Chen Jitong

Chen Jitong in his official attire. Photography by Nadar.

Chen Jitong ( Chinese  陳 季 同 , Pinyin Chén Jìtòng , W.-G. Tcheng Kitong, Tcheng Ki-tong , French: Tcheng-Ki-tong; age- old name Jingru敬 如; * 1851 ; † March 1907 , Nanjing , China ) was a Chinese diplomat and writer. He was in France from 1884 to 1891 and wrote some works in French during that time . This made him the first Chinese to publish books in French and who did a lot to make Chinese culture known.

Life

Chen Jitong was born in 1851 in Houguan, a town in what is now Fuzhou . In 1869 he began to learn French because there was a French-run school at the arsenal of Fuzhou Free Port. He studied with Prosper Giquel and made friends with his teacher.

In 1876 he participated in Shen Baozhen's legation to Europe . After returning to China the following year, he wrote a report of his impressions in Europe and was given an important post as advisor on Qing Dynasty's foreign policy . In the 1880s he was appointed military attaché to the embassy of the Chinese Empire in Paris . In 1884 he published the first book Les Chinois vus par eux-mêmes (Eng. The Chinese, seen by them), which was first published in the Revue des Deux Mondes and then edited as an anthology by Calmann-Lévy . The book became a huge hit, with ten editions in two years and widespread public attention. His subsequent works were also successful. At the same time he became a social force in Tout-Paris (the Parisian elite). He performed in salons and at parties and always dressed in valuable Chinese robes. He was also often photographed in this elevator, for example by Nadar .

In April 1890 he married a French woman, Marie Adèle Lardanchet, in the municipality of Desnes (Jura). A press report revealed that he was already married in Beijing .

In 1891 he fell out of favor. He had become heavily in debt through his social life in Paris and saved himself by moving to China. Li Hung Chang acted as his protector and made sure that his debts were paid. After retiring from public life, he settled in Shanghai . The short-lived Republic of Formosa reappointed him as Minister of Foreign Relations in 1895. Around 1898 he returned to Fuzhou, where he was appointed Marshal and for a few months he was the interlocutor of Paul Claudel , who received reports from him about the work of Prosper Giquel at the Arsenal de Fuzhou.

He died in Nanjing in March 1907.

22. Panel from Panorama le Tout-Paris by Charles Castellani , shown at the 1889 World's Fair. Tcheng-Ki-Tong can be recognized as the Chinese on the right in the picture.

Works

• Les Chinois pains par eux-mêmes. (The Chinese painted by themselves) 3rd ed.Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1884.
• Contes chinois (translations from the Liaozhai zhiyi ), Paris, Calmann Lévy, 1884.
• Comment on devient Parisien. (How to be a Parisian) Le Figaro, 1885.
• Le théâtre des Chinois: étude de mœurs comparées. (The Chinese Theater) 3. éd. Paris: Calmann Lévy, 1886.
• L'économie sociale de la Chine , (Socioeconomics of China) Conférence du 12 août 1889 publiée dans les actes du 18e colloque de l'Association Française pour l'Avancement des Sciences, p. 422.
• L'écolier chinois dans les numéros 70 et 71 du journal Le Petit Français illustré , Armand Colin, 1890,
• Les Plaisirs en Chine (The Pleasures of China) Charpentier, Paris, 1890, III + 308 pages.
• Le Roman de l'Homme Jaune, Mœurs chinoises. (The Yellow Man's Novel) Charpentier, 1891.
• Les Parisiens peints par un Chinois , (Parisian painted by a Chinese) Charpentier, 1891.
• Mon pays, la Chine d'aujourd'hui , (My Country, Today's China) Charpentier et Fasquelle, Paris, 1892.
• L'Amour héroïque , (heroic love) Shanghaï, Dongfang Chubanshe. 1904.

bibliography

• Chen Jitong and Cosmopolitan Possibilities in the Late Qing World. [1]
• Yinde Zhang, Pour une archeologie de la francophonie chinoise: le cas de Tcheng Ki-tong , Revue de littérature comparée 2011/3 (n ° 339)
• Yinde Zhang, La francophonie chinoise d'aujourd'hui et l'héritage du général Tcheng Ki-Tong , dans Traits chinois / lignes francophones , sous la direction de Rosalind Silvester et Guillaume Thouroude, Les Presses de l'Université de Montréal, 2012. ISBN 978-2-7606-2292-0

Web links

Commons : Chen Jitong  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Auteur: Tcheng Kitong  - Sources and full texts (French)

• Laphamsquarterly.org
• Moteur Collections sur le site culture.fr du ministère de la Culture.
• Biography en chinois
• Courte biographie en français sur le site Chineancienne , où plusieurs œuvres sont disponibles.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Editorial de René Viénet, Monde chinois n ° 11: Information & désinformation sur la Chine de François Guizot à François Jullien. ISBN 978-2-9167-2207-8 ( preview in Google Book Search).
2. ↑ Le Matin le 17/04/1890; T'oung Pao , “Archives pour servir à l'étude de l'histoire, des langues, de la geographie et de l'ethnographie de l'Asie orientale”, vol. 1, Schlegel et Cordier, éd. Leide, EJ Bril, 1890, page 160. Toung-Pao. Retrieved January 24, 2017 . 
3. ↑ La Presse, April 23, 1891, p. 3
4. ↑ La Presse, June 29, 1891, p. 3
5. ^ ^{A b} Larousse mensuel illustré , n ° 2, April 1907, p. 30. Notice biographique
6. ↑ L'Arsenal de Fou-Tchéou: œuvres consulaires: Chine 1895-1905, Paul Claudel, p. 212 ( preview in Google book search)
7. ↑ La réécriture de l'amour charnel dans les premières traductions françaises du Liaozhai zhiyi ( Memento of the original of January 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.