XVII century and the reflection of the Qing expansion by the defenders of Russian possessions. "It is proved that the interpretation of events in the documents collected there is biased, and sometimes it is a direct falsification of facts. Drawing up "Strategic Plans" as an official work was intended to consolidate the version of events in the Amur region, which was developed by Qing diplomacy to cover the armed invasion of its troops on Russian territory. This bias is already expressed in the first lines of the essay: "Russians are subjects of the state of Olosa. The Russian state is remote, in the extreme northwest, and has not had any relations with China since ancient times. Russians are basically all rude, greedy, and uncultured. Those who settled near Heilongjiang 60 , daura and solona were nicknamed "locha". They rampaged, killed and looted, accepted defectors from our side, and inflicted evil on the borders. " 61
It is characteristic that all these accusations are absolutely not confirmed by the information of imperial intelligence. On the contrary, the reports presented to the Emperor on the course of operations of Qing infiltrators paint pictures of the peaceful economic development of the Amur Region by the Russians .62 In principle, the information about Russia in the " Strategic Plans "was limited to the stereotypical statement:" The Russian state has never had ties with the Middle State. The Russians are extremely ferocious by nature and difficult to subdue. " 63 Thus, from the point of view of understanding the Russian state, the "Strategic Plans" were a step back even in comparison with the "Notes" of Qian Liangze.

If the three listed authors represented the metropolitan school, then Yang Bin (1657-1747) can be called the first provincial Chinese historian to address this topic. In the province, information about the Russians began to accumulate where the Qing possessions came closest to the Russian borders - in one of the Manchu villages of Ningut. It was a place of exile for many educated Chinese who did not please the regime. Jan 64 was born in the family of one of the settlers. His life was spent in a town that was actually located outside the empire, which left an imprint on his work. The collection of his poems was called "Poems Written Abroad". From Ninguta, Manchu military teams made forays into the Russian Amur region and learned about Nepo's neighbors-

56 Qian Liangze. Uk. soch., p. 38-38ob.

57 Ibid., p. 43.

58 The first translation of this work into Russian was made by a member of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Beijing, M. A. To Ovodov (Ilarii). It was completed in 1854, but remained in manuscript (Skachkov P. E. Uk. soch., p. 435). New translation: RKO, vol. 2, pp. 660-688.

59 RKO, Vol. 2, p. 796.

60 The Chinese name of the Amur River.

61 RKO, vol. 2, p. 660.

62 Ibid., p. 669.

63 Ibid., p. 688.

64 Melikhov G. V. Yang Bin and his work "Liubian jilue". In: Countries of the Far East and South-East Asia-History and Economy, Moscow, 1967, p. 64.

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consequently. The Imperial lands were further south. When Jan was about 20 years old, they were surrounded by a line of fortifications called the Willow Palisade .65 His main work was titled "Description of the land inside and outside the Willow Palisade". There he included the information he had about the Russians.

The "Land Description" was completed around 1689. The information about the Russians contained in his first chapter only slightly repeats some of the points made by Qian. For the rest, Jan was able to provide readers with much more complete, versatile and, perhaps, fairly reliable information about the Russian neighbor. Describing the Russians, Yan notes that "they are people with blue sunken eyes, a prominent nose, a yellow curly beard, with a long body; they have a lot of strength, but they like to sleep and when they sleep, they do not wake up immediately. They are skilled in foot combat, know how to handle guns, and are not afraid of bows and arrows. If the arrow hits the body, they will calmly pull it out, look at each other and laugh. " 66 Confucianism was very impressed by the courtesy of the Russians: "Among this people, low and young, when they see the venerable and senior, they take off their caps and bow their heads."

