Zhao Hui

 Documents are records of the process produced when national agencies, organizations, enterprise departments, and individuals interact with the government. Documents are also tools for people to handle daily affairs and chronicle the comprehensive history of social development. Every dynasty has different spoken and written languages, forms and frames, and documentation systems. These changes have special historical meanings. Documentation systems, related political systems, and social change should also be included in discussions when studying the historical texts.


The archives housed in the Institute of Modern History are mainly documents from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated through the period starting from the end of the Qing Dynasty through the Republic of China. “Zhao hui” is a special document form. Since the Song Dynasty and the Yuan Dynasty, zhao hui had been recognized as notifications for receivers to examine and to understand. Since the Ming Dynasty, zhao hui has become the official name for documents that a commissioner writes to vassals of different departments.  The first time that zhao hui has been used as a diplomatic instrument was when the Du Fu Minister wrote to a foreign king. In 1842, the 22nd year of Tao Kuang, the Treaty of Nanking was enacted with the rule that diplomatic documents transmitted between the United Kingdom and China’s governors are to be called zhao hui. So that United Kingdom governors can communicate with Chinese governors without going through foreign businessmen. In 1879, the 5th year of Kwang Hsi, China’s government offices of foreign affairs enacted document rituals with ambassadors of other countries. Du Fu and consuls should treat each other with protocol and regular affairs were reported to the Du Fu through zhao hui. If the affairs were not important, the document name would be zhao hui, irrespective of the receiver’s capacity. Foreign ambassadors had more power and higher authority, they could communicate directly with the region’s highest administrative commanding officers. Zhao hui became the main document form for Qing Dynasty governors to communicate with foreign ambassadors and consuls.
 

Related Collection

1. The zhao hui that the Belgian ambassador wrote to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  On March 1, 1909 (July 16th, the 1st year of Xuantong), China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a zhao hui from E. de Prelle de la Nieppe, the Belgian ambassador. The zhao hui contained two advertisements for the Road Association of World Campaign held in 1910 and the appeal for the Qing Dynasty government to join the association.
 
   
2. The zhao hui that the Russian ambassador wrote to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  On May 11, 1909 (March 22nd, the 3rd year of Xuantong), China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a zhao hui from Korostovetz, the Russian ambassador. Russia claimed that it respected the profit shared by other countries within the eastern province railroad boundary.
 
   
3. The zhao hui that the American ambassador wrote to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  On May 11, 1909 (the 1st year of Xuantong), China and Russia exchanged documents to declare that China owned the rental right of eastern province railroads and signed the Temporary Corporation Article Contractor.  On June 25, 1909, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a zhao hui from Henry P. Fletcher, the American ambassador, to convey America’s opinions of the document correspondence between Russia and China and their behavior in signing the content of the Temporary Corporation Article Contractor.
 
   
4. The zhao hui that the French ambassador wrote to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  On May 8, 1922, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a zhao hui from the French ambassador, Aime Joseph de Fleuriau, to inform China that three boats of Russian volunteer teams parked in Shanghai belonged to France.
 
   
5. The zhao hui that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received from the Japanese legation.
  On July 30, 1925, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a zhao hui from the Japanese legation to illustrate the investigation of Japanese fishing boats trespassing. The first document is the original and the second document is the Chinese translation.
 
   
6. The zhao hui that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received from the German legation.
  On September 7, 1915, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a zhao hui from the German legation to request that the Chinese government should issue documents to verify that the Qingdao Custom Duty Regulation enacted by China and Japan only affected areas ruled by the Japanese army.
 
   
Text and images are provided by Digital Archives of Famous Personages, Diplomatic Records, and Economic Records in Modern China (Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica)