Records on China

1. Introduction

The records in The National Archives are arranged according to the government departments and other organisations that created them. The largest and most important collections relating to China are the records of the Foreign Office (FO), and its successor the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). Records of the service departments, that is the Admiralty (ADM), the War Office (WO), the Air Ministry (AIR), and the Ministry of Defence (DEFE), relating to China are less extensive; some however are of considerable importance. The records of these departments are not in general arranged as conveniently as those of the Foreign Office for the purpose of identifying material relating to China. The records of the Cabinet Office (CAB) and the Prime Minister's Office (PREM) both contain material of great importance, though limited volume. Treasury records (T) are essential to understanding financial, commercial and economic conditions, and the records of the Board of Trade (BT), especially those of the Commercial Department, may be used to complement this picture.

Some material may be found in the records of other departments and a keyword search of the Catalogue should provide some references. However, apart from the Colonial Office records for Hong Kong and Wei Hai Wei (see below), they are unlikely to add much more of significance.

This brief guide is restricted almost entirely to matters relating specifically to China, Hong Kong and Wei Hai Wei, rather than to Chinese interests elsewhere in the world. Material relating to Chinese interests in the Far East and South-East Asia, and to the migration of Chinese to other regions, may be found in record series relating to those territories. Home Office records include papers relating to the naturalisation of Chinese migrants to the UK. Details of individuals known to have served in British military units or in the merchant navy may be found in the general series of service records - explanatory leaflets are available at Kew or through The National Archives' website.

The following sections identify the more important series relating to China. Most of the Foreign Office series included relate wholly to China. In the case of other government departments, most of the record series listed are of a more general nature with only scattered references to China.

This guide is concerned primarily with the period from the late 18th century until the 1970s.

2. Foreign Office

The Foreign Office was established as a separate department of state in 1782. Records relating to the conduct of foreign affairs from the reign of Henry VIII to 1781 are held among records formerly in the State Paper Office, and are known from 1547 as State Papers Foreign (SP). For details see Louise Atherton, 'Never Complain, Never Explain': records of the Foreign Office and State Paper Office 1500-c.1960 (1994).

The records comprising the Foreign Office department code (FO) fall into three major categories

• records of the Foreign Office itself (despatches from British representatives abroad, and drafts of replies; communications from foreign diplomats in London, and from other British Government departments; minutes; memoranda; treaty papers and so on)
• records of British embassies and consulates abroad, returned periodically to London
• private papers of diplomats, officials and ministers

For further information see: Michael Roper, The records of the Foreign Office 1782-1968 (Public Record Office Handbooks, XIII, 2002).

2.1 Foreign Office records

The records of the Foreign Office itself can be divided into two chronological collections: before 1906, and 1906 to 1966. Until 1906, there is a series for each country with which the UK had diplomatic relations. For China it is FO 17 covering the period from 1815 to 1905. The original means of reference to this record series are Registers of General Correspondence, FO 566, indexed by FO 738, and Registers and Indexes to General Correspondence, FO 605, which are available on microfilm.

From 1906 until 1966 the Foreign Office records are arranged into subject series - political, commercial, consular, and so on. Of these the most important are the political general papers in FO 371, which contains several thousand files relating to China. For the period from 1906 to 1919 there is a card index to Foreign Office correspondence in most of the subject series, which serves as a means of reference to the surviving files. From 1920 until 1951 it is necessary to use the Indexes to Foreign Office General Correspondence, 1920 to 1951, which are available in the Open Reading Room at The National Archives. These indexes have been reprinted by Kraus International Publications, and may be available through academic or other reference libraries. In addition, there are photocopied index volumes in a similar format for 1952, 1953 and 1959. When using both the card index and the printed index it is important to be aware that the indexes were created at the time the records were current, and that by no means all the items indexed have been selected for permanent preservation.

Many of the more important papers from FO 17 and FO 371 were printed for circulation within the Foreign Office, to Cabinet Ministers, and to diplomats. Those concerning China are FO 405 (Confidential print, China 1848 to 1957), and FO 436 (Confidential Print, Far Eastern Affairs 1937 to 1957). Further copies of prints for the period to 1914 are in FO 881. FO 415 is Foreign Office: Confidential Print Opium, 1910-1941.

