A Letter of Iakinf Bichurin to the Board of Colonial Affairs (Lifanyuan) Introduction, Translation from Manchu and Commentary by Tatiana A. Pang
The Manchu collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS, keeps a short letter of Iakinf Bichurin, the head of the 9th Russian Ecclesiastic mission to Peking, to the Lifanyuan. The letter is written in Manchu according to the rules of official communication, and is a rare document written by Bichurin in the Manchu language. The letter concerns a robbery at the house of the head of the mission, and it gives some details about the inner life of the mission.