This article deals with the history of the Russian Orthodox Mission in China, founded in Beijing in 1715, which existed until 1955. It played an important role in the development of Russian–Chinese relations. It also became a centre of China’s academic studies and the first training school for Russian sinologists. During the first half of the nineteenth century, China pursued an isolationist policy. Consequently, Russian scientists could only receive reliable information about China from members of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing. This article focuses on the history of scientific cooperation between the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing during the nineteenth century, especially with regard to astronomical investigations.

Currently, the world community actively raises the issue of the anthropogenic influence on the climate. However, it should be noted that the instrumental weather measurement only started in the second half of the 19 th century and cannot give the whole picture of the long-term processes of climate change. In the 19 th century meteorology began to develop as an independent science in Russia and the world. In the second half of the 19 th century permanent magneto-meteorological stations and observatories were established. They were equipped with a unified methodological and instrumental apparatus for meteorological research. At the same time meteorological investigations moved far beyond metropolises. At the beginning of the 18 th century a Russian Orthodox mission was organized in China. In 1848 a Magneto-meteorological observatory was established on its territory. The observatory became the first European magneto-meteorological observatory in China. Information about the observations was being transmitted to the Saint-Petersburg Academy of Sciences. In 1862, the observatory in Beijing was transferred into the jurisdiction of the Academy of Sciences. The director of the Beijing Observatory, G.A. Fritsche organized several stations on the territory of China and Mongolia (stations in Urga, Kalgan, Kyakhta). Observations at the stations were carried out for a short time and by non-specialists, but those stations were very important as they collected and accumulated information about the weather conditions of China.

The article is to study the history of formation and development of the unique library of the Beijing Magnetic Meteorological Observatory governed by the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences. Nowadays, researchers increasingly focus their attention not just on history of institutes themselves, but also on history of their communications with and incorporation into the scientific institutional community. Studying the library of the Beijing Magnetic Meteorological Observatory (BMMO) and its books provide a better understanding of its place in the network of magnetic meteorological observatories of the 19th century Russian Empire, which has determined the novelty of the work. The author has introduced into scientific use new archival documents and data from the St. Petersburg branch of the Archive of the Academy of Sciences and from the Russian National Library. The article analyzes activities and history of the Observatory, which was located on the territory of the Russian Orthodox mission in Beijing (China) from 1848 to 1914. For the first time in Russian and international historiography, not only the formation history of the library of the Beijing Observatory has been analyzed, but also the contents and structure of the library stock and its uniqueness. The author has demonstrated variety of its scientific life. As the library was destroyed in the Yihetuan Movement in 1900 and the 1917 Revolution in Russia, the article covers the second half of the 19th century. Its methodological basis modern basic principles of historical research (scientific objectivity, historicism, consistency, historical-genetic approach, etc.), as well as methods of social history of science (relationship between the science and the state, between the science and other social institutions, etc.). It uses the methods of statistical processing of large databases (the sampling method and the method of grouping and summarizing the materials of statistical observation) to analyze the books in library. The research fills the gaps in scientific knowledge on 19th century China and introduces data on the activities of the Imperial Academy of Sciences institutions (Magnetic Meteorological Observatory as well as its library as auxiliary apparatus). Studying the history of scientific research in China can enrich the scientific ties between two countries and allow us to rethink the historical legacy of Russia and China.

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The professional tool’s investigations of climate in the world began relatively recently. Since the second half of the XIX century Russia was one of the meteorological investigation’s leaders. Study of the history of meteorology in the Russian Far East and in China, systematization, and analysis of research results would be a great contribution to a better understanding of the importance of Russian research in the development of meteorology. The article discusses about the background of the creation of the observatory in Vladivostok. The author analyzed the chain of political and scientific decisions about the transfer of the magnetic and meteorological observatory of the Academy of Sciences from Beijing, through the plans of the creation an observatory in Port Arthur to the construction of an observatory in Vladivostok. In addition, the observatory’s budget and plans for its equipment are considered. Such materials are usually not the subject of close attention of researchers. In the historiography lacks an investigation about the role of the Russian Academy of Sciences to the development of a network of magnetic meteorological stations and observatories in the Russian Far East and in adjacent territories (Korea, China). The author introduced into scientific circulation new archival data from the Russian State Archive of the Navy and the St. Petersburg branch of the Archive of the Academy of Sciences.