Language Translation and the Treaty of Nerchinsk: Linguistic Aspects of Seventeenth-Century Qing-Russian Diplomacy

Abstract

This study of the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk within the context of Qing history focuses on the linguistic dimen-sions of the treaty-making process and emphasises the significance of language and translation in establishing the agreement, a relatively new focus in treaty scholarship. The study examines Qing–Russian court-to-court correspondence as part of Qing multilingual governance. It argues that cross-language translation was essential in overcoming linguistic barriers, enabling negotiation through intensive verbal exchange and the production of authoritative written texts that required sophisticated cross-linguistic understanding. Drawing on sources from both Qing and Russian archives, the research situates Qing–Russian correspondence within the broader linguistic framework of the Qing state and analyses the translation institutions of the Lifanyuan and the Grand Secretariat, which together formed a “linguistic bureaucracy” responsible for managing multilingual translation across the empire. The study addresses questions that have been little explored in existing scholarship, includ-ing why the Latin text was treated as the mutually agreed version of the treaty, why the Qing version was written in Manchu rather than Chinese, and why Mongolian, previously a principal translation language, was excluded from the final treaty texts. By reassessing the translation role of European Jesuits before and during the negoti-ations, the study highlights a form of seventeenth-century “linguistic globalisation” and reframes the Treaty of Nerchinsk as a case of global engagement in late seventeenth-century Qing history. 

1689年《尼布楚條約》的締結依賴複雜的多語翻譯機制，此機制尚無系統研究。清朝作為“翻譯帝國”，對俄交涉高度依賴它語轉譯。本文基於滿、俄檔案，考察清俄信函往來，聚焦滿、俄語先後借助蒙古語和拉丁語轉譯之實踐，揭示跨語溝通如何在互信匱乏中促成談判與文本達成。文章將清俄交涉置於清廷“翻譯官僚體系”框架中，分析理藩院與內閣翻譯機構運作，解釋為何拉丁文本終成雙方公認之條約正本；清方僅以滿文簽署條約（中文本為事後按滿文本補譯）；曾為主要中介語的蒙古語未入條約語種。文章還重審耶穌會士翻譯角色，指出該條約實為滿、俄、蒙、拉丁四大語言世界之互動產物，體現17世紀 “語言全球化”特徽，屬超越雙邊外交關係的多邊國際參與特例。