Chen Jitong (; 1851–1907),
courtesy name Jingru (), also known as Tcheng Ki-tong, was a Chinese diplomat, general, scholar, and shipbuilder during the late
Qing dynasty. Chen was born in
Houguan, now in present-day
Minhou
Minhou County (; Foochow Romanized: Mìng-âu) is a county in the eastern Fujian Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou, the provincial capital. The Min River flows in a southeast direction throu ...
,
Fuzhou
Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...
. In 1869 he started to study the
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
at the school attached to the Fuzhou shipyard. In 1875
Shen Baozhen sent thirty Chinese students, from the training school attached to the
Foochow Arsenal to study shipbuilding and navigation in
Europe. In 1876, Chen Jitong was selected to go to Europe and he wrote a book on his impressions after his return to China the following year. He subsequently served on a number of important positions in the Qing foreign service. While serving as a diplomat in France, he wrote several famous works in French, becoming the first
Francophone
French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...
Chinese author.
In 1891, he was dismissed from all official positions and settled in
Shanghai. Following China's defeat in the
First Sino-Japanese War, he served as foreign minister of the short-lived
Republic of Formosa.
Writings
* -- Tcheng-ki-tong,
Les Chinois peints par eux memes' Paris: Levy, 1884.
Internet Archive
* --
Journal d'un mandarin: lettres de Chine et documents diplomatiques inédits' Paris: Plom, 1887.
Internet Archive
* --
The Chinese painted by themselves.' Translated from the French by James Millington. London: Field & Tuer,
885?
* -- Tcheng-Ki-Tong, ''Chin-Chin or The Chinaman at Home''. Tr. R. H. Sherard. London: A. P. Marsden, 1895.
* --
Contes chinois' Paris: Levy, 1889.
References
*Yeh, Catherine Vance. "The Life-Style of Four Wenren in Late Qing Shanghai." ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'' 57, no. 2 (1997): 419–70.
* Ke Ren, "Chen Jitong, Les Parisiens peints par un Chinois, and the Literary Self-Fashioning of a Chinese Boulevardier in Fin-de-siècle Paris", ''L'Esprit créateur'', Volume 56, Number 3, Fall 2016, Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 90–103.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Jitong
1851 births
1907 deaths
Qing dynasty diplomats
Ambassadors of China to France
Writers from Fuzhou
Qing dynasty politicians from Fujian
Politicians from Fuzhou
History of Taiwan
Sciences Po alumni
Chinese expatriates in France
Chinese shipbuilders
French-language writers from China