The role of China in the fate of the Girs family

The article looks at the representatives of the Girs family who lived in China at the turn of the XX century as civil servants involved in the state affairs related to the Qing Empire or for family reasons, namely Russian Foreign Minister N. K. Girs (1820-1895), Russian Envoy to China M. N. Girs (1856-1932) and his wife M. N. Girs (Zamyatnina) (1860-1942). The study is aimed at analyzing the Girs family's life stories and sources that most vividly illustrate China and Russian-Chinese relations at the turn of the XX century. The source base is comprised of archival materials and diaries of contemporaries. The applied hermeneutic method made it possible to interpret archival sources in more detail and supplement some well-known pages of Russian-Chinese relations. The study was spurred by the active interest of the Girses' descendants in the family history, as well as the work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation aimed at preserving the memory of outstanding diplomats who made a great contribution to the development of Russian-Chinese relations. Current intensification of ties between Russia and China encourages researchers to study the history of these bilateral relations, linking the present with the past. The author comes to the conclusion that once in China, the members of the Girs family conscientiously performed their duties. Moreover, M. N. Girs's diary written during the Boxer Rebellion is a valuable source of the first-hand testimonies of those tragic events.