Yang tried to understand the differences between the Chinese and Russian chronology. In the Qing Empire, it was the 26th year of Kangxi's reign (1687). This is probably the date that can be taken as the date of Yang's work on the "Description". According to the existing chronology in the Russian state, there were already 7194 years "from the creation of the world". Such a period of time could compete with Chinese traditional ideas about the prescription of the Universe, transformed by the mythical first ancestors of Fuxi and Nuwa. The long count of time symbolized the antiquity of culture in the eyes of the Chinese author. In his eyes, the culture of the Russians was also reflected in their religious beliefs. Describing the custom of crossing oneself ("first indicate the forehead, then the stomach, then the right shoulder, then the left shoulder, this is the so-called reverse cross sign in European countries"), Jan emphasizes that, being Christians, Russians honor the images of the "heavenly master", when they see him, "they will certainly bow down and cry". When Yang tries to represent the object of this belief in his usual system of symbols ("the Buddha is greatly honored"), he immediately corrects the error: "this is not a Buddha; the person being honored is the heavenly lord."67
Jan gave the greatest place to the description of the material culture of Russians. Dwellings, tools, clothing, the coin system, paper, food products-all became the subject of his inquisitive attention .68 He concludes his story about the Russian state with a reference to the location of Moscow: "Their capital is consistently located just to the west of [the coast] Northern high sea in the middle. If [from there] they travel by water and land day and night, then after 13 months they arrive in the city of Yakesa [Albazin]." Yan has the western border of the Rus 'country seven days' journey northwest of Altai. By its nature, this reference is close to those made on the margins of Chinese maps of the XVII century. However, it is known that the development of regional studies is closely related to the progress of cartography. The map synthesizes accumulated knowledge. The mapping itself is possible only with a certain minimum of information about a particular country. Without cartographic source studies, 69 the disclosure of the features of the initial stage of accumulation of knowledge about Russia in China would be incomplete.

What information about the Russian state was reflected on the Chinese maps of that time? And how does this information compare with information about other countries? Chinese cartography was highly developed already in the early Middle Ages. But until the 17th century, its maps were constructed in the traditional manner, without taking into account the spherical shape of the Earth. In addition to East, Central and South Asia, the Chinese were familiar with the north-eastern coast of Africa, Arabia, Asia Minor, the Mediterranean Sea with Spain

65 For more information, see: Melikhov G. V. Willow Palisade-the border of the Qing Empire. Voprosy istorii, 1981, No. 8.

66 Kuehner N. V. Uk. soch., p. 70.

67 Ibid.

68 Ibid., pp. 70-71.

69 More about this: Goldenberg L. A. Using old maps. In: Ispol'zovanie starykh kartov v geograficheskikh i istoricheskikh issledovaniyakh [Using old maps in Geographical and Historical Research], Moscow, 1980, pp. 6-7.

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and Italy, which they knew about from other texts (about the coasts of Africa and Arabia - from their own voyages in the first half of the XV century). Chinese maps of the world were schematized and constructed without taking into account the shape of our planet, necessarily with China in the center of the map. A more complete world map from 1593 can be considered 70 . But even for its author, Russia remained a blank spot. Study of Qing maps of the second half of the XVII century. It has already been done in our country, but in relation to the history of Manchurian expansion in the Amur region 71 . It showed that Chinese cartographers had erroneous views on the territory of the Far East, and before the invasion of the Russian possessions by Manchurian troops, they had a very vague idea of it.

In the second half of the 17th century, the cartographic science of the Qing Empire was booming. One of the world's best collections of ancient Chinese maps is held in the Geography and Maps Division of the Library of Congress. Among the founders of this collection was the American sinologist A. Hummel. In 1930, a "Complete Map of the Earth"was purchased from him for the library. In its upper part, a sticker with an inscription in English, probably made by Hummel, has been preserved.: "Wall map of China, dated 1673" 72 . The difference in the Chinese and English names is explained by the fact that this map is basically identical to the earlier one, which is stored in the same place, but in the Eastern Collection, and does not have attribution. "Wall Map of China", unlike its predecessor, does not have two hemispheres that show the world. However, in the northwestern corner of the map, England, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Arabia, and Africa are represented as islands. Detailed notes in the margins (which is common for old Chinese works) describe the language, customs and customs of foreign countries, their distance from China and the path to them that sailors should follow, For example, the note on the Netherlands says: "Holland is located in the northern part of the Great Western Ocean. As follows from the essay "Chengzhi Tianxun", the ambassador from Holland defended the point of view that this country borders on the Russian state and that the language in these two countries is the same."

At the western edge of the map is an inscription with information about Russia: "The Russian state is in contact with locha in the east, and to the west, directly to the north, all the land is completely [owned] by it." Map author's note :" As stated in the essay "Strategic Plans for the pacification of the Russians", the Russians presented tribute [to the Qing court], intended to submit. Since ancient times, they have not reached their states. [So far] away from the capital [of China], how do I reach it? By land road from here you can get directly to this state. From Jiayuguan Outpost 73 go 11-12 days to Hami, from Hami go 12-13 days to Turfan 74 . Turfan consists of 5 villages. Turfan is just the border of the Russian state. This state is vast, stretching for more than 20 thousand li."