There is also material relating to China in FO 83 (Correspondence before 1906, Great Britain and General); FO 95, (Political and Other Departments: Miscellanea, Series I); FO 96 (Political and Other Departments: Miscellanea, Series II); and FO 97 (Political and Other Departments: Supplements to General Correspondence before 1906).

2.2 Embassy and consular archives

As well as correspondence with the Foreign Office, the Embassy and Consular Archives contain correspondence with the Chinese authorities and others in China, some registers of births, marriages and deaths of British nationals in China, deeds and registers of property, records relating to extra-territorial jurisdiction, and such other records as consulates were required to keep. Communication with the Chinese authorities was in Chinese, and though such communications were always translated into English before being attended to, many of the originals and copies of British replies in Chinese have survived.

The survival rate of the embassy records is high, that of the consulates much less so.

2.3 Treaties

For the modern period original treaties are in two main record series.

2.4 Private papers

A collection of papers of ministers and officials is in the series FO 800 (Private Offices: Various Ministers' and Officials' Papers, 1824-1968), which is available on microfilm.. There are many other individual series of private papers. The following have some relevance to China.

2.5 Kwangtung (Guangdong) provincial archives

The large collection of documents in Chinese that was returned from the British Embassy in Peking to London in 1959 and placed in the then Public Record Office were originally allocated a single record series, Documents in the Chinese Language, with the reference FO 682. On closer examination, it became clear that although the bulk of the collection consisted of documents that were the authentic archives of successive British missions in China. Part of the collection, some 2000 documents, were records of the Chinese authorities captured by the British in Canton in 1858, which had become mixed with the missions' archives in the Chinese Secretary's Office, where they had been stored for convenience.

These documents were subsequently extracted from the collection, allocated to the record series Kwangtung Provincial Archives (FO 931) and catalogued by David Pong in A critical guide to the Kwangtung Provincial Archives deposited at the Public Record Office of London (1967), the introduction to which discusses their provenance and nature. All of these records have been microfilmed.

3. Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The Foreign Office merged with the Commonwealth Office in October 1968, but the two departments ran a joint registry system from January 1967. From that date the main series for correspondence concerning China is FCO 21, Records of the Far Eastern Department. References to China will also be found among the records of other geographical and subject departments, and can be identified using the the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue). A breakdown of the responsibilities of departments within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office can be found in the annual Diplomatic Service List.

4. Admiralty

4.1 Station records

These are records of local squadron or fleet commanders. Until 1864 China came within the East Indies Station. In that year a separate China Station was established. The records now in the China Station series go back to 1828 however, and there is little about China in the East India Station records.

4.2 Admiralty Secretariat records

Records of the Board of Admiralty, covering all aspects of naval administration. Information about China is scattered throughout the following series and can be extensive for some subjects. A search of the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue) for the 'Yangtse incident' using the search term 'Yangtse OR Amethyst', for example, will produce a large number of references.

Further material scattered among other series can be identified through the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue) by the use of appropriate search terms.

5. Air Ministry

The following is not a comprehensive list, but provides an indication of the type of material relating to China which may be found. Further material may be identified through the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue).

5.1 AIR 8 - Chief of Staff papers

5.2 AIR 9 - Director of Plans

5.3 AIR 23 - Overseas Commands

5.4 AIR 29 - Operations record books: miscellaneous units

5.5 AIR 40 - Director of Intelligence

6. War Office

The following is not a comprehensive list, but provides an indication of the type of material relating to China which may be found. Further material may be identified through the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue).

6.1 WO 1 - Secretary at War, Secretary of State for War, and Commander in Chief: in-letters and miscellaneous papers

6.2 WO 28 - Headquarters' records

6.3 WO 32 - War Office registered files

These records cover the administration of the British Army throughout the world, and include reports about campaigns in which it was involved. The series is arranged by subject codes. The following are particularly relevant: O/J China, O/AT Far East, 46 Narratives of operations. O/AT includes some files about Hong Kong and Kowloon during the Second World War.

O/J includes about 160 files relating to Chinese affairs from 1857-1950, and covering such varied matters as the capture of Canton 1857, the China Expedition 1900, the operation of brothels in the International Settlement in Shanghai 1927-1935, and reports of Semenoff's White Russia Movement c.1928.

Code 46 contains extensive reports on the Tsingtao Expedition 1914-1915.

6.4 WO 95 - First World War and Army of Occupation war diaries

WO 95 contains a number of relevant First World War war diaries (search the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue) using 'China OR Chinese').

6.5 WO 100 - Campaign medal and award rolls

WO 100 includes medal entitlements for British military operations in China in 1900, including awards to Chinese regiments, volunteers and interpreters.

6.6 WO 106 - Directorate of Military Operations and Intelligence: papers

About 340 volumes and files that relate to China, from 1883 to the end of the Second World War. They include papers on French operations in Annan and China 1883-1886, Revolutions and Civil War 1902-1912, China in the First World War, Sino Japanese hostilities 1935-1939, the Second World War, and notes on some seventy Chinese and foreign personalities from 1920-1940, including Sun Yat Sen, Dr Wellington Koo, 'General' Sutton and Dr Ritter van Kreittner.

6.7 WO 191 - War diaries and headquarters records, peacetime operations

6.8 WO 203 - Military headquarters papers, Far East, Second World War

About 200 files relating to China are scattered through this series, forexample:

6.9 WO 208 - Director of Military Intelligence

About 200 pieces, mainly within WO 208/177-499 and WO 208/2862-2894 , that relate to China, and primarily to the Second World War period. Includes notes on personalities 1924-1944, for example Chiang Kai-Shek and Yang Sen.

6.10 WO 273 - Narrative of British Operations in China, 1840-1842 by Major JS Rothwell

This Intelligence Branch record series contains two files.

7. Ministry of Defence

The following is not a comprehensive list, but provides an indication of the type of material relating to China which may be found. Further material may be identified through the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue) or through the expanded catalogues to DEFE 4 (Ministry of Defence: Chiefs of Staff Committee: Minutes, 1947-1973), DEFE 5 (Ministry of Defence: Chiefs of Staff Committee: Memoranda, 1947-1973), and DEFE 6 (Chiefs of Staff Committee: Reports of the Joint Planning Staff and successors, 1947-1968), which are on open shelves in the Open Reading Room at The National Archives.

8. Prime Minister's Office

The records of the Prime Minister's Office include a considerable amount of material about British relations with China and other matters. The documents listed below are examples only; additional material may be identified by using the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue).

8.1 PREM 1 - Correspondence and papers to 1940

8.2 PREM 3 - Operational papers, Second World War

8.3 PREM 4 - Confidential papers, Second World War

8.4 PREM 8 - Correspondence and papers 1945-1951

8.5 PREM 11 - Correspondence and papers 1951-1964

8.6 PREM 13 - Correspondence and papers 1951-1964

8.7 PREM 15 - Correspondence and papers 1970-1974

9. Cabinet Office (CAB)

The CAB series contain the records of the Cabinet since 1916, of its many committees, of the First and Second World War Cabinets, of the Committee of Imperial Defence and its predecessors since 1895, as well as the working files of the Cabinet Office staff. Indexes to the volumes of Cabinet minutes and memoranda (CAB 23 /CAB 24, 1915-1939; CAB 65 /CAB 66, 1939-1945; CAB 128 /CAB 129, 1945-) are available on open access in the Open Reading Room at the National Archives. The following references give examples of other material readily identifiable through the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue).

9.1 CAB 21 - Registered files

9.2 CAB 27 - Cabinet Committees to 1939

9.3 CAB 37 - Photographic copies of cabinet papers, c1880-1916

9.4 CAB 47 - Advisory Committee on trading and blockade in war

9.5 CAB 58 - Economic Advisory Council

9.6 CAB 134 - Cabinet Committees from 1945

10. Treasury

The more important records of the Treasury consist of three cycles: Treasury papers (T 1) up to 1920; Treasury Finance (T 160) and Supply (T 161) files from 1921 to c.1948; and Treasury Division files from c.1948. (Many files starting before 1948 were re-registered in the new system of division files commenced that year). Of the division files, those of the Overseas Finance Division (T 236) are the most important for China, but material may also be found in other series such as Imperial and Foreign (T 220) and Home and Overseas Planning Staff (T 234).

10.1 T 1 - Treasury papers to 1920

Only part only of this large and valuable series (over 12,000 boxes) has been catalogued. The various printed series of Calendars of Treasury Books and Papers describe in detail most of the contents of T 1 until 1745. For the remainder of the series, access is by means of alphabetical and numerical registers (T 2) which are used in conjunction with skeleton registers in T 3 . Subject registers (T 108) exist for the years 1852-1920 only, and are on open access in the Open Reading Room in The National Archives. For the year 1909 there are 12 files directly relating to Chinese affairs; it can be assumed that this is fairly typical. Subject matter is comparable to that for earlier and later periods: banking, currency, investments, loans, administrative costs, and so on.

10.2 T 160 - Finance files

Relevant material may be found mainly under the headings: 'Countries/China'; 'Finance/Currency/Countries/China'; 'Finance/Loans/Countries/China', but the availability of the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue) has made the identification of documents much simpler. Under 'Missions' are two important files covering Sir F Leith Ross' mission 1935-6 (T 160/619 F14233/1-2), and the Economic Mission to China of 1941-42 (T 160/1099 F16829).

10.3 T 161 - Supply files

Under the heading Countries/China there are six files. Most deal with property matters but T 161/252 S27311/1-3 deals with the general situation in China from 1925-1930. Again, the use of the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue) will enable the researcher readily to identify additional material in this series.

10.4 T 236 - Overseas Finance Division (Code 23 - China)

Examples of the material in this series are:

11. Colonial Office

The Colonial Office was responsible for the administration of Hong Kong and Wei-Hai-Wei during the period when those territories were leased to the UK. The most important record series are as follows:

11.1 Hong Kong

11.2 Wei-Hai-Wei

The original correspondence series are not catalogued in full before 1926 and no detail of their content can be found in the Catalogue (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue). Reference is by the registers of correspondence (for Hong Kong before 1849, the general registers in CO 326). For Hong Kong only there are also indexed summaries of incoming correspondence in CO 714. Additional material about these territories will be found among the records of the Colonial Office subject departments, and can be identified through the Catalogue.

For further information about the records of the Colonial Office see Anne Thurston, Sources for Colonial Studies in the Public Record Office: records of the Colonial Office, Dominions Office, Commonwealth Relations Office and Commonwealth office (1995) I.

12. Maps

Maps and plans of China (including Hong Kong and Wei-Hai-Wei) can be found among the map collections in FO 925, CO 700, CO 1047, CO 1054, and WO 78 and also in the map extract series MPD, MPI, MPG, MPH, MPK, MPKK and MFQ. Records of the successive Works Departments (WORK record series) include maps, plans and related files for buildings (primarily diplomatic and other British official properties) in China and Hong Kong. Many other maps and plans remain within volumes and files of correspondence and papers.

13. Further reading

The following recommended publications are available in The National Archives' Library (http://www.library.nationalarchives.gov.uk). Where indicated a publication is also available to buy at The National Archives' Bookshop (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/bookshop).

• Louise Atherton, 'Never Complain, Never Explain': records of the Foreign Office and State Paper Office 1500-c.1960 (1994)
• David Pong, A critical guide to the Kwangtung Provincial Archives deposited at the Public Record Office of London (1967)
• Michael Roper, The records of the Foreign Office 1782-1968 (Public Record Office Handbooks, XIII, 2002) - Available to buy
• Anne Thurston, Sources for Colonial Studies in the Public Record Office: records of the Colonial Office, Dominions Office, Commonwealth Relations Office and Commonwealth office (1995) I