Three Records of a Journey East

马建忠Nanhai Publication Company · ChinaJun 2024

4.2

Word count: 20K words
Chapters: 2

Summary

In the summer of the renwu year, in the last third of the fifth month, the Korean court concluded a treaty, and Jianzhong returned from the Three Han. On the sixteenth of the sixth month, by order of Zhang Zhenshuai, Grand Minister of the Northern Seas, he set out for the south to call on Grand Minister Hefei and report on affairs. On the nineteenth he arrived at the Shanghai roadstead, where a telegraphic order detained him. For on the ninth of that month a rebellious faction in Korea had besieged the Japanese legation and attacked the royal palace, and some Japanese had died. The court at Lingdao deliberated on assembling a great fleet to proceed to Korea and investigate, and our minister in Japan, the envoy Li Chunzhai, telegraphed Zhenshuai, requesting that an officer be sent with a suitable escort of gunboats to the Han River to observe developments. Zhenshuai, consulting the Zongli Yamen on whether Zhong should be sent, therefore detained him first.

Editor's review

Written by Ma Jianzhong, Record of Three Journeys East recounts how, after the rebellious faction in Korea besieged the Japanese legation and attacked the royal palace in the renwu year, he was ordered south by the Grand Minister of the Northern Seas to call on the Hefei Grand Minister, was detained en route by a telegraphic order, and was instead sent with gunboats to the Han River to observe developments. The prose is modern classical Chinese—terse and restrained—yet it renders the tension of late Qing diplomacy, played out through telegrams and the movement of warships, in concrete detail. The book traces multi-party maneuvering among the Zongli Yamen, the minister in Japan, the Northern Seas command, and the Korean situation, making it a primary source for understanding how late Qing diplomacy in East Asia actually operated. Readers see how decisions took shape swiftly amid telegraphic orders, consultations, and detention, and feel the pressure on those who had to judge with limited information. For readers interested in modern history and diplomatic history, first-hand accounts like this convey the scene more vividly than later summaries and are best read alongside related historical sources.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Scholars and students of late Qing diplomatic history and modern Korean history
History enthusiasts interested in reading modern classical Chinese sources
Readers attentive to the operational details of modern diplomacy, such as telegrams and gunboats
University researchers who need primary sources to support academic writing

Not a good fit for

General readers seeking popular history narratives who lack a foundation in classical Chinese
Ordinary literary readers expecting a complete narrative or character portrayal
Readers with no interest in late Qing political and military affairs

Reading tips

First establish the timeline of the Korean upheaval in the renwu year, then read the specific steps of the telegraphic orders and troop movements in the book.
Make small cards of the personal and institutional names (Zongli Yamen, Northern Seas, minister in Japan) and refer to them while reading.
Read alongside contemporary memorials and telegrams to compare how the same event is recorded in different accounts.
Slow down at elliptical passages in the classical prose, clarifying who is reporting to whom and how orders were transmitted.

About the publisher

Nanhai Publication Company China · Founded in 1988

Nanhai Publication Company is a comprehensive publisher known for its literature and arts titles, covering fields such as classical poetry, martial arts fiction, and folk literature. Judging from the more than 1,600 books in the database, the company has released classical poetic works including the Nineteen Old Poems and the Nine Songs, as well as multiple volumes of Huanzhulouzhu's series The Swordsmen of Mount Shu, along with related writings by authors such as Guan Hanqing, Qu Yuan, Zuo Si, and Wang Zhihuan. Its publishing character lies in balancing the organization of classic texts with the dissemination of popular literature, placing poetry anthologies alongside long martial arts novels and presenting a relatively diverse literary profile. Public information is limited, and further details about its editorial practices and series planning remain to be supplemented.

版权信息
东行三录

FAQ

What period of history does the book mainly cover?

According to the available content, the background is the renwu-year crisis in Korea, when a rebellious faction besieged the Japanese legation and the royal palace and Japan deliberated sending warships to investigate. Ma Jianzhong was ordered south to report on affairs, detained en route, and instead sent with gunboats to the Han River to observe developments—a diplomatic response within the late Qing Korea crisis.

Can readers without a background in modern history understand it?

It will be somewhat difficult. The book involves the Zongli Yamen, the Grand Minister of the Northern Seas, the minister in Japan, and other parties, as well as telegraphic correspondence. Reading a background account of the renwu-year upheaval in Korea first will make the original much easier to follow.

How are sources of this kind best used?

They serve as primary material for studying late Qing diplomatic decision-making, useful for observing concrete operations such as telegraphic orders, consultations, and detention. They can also be read alongside memorials and telegrams to compare how different documents record the same event.

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About the author

马建忠 Author

Ma Jianzhong was an important Chinese linguist and writer of the modern period. Public information about him is limited, and no systematic record of his birth and death years, native place, or biographical details is available. Judging from the five works collected here, his writing spans two fields: linguistics and travel literature. Ma shi wen tong (The Grammar of Mr. Ma), his representative work, is a foundational text of Chinese grammar. Building on traditional philological materials, it systematically examines classical Chinese function words and syntax, and its influence on later Chinese grammatical research has been profound; it remains an important reference for the study of classical Chinese. The Dongxing chu lu, Dongxing xu lu, Dongxing san lu, and the collected Dongxing lu are travel accounts that record what he saw and felt on his journey east. Their style is plain and attentive to direct observation, giving them value both as historical sources and as literature. The works are classified on this site under classic works and folk literature, suggesting that readers regard them both as traditional scholarly texts and as readable narrative writing.