As we can see, this text does not introduce fundamentally new information into the already familiar information about the Russian state from other Chinese writings of the XVII century, but it contains two interesting facts. First, the route to Russia is indicated through Central Asia (the same route that Yarizhkin's trade caravan and Baykov's embassy arrived in the Qing capitals in the mid-1650s). In the 70s, a shorter and more convenient route was opened - through Mongolia or Manchuria (I. Milivanov's mission, Spafari Embassy 75). Secondly, the author of the inscription refers to the "Strategic Plans" of Chang Shu, which can be explained either by the fact that the map must not date back to 1673 ("Strategic Plans..."compiled in 1685-1690), or by the fact that the inscription was made later, on a ready-made map. To resolve this issue, let's look at the geographical load

70 Salishchev K. A. Kartovedenie [Cartography], Moscow, 1982, p. 312.

71 Melikhov G. V. Manchus in the North-East (XVII century). Moscow, 1974, pp. 114-120; Myasnikov V. S. Uk. soch. pp. 233-235.

72 Its cipher: G. 7820, 1673, Y8, Vault Shelf, Hum. Purch. 1930, N 4.

73 In the west of the Great Wall, now a city in Gansu Province.

74 The area that Wu Qian refers to as Cheshi in Han times.

75 A description of this path is given in Chinese works of the XVIII - XIX centuries (see the description of Russia extracted from Chinese books. - Son of the Fatherland, 1851, February, pp. 1-7).

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maps. In the area of Northern Manchuria, among other signs and inscriptions, the cities of Mergen and Aigun are marked. The decision to build Mergeni was made in October 1685,76 and the date of the city's foundation is considered to be 1690,77 . Aigun was founded in 1683. Thus, we have to admit that the dating of this map by Hummel is incorrect. The map probably dates back to the 1690s.

This statement is also supported by its comparison with map F. Verbista, known as the "Complete Map of the World", carved on wooden boards and printed in Beijing in 1674 78 . It was the last general map of the world produced by the Jesuits for the Qing court. It is decorated with images of New World fauna unknown in China: a turkey from Peru, a magpie from Brazil, and an ostrich from South America. Scroll 5 shows China (with its provinces) and the northern part of East Asia. To the north of Korea, on the territory of modern Manchuria, there is a single inscription "Niuzhen" (as the ancestors of the Manchus were designated in Chinese chronicles). And on the "Wall Map of China" the Far Eastern possessions of Russia are already marked, the cities of Albazin and Nerchinsk are named, the Russians are called "locha".

So, in the 1680s in China, the first attempts were made to describe the Russian state. Varying in scope and reliability, these writings only slightly conveyed the information available to the Qing Empire's government agencies, which received information from Russian embassies arriving in Beijing. In accordance with their instructions, Russian diplomats thoroughly informed the Pinsk authorities about their country. To this should be added the reports of members of trade caravans, prisoners, defectors and Jesuit advisers. It remains to be assumed that the true information about the Russians and their country was hidden in the chests of the Palace Chancellery and the State Council, because their dissemination was contrary to the policy of the Manchu court.

Since the beginning of the accumulation of information about Russia in China, various approaches to it as an object of study have been outlined. Official works (Zhang Penge, Chang Shu) were characterized by Russophobia. This was determined, in particular, by the fact that they were influenced by the stereotype of the Russian state, which was created by Qing diplomacy to justify imperial expansion against Russian possessions in the Far East. However, there were also authors (Qian Liangze, Yang Bin) who tried to cover the life of the neighboring people in an unbiased way, trying to understand its history and conditions of its existence. Objectively, they contributed to the establishment of trust and good neighborliness between the two great states.

