1921 Beijing issued passport

 

Consular issue by the French Legation.

 

The French had maintained relations with the Chinese for centuries. French kings sent Jesuits to China dating back as far as the 17^th century continuing with their arrival to the mainland up to the civil war that erupted before and continued after WW2.

 

The French recognized the national government in 1913 following the fall of the Qing Dynasty a year earlier (they also participated in the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900, by sending troops to China during the Boxer Rebellion).

 

WW2 would see the last concrete cooperation between the two countries, being joint allies fighting the Axis powers. After the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, the French Fourth Republic did not recognize the PRC, not until the 1960’s were relations were established again.

 

The passport in this article relates to the post-WW1 era.

 

Passport number 265 was issued to Jacