Catalogue description Kwangtung Provincial Archives: Documents of the Chinese Administration in Kwangtung

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Details of FO 931
Reference: FO 931
Title: Kwangtung Provincial Archives: Documents of the Chinese Administration in Kwangtung
Description:

This series contains documents of the Chinese administration in Kwangtung. They touch on the opium trade and opium wars, central and local administration, foreign relations, internal rebellions and the Arrow War.
Date: 1765-1857
Arrangement:

Abbreviations used in the catalogue of this series:

  • arr. - arrived, referring to the arrival of documents, always followed by a date
  • C-in-C - Commander-in-Chief. Unless otherwise stated, it refers to those in Kwangtung.
  • dis. - dispatched
  • dr. - draft
  • encl. - enclosure
  • f. (ff.) - folio(s)-the Chinese folded 'page.' Most of the manuscripts were originally folded in a zigzag fashion from a long sheet of paper to make them physically manageable. They were not bound. The folio here refers to the two sides of a manuscript created by a single fold. It does not refer to the unused part of the manuscript which usually comes at the end.
  • G. - the governor of a province-unless otherwise stated, it refers to the governor of Kwangtung.
  • G.G. - governor-general-unless stated otherwise, it refers to the governor-general of Liang-Kwang.
  • HF - the Hsien-feng reign, 1851-1861
  • Imp. Com. - Imperial Commissioner
  • n.d. - no date
  • TK - the Tao-kuang reign, 1820-1850
  • Tls. - taels
  • / (in dates) - ex. 1839/1840 means 1839 or 1840
  • - (in dates) - ex. 1839-1840 means a two-year period from 1839 through 1840
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in The National Archives: FO 682
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: Chinese
Physical description: 1954 papers
Custodial history: These records were captured by the British in the second (1857) Anglo-Chinese (the Arrow) War.
Publication note:

D Pong, Harvard University Press 1975, A Critical Guide to the Kwangtung Provincial Archives

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