This day, 23 January, 754, the eminent monk Jian Zhen arrived in Japan after five unsuccessful attempts. As a great achiever in architecture, sculpture, medicine and calligraphy, he carried with him a large number of Buddhist scriptures, becoming an...
This day, 22 January, in 1956, Abdul Samad, Afghanistan’s first ambassador to China, submitted his credentials to Chairman Mao Zedong. The exchange of ambassadors between the two countries improved the diplomatic environment on China’s western frontier and was of...
This day, 6 January, in 1876, Guo Songtao, the first Chinese minister based abroad and the first minister of the Qing Dynasty to the United Kingdom, landed at the Port of Southampton. During his time in the UK, Guo...
This day, 20 January, in 1861, the Qing Dynasty established the Prime Minister’s Office for Foreign Affairs. Dispatching envoys and international students to foreign countries, and managing affairs such as trade, customs, coastal defense and the ordering of weapons,...
This day, 19 January, in 2016, President Xi Jinping met with Iyad bin Amin Madani, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Riyadh. It was the first time that a Chinese president had met with an OIC...
This day, 18 January, in 2017, President Xi Jinping made the first visit by a Chinese head of state to the International Olympic Committee headquarters. There, he met with Committee President Thomas Bach and wrote an inscription at the...
This day, 17 January, in 1974, Huang Hua, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, pointed out that when the Security Council passed a resolution to list Chinese as one of its working languages, along with English, French,...
This day, 16 January, in 1995, Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen visited Nigeria, Togo, Benin and elsewhere during his annual new year visit to Africa. Writing in “Ten Notes on Diplomacy”, Qian said of China and...
