Russian Orthodox mission in Beijing in the XIX century: financial aspects

Russian Orthodox mission existed in Beijing for a long time, from 1712 to 1955. It was a unique organization, which combined a lot of different function, such as scientific center, diplomatic institute, and commercial representative and so on. The relevance of the article is determined primarily by the increased attention to the problems of economic and political world challenges, which imply closer cooperation between Russia and the dynamically developing countries of the East Asian region. The financial aspects before was not on the focus of the historical research. The article first analyzes the unique archive materials not only about the salary of the mission’s employees, but also about the related expenses, such as the costs of building mission buildings and gifts to Chinese officials. In the article the problem of the external and internal political situation in Russia and China are analyzed. The author shows the diversity of financial support for the mission, its variability and adaptability to local conditions. The methodological basis of the research is the universal knowledge of the dialectical method, which allows to study the phenomena and processes of reality in their historical development in the relationship and interdependence, and based on it, general scientific, special and private-law methods of research.