As for the XVIII century, the process of formation of basic knowledge about Russia and Russians in China was not only continued, but also received a qualitatively new character. This was due to the fact that as a result of the efforts of Russian diplomacy, relations between the two countries became stable. The Kyakhta Tract of 1727 authorized the presence of a Russian ecclesiastical mission in Beijing, which included persons who studied Eastern languages. The mission members, in turn, helped spread knowledge about Russia in China. The reliability and volume of such information has also increased significantly due to the fact that since 1712, Chinese embassies began to visit Russia. "Yuliu" (Tulishen's notes on his trip as part of the Qing embassy to Kalmyk Khan Ayuka in 1712-1715 ) served for a long time as the basis of information about Russia. In 1732, the Qing ambassadors Desina and Bantai, while in St. Petersburg, visited the Academy of Sciences among other institutions, where they got acquainted with the collections of the Kunstkamera, the printing house, and the observatory .80 They were amazed by the physical experiments they demonstrated.-

76 Melikhov G. V. Manchus in the North-East, pp. 170-171.

77 Ibid., p. 132.

78 Its cipher is in the Department of Geography and Maps of the Library of Congress: G. 3200, 1674, N 4, Vault Shelf.

79 RKO. Vol. 1.

80 Radovsky M. I. Visiting the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences by Chinese guests in 1732. In: From the history of science and technology in the countries of the East. Issue II, pp. 85-87.

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the academicians stood before them, as well as the Gottorp Globe 81 . As a gift, the ambassadors were presented with the work of Academician T. Z. Bayer, published in 1731, "The Chinese Museum, which explains the Chinese language and literature" 82 .

Good-neighborly relations with Russia contributed to the growing interest of Chinese scientists in Russia. A summary of information from official sources about it, in particular from the newspaper "Jing Bao" ("Metropolitan Bulletin"), as well as geographical works of the XVIII century, can be found in the work of the scholar Yu Zhengxe "Cases related to the year of Guisa" (1833)83 . And the works of Chinese authors of the 17th century gradually became sources. The most famous work in Chinese historiography was Chang Shu's "Strategic Plans for pacifying the Russians". This is explained by the fact that he was canonized, because during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1796), he was published in a number of official publications "Highly approved review of the Daiqing Empire"," Highly approved review of documents of the Manchu Dynasty","Highly approved code of laws of the Daiqing Dynasty".

In 1851, the Chinese historian He Qiutao completed his essay "Prepare War Chariots for the Midnight Land", which was published in 1881. The uniqueness of this work is that it includes almost all the works of the previous period concerning Russia. He made a textual analysis of the materials available to him. Repeatedly reprinted, this work connected the events and names of the XVII century with modern historiography. Interest in the authors of the distant era was expressed in the reprints of their works, in the use of them as sources by current Chinese and other authors .84 In China, the works of 17th-century authors who wrote about Russia are used in various genres of specialized literature. For example, if we take the "Biographies of prominent representatives of the Chinese Nation" intended for young people, then in the story about the Kangxi Emperor we will find quotes from "Strategic Plans for Pacifying the Russians", and in the articles of the collection on the history of Heilongjiang province, Yang Bin's "Description of the Lands" is also widely used .85
The study of Russia, which began 300 years ago in the Qing Empire, has now become a prominent area of activity in China for social scientists of various fields. About 40 centers conduct research on the history, economy, culture, and other aspects of life in the USSR. The goals, methodology, and results of these studies vary. A significant part of them aligns with American and Japanese Sovietology. But there are also notable attempts to objectively assess the course of socialist construction in the USSR and certain points in its history, and to use Soviet experience in economic and cultural construction .86 The development of this particular trend corresponds to the improvement of relations between the PRC and the USSR.

81 Globes were presented in 1713. Peter I, Duke of Holstein. Measuring 3 meters in diameter, it had a table inside that could accommodate 12 people. A hydraulic motor set the globe in motion, reproducing the daily rotation of the Earth.

82 Museum sinieum, in quo sinicae linguae et litteraturae ratio explicatur (for this work, see: Skachkov P. E. Uk. soch., p. 54).

83 Ibid., p. 41, 303; Novgorodskaya N. Y. Russia in the works of Yu Zhengse (1775-1840). - XVI scientific conference "Society and State in China". Abstracts and reports. Part 2. Moscow, 1985.

84 For example, in the monograph by K. Yoshida " Russia's Advance to the East and the Treaty of Nerchinsk "(Tokyo, 1984, in Japanese). There are references to the works of Zhang Penge (p.224, 441) and Yang Bin (p. 69, 70, 296, 447).

85 Biographies of prominent representatives of the Chinese nation, Vol. I. Peking, 1983, p. 282 (in Chinese); Sun Zhanwen. Research on the history of Heilongjiang Province. Harbin, 1983, p. 100-104 (in Chinese).

86 Zhuravlev V. Ya. Chinese Social studies on some issues of socialist construction. - Problems of the Far East, 1985, N 1.

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