This index to the Records of the Department of State Relating to Political Relations Between China and Other States, 1910-1929, collection provides the dates each reel covers. Government Information MAY NOT hold all of these reels. The record in the library catalog describes the extent of our holdings. For help, or to make an appointment to view a reel, email rad@colorado.edu
On the 34 rolls of this microfilm publication are reproduced the records from the decimal file of the Department of State, 1910-29, that relate to political relations between China and nations other than the United States. The records, consisting of bound volumes and unbound documents, are mostly instructions to and despatches from diplomatic and consular officials; the despatches are often accompanied by enclosures. Also included in these records are notes between the Department of State and foreign diplomatic representatives in the United States, memoranda prepared by officials of the Department, and correspondence with officials of other Government departments and with private firms and persons. The Lists of Documents or "purport sheets" filmed on Roll 1 give brief abstracts of the documents reproduced in this microcopy and serve as a finding aid to the documents themselves. The arrangement of the entries on these lists generally corresponds to the arrangement of the documents in the file.
From 1910 to 1963 the Department of State used a decimal system for its central files, assembling and arranging individual documents according to subject and assigning decimal file numbers. The decimal file consists of nine primary classes numbered 0 through 8, each covering a broad subject area. The records reproduced in this microcopy are in Class 7, Political Relations of States. Each country has been assigned a two-digit number. The country numbers assigned to China and to Japan, for example, are 93 and 94, respectively. Thus documents bearing the file number 793-94 concern political relations between China and Japan.
When two country numbers are used in a single file number, the lower number is the controlling one and precedes the decimal point; the number after the decimal point must be higher. Documents on relations between China and countries that have a number lower than 93 would be among records for the other country; for example, those on relations between Germany (62) and China (93) would be filed under 762.93. Most of the documents reproduced in this microcopy concern relations between China and other countries in general. They are filed under 793-00 and are included in this microcopy.
When one or more digits follow the second country number, they represent a specific subject. This number, in turn, may be followed by a slant mark (/). In such cases the numbers after the slant mark were assigned to individual documents as they were accumulated on a specific subject. For example, a decimal file number taken from a document reproduced in this microcopy is 793-943/4. The number 3 following the country number for Japan (94) signifies that the subject is extraterritoriality, and the number after the slant mark indicates the number of documents on this subject.
The documents under one subject classification are generally in chronological order, coinciding with the document number assigned (which follows the slant mark). There are instances, however, when a document file number was not assigned until a date considerably later than the one on which the document was received.
Cross-reference sheets referring to related records under other subject classifications in the decimal file have been reproduced as they occur, and appropriate cross-reference notations appear in the Lists of Documents. Other cross-reference notations are to documents in the "numerical file," a system used for the central files of the Department of State for the period 1906-10. The checkmarks that appear by most entries in the left-hand column of the Lists of Documents indicate that the papers are in the file; entries without marks, it is believed, refer to documents that were not among the records when they were received from the Department of State.
Some of the documents that have been checked in the Lists of Documents do not appear in this microcopy. The file contains security-classified documents and communications received from and classified by foreign governments and Federal agencies, in addition to those classified by the Department of State. Documents that have not been declassified are not available as part of this microcopy. The National Archives and Records Service does not have authority to make reproductions of such documents available to searchers.
Most of the records reproduced in this microcopy concern proposals by the Chinese Government for readjustment of her treaty relations with foreign powers to provide for tariff autonomy and the abolition of extraterritoriality; reaction by the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Portugal to the proposals by the Chinese Government, and draft of reply by the United States to the proposals, 1925; and proposals of the nationalist regime for treaty revision, 1926.
Most of the records reproduced in this microcopy concern proposals by the Chinese Government for readjustment of her treaty relations with foreign powers to provide for tariff autonomy and the abolition of extraterritoriality; reaction by the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and Portugal to the proposals by the Chinese Government, and draft of reply by the United States to the proposals, 1925; and proposals of the nationalist regime for treaty revision, 1926.
Many records concern the question of extraterritoriality in China and are related to the work of a special Commission on Extraterritoriality, which was established at the Washington Conference on Limitation of Armament, 1921-22. There are also many records concerning relations between China and Japan.
The spreadsheet attached below contains a reel-by-reel description of the complete collection.