Treaty of Kiakhta

• Date: 1727

The 1727 Treaty of Kiakhta was, along with the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk, one of the two most significant treaties signed between Qing Dynasty China and Tsarist Russia.

The Treaty, drafted by a number of Manchu officials working in concert with the Lifan Yuan, established formal geographic borders between Qing and Russian territory, along the stretch from Kiakhta to the Argun River, a borderline which remains in place today as the eastern half of the Russo-Mongolian border, and a portion of the Russo-Chinese border on the west side of Manchuria. The treaty also provided for certain tribal peoples to be resident in Chinese territory, established Kiakhta as an official border trading town, and allowed for one Russian caravan to be able to trade at Beijing once every three years. In addition, a Russian Orthodox Church was to be permitted in Beijing; Russians already resident in the city, most of whom were descendants of prisoners of war, were to be incorporated into the banners and encouraged to learn Chinese.

References

• Jonathan Spence, The Search for Modern China, Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Co. (1999), 85.