The first unofficial Russian embassy, which was sent to Peking on September 1, 1618, was headed by the Tomsk Cossack Ivan Petlin and had as members two Buddhist lamas of Mongolian origin, was well as two Buryats – Kyzylov and Mundov. Thus, the first direct Russian-Chinese negotiations were held in Mongolian and Turkic. Ivan Petlin’s expedition became, in fact, the only relatively successful attempt to establish direct relations with the Chinese empire itself, which was then under the control of the Ming dynasty. We say the attempt was “relatively successful” because there were still problems with written documents. Although the parties understood one another at the talks, the message sent by the Chinese Emperor Wanli (1553-1620) and brought to Tomsk lay untranslated for nearly sixty years! Only in 1675, was Spafary, who had been sent to Peking as an ambassador, able to find a man in Tobolsk who could translate the general meaning of the letters. In the letter, the Chinese emperor proposed that Basil Shuisky open “green” bilateral trade between the two countries. This step was important given that China remained entirely closed to Europeans at the time...
Sources :
- https://russkiymir.ru/en/magazines/article/144506/
- https://akarlin.com/2014/05/a-very-brief-history-of-chinese-russian-relations/
In OTL, Tsar Alexis sent Baykov to the court of the Shunzhi Emperor to negotiate a treaty establishing regular trade between Moscow and Beijing in 1654. It failed as Baykov refused to kowtow and didn’t understand the Chinese tributary system. The first sino-russian treaty was signed in 1689 (treaty of Nerchinsk), after the Russian defeat of Albazino.
As a result, Russia and China only regulated their diplomatic and trade relations with the treaty of Kyakhta on 23 August 1727, which established the northern border of Mongolia (what was then part of the Qing-Russian border and opened the caravan trade from Kyakhta (Russian furs for Chinese tea) by Nikolai Spathari. It allowed for the establishment of what was in effect a Russian diplomatic presence in Beijing in the form of an ecclesiastical settlement there. Russia thereby became only the second European state after the Vatican to achieve a presence in Beijing. It did so moreover more than a century before any of the other European powers.
The POD is quite easy. Let’s imagine that this letter was translated into Russian or perhaps latin thanks to Matteo Ricci who arrived in 1601. This translated latter would improve the future diplomatic missions. The next envoys could use this letter to get an easier access to the Emperor or better understand the tributary system.
ITTL, instead of begging for trade, a direct access to the Emperor or at least to the Mongol Yamen (蒙古衙門), the Qing "Foreign department" will help the resolution of the future Amur disputes that will occur in 1640’s. The quicker establishment of sino-Russian relations, around 1630, could also lead to an higher interest in China and "Chinese studies"/orientalism in Russia during early 1700’s.
I can imagine Russian czars being curious about the Imperial bureaucracy of China and its meritocracy, or even copy parts of this complicated administration. Chinese military system would also suit Russia with cossacks acting similarly to banners. Porcelain, tea and Chinese aesthetics would enter Europe through Russia. Could Russia become more Chinese than European?
What do you think?