REPORT DOCUMENTS OF VIETNAMESE DIPLOMATIC ENVOYS DISPATCHED TO THE QING DURING THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES

Tóm tắt

This study investigated what Vietnamese diplomatic envoys reported to the Vietnamese courts and the manner in which they did so during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Envoys of the Lê–Trịnh government sent reports to the court—which were a memorial [khải] to the Trịnh lord—when they stayed in Guangxi province during both their outward and return journeys. The envoys entrusted the reports to messengers such as interpreters, secretaries, or attendants for delivery to Thăng Long during their stay in the Nanning prefectural capital on the return journey. During the Nguyễn period, on their outward journeys, envoys reported their itinerary when they stayed in the Guangxi and Hubei provincial capitals; on their return journey, before returning to Vietnam, they reported their itinerary and approximate time of return from Guangxi province. All of the envoys’ report documents in the nineteenth century were memorials to the Nguyễn Emperor. In the nineteenth century, before Vietnamese envoys sent reports to the Nguyễn court, Qing officials such as the Grand Coordinator of Guangxi and Huguang’s Supreme Commander would check their drafts.