The conférencier in the purple robe: Chen Jitong and Qing cultural diplomacy in late nineteenth-century Paris

ABSTRACT

The establishment of Chinese legations abroad in the late Qing coincided with the emergence of a number of learned societies and transnational knowledge communities in the late nineteenth century. To what extent did the Chinese diplomats residing in Europe engage with these organizations in their interactions with the West? This paper examines an understudied aspect of late Qing foreign relations by tracing the activities of the diplomat-writer Chen Jitong (1852–1907) in several learned societies in Paris during the 1880s and 1890s. While serving as a secretary at the Qing legation in Paris, Chen also became a member of several Parisian learned societies (sociétés savantes). By enthusiastically participating in the meetings of these societies, contributing to their official journals, and delivering speeches at international congresses organized by these groups during the 1889 World’s Fair, Chen established a presence for Qing China in several nongovernmental international organizations. While the intellectual foci of these learned societies ranged from folklore studies, to architectural preservation, to ethnography, Chen contributed his own unique perspective and sensitivity as a Qing literatus in his representation of Chinese society and culture, which he also successfully fused in his writings about China for a French audience. I argue that Chen’s participation in the French and international learned societies should be understood as a form of late Qing cultural diplomacy, where what was at stake was not political sovereignty but the right of Chinese self-representation and contending notions of civilization.     

Bombs,Cities, and Submarines: Allied Bombing of the French Ports, 1942–1943

The hierarchical ordering of diplomats, and of the princes they represented, was a hallmark of early-modern diplomacy and caused endless conflicts. France and Spain in particular argued continuously over precedence, both claiming to outrank the other. Rather than reconstructing specific squabbles over ceremonial or offering general explanations for precedence issues in early-modern diplomacy, this article focuses on the reasons why both the French and Spanish monarchs felt they were the worthiest king in Christendom by reconstructing the debate between their publicists between 1564 and 1610. The focus on the characteristics of each prince or kingdom that - according to them, at least - entitled them to a position of honor, will allow us to analyze the nature of the international hierarchy under construction. This debate shows that the arguments employed were closely connected to ideas on kingship in both monarchies, so that one can say precedence was fought as much between states and dynasties as between concepts of kingship.     

Neutrality and submarine warfare: Germany and Spain during the First World War

The Spanish government maintained official neutrality during the Great War because deviating from neutrality would supposedly endanger the nation’s already limited political and social stability and even threaten the survival of the monarchic regime. In August 1914 there were no direct Spanish interests in the conflict and no benefit to be obtained from any intervention by Spain, which was very weak in military terms and in the international arena. Nevertheless, Spain’s geographic location and its commercial dependence on the Entente made it especially vulnerable to the pressures of France and Great Britain, both of which attempted to take advantage of the services that Spain could offer in the economic war; Spain’s importance increased with the prolongation of the fight. Germany, in contrast, could not hope for more from Spain than its strict neutrality because of its highly important political and economic ties with the Entente and its defencelessness before England and France, from which Germany could not protect it. Because Germany could not wait for Spain’s participation next to her, the primary target of German diplomacy had to be to resist the influence of the Entente and maintain Spanish neutrality while preventing Spain from inclining towards favouring the Allies. To achieve this objective, Berlin fed, with vague promises, the idea that a Spanish collaboration would be rewarded with the annexation of some territories. On this basis, we can begin to study German–Spanish relations during the Great War, which came to be determined by incidents that were caused by the submarine war. The dependence on the Entente also helps to explain the last evolution of the relations between Germany and Spain, which could follow no other policy than that imposed by the final development of the war: taking up a position near the winners and distancing from, and nearly rupturing ties with, Germany. Using both Spanish and German documentation allows us to reach different conclusions that aim to contribute substantially to understanding the relationship between Spain and Germany during the Great War.     

The United Kingdom and the Negotiation of the 1969 New York Convention on Special Missions

During 1968–9, members of the United Nations, meeting in the Legal Committee of the General Assembly, negotiated a Convention on Special Missions, sometimes known as the New York Convention, setting out the privileges and immunities of ad hoc embassies between states. The negotiation was part of a process through which the UN sought to clarify the status and rights of official representatives, so that diplomacy could function with security and certainty. This article looks at the role of one leading power, the United Kingdom, in the talks. It explores how British interests were defined, the tactics used to secure them and how London came to terms with pressure from other states to redefine its approach. The focus is on the overall political thrust of the British negotiating position, as formulated mainly by the Foreign Office, rather than the detailed talks on such thorny issues as tax avoidance and diplomatic property. The article shows that, while London was keen to see a codification of diplomatic law, cold-war considerations made it less than enthusiastic about an upsurge in the number of special missions that the New York Convention might encourage.     

新中国的革命外交思想与实践

毛泽东主导下的新中国外交,最大的特色,就是它的革命性。革命总是有其强大的惯性。新中国既然诞生于毛泽东领导的阶级革命之中,这一阶级革命的动力、观念、经验自然也就会进一步影响到新中国的内政与外交。阶级斗争及其统战经验对新中国外交政策制定的影响、新中国内政对它的外交的影响,以及传统的革命理念、革命经验与现代外交之间,不可避免地发生种种?格与冲突。它旨在说明了毛时代的外交为什么会一直保持着很强的革命色彩,而且会越来越激进,以至于发展到"文革"初期那种四面树敌的严重地步。     

毛泽东、邓小平、江泽民和胡锦涛关于党际关系的思想及实践

毛泽东、邓小平、江泽民和胡锦涛坚持把马列主义普遍真理同中国具体实际相结合,就党际关系的理论与实践进行了深入探索。本文在梳理毛泽东、邓小平、江泽民和胡锦涛关于党际关系思想及实践的基础上,总结了我国党际交往的基本经验,即必须坚持马克思主义党际关系理论的基本原则,紧密联系党和国家的具体实际;必须积极顺应时代潮流,与时俱进,开拓进取;必须始终把党的对外工作作为国家总体外交的一条重要战线,坚持服务于国家总体外交的需要,促进国家关系的发展;必须服从和服务于树立我们党良好国际形象的根本要求。     

马克思对实现“两个和解”的探讨

“两个和解”就是人与自然的和解和人与人的和解。在马克思看来,物质生活资料的生产和再生产是人与自然和人与人之间关系的基础。在物质生活资料的生产基础上的人与自然之间的物质变换,是实现“两个和解”的内在机制,扬弃资本主义私有制,由“自由人联合体”共同占有生产资料是实现“两个和解”的根本路径。     

新时期中国文化外交兴起的必然

文化是国际竞争中备受关注的“软力量”。文化外交作为一个国家总体外交的重要组成部分越来越引起人们的重视。文化外交包括双边和多边文化交流、留学生培养、语言推广和媒体信息交流等活动。文化外交与公共外交关系密切,但又有所侧重。中国拥有悠久的对外文化交流的历史,改革开放以来,我国文化外交在配合国家整体外交,提升文化的国际影响力,宣传中国和平发展理念以及树立良好国家形象等方面发挥了重要的作用。尽管我国的文化外交仍处在一个初级阶段,对外文化交流的潜力还没有得到充分发挥,但是潜力巨大的中国文化外交必将在新世纪有着广阔的发展前景。     

中国学界对美国环境外交的研究

环境不仅作为一个社会问题引起各界的重视,同时也作为外交的内容被纳入各国的外交政策之中。作为环境大国,美国也日益重视环境在其外交中的地位,并利用环境问题制约他国。本文从四个方面综合评述中国学界对美国环境外交的研究：整体性研究、政府环境外交政策研究、环境外交中具体案例的研究以及美国与他国环境外交的博弈的研究。通过对现有研究的梳理,希望加强对美国环境外交的深入研究,更好地了解美国环境外交的走向。     

20世纪50年代中泰关系中的西双版纳傣族自治区问题

1953年,中国云南省西双版纳傣族自治区的成立曾在泰国引发了中国企图对泰国进行渗透、颠覆和侵略的谣言。在冷战的国际背景下,这一问题成为20世纪50年代中泰关系中的一个重大问题。以和平共处五项原则的提出为标志的中国外交在理论和政策上的调整,为这一问题的解决创造了积极有利的条件,围绕西双版纳傣族自治区问题的谣言逐渐消退,并由此推动了这一时期中泰关系有限缓和局面的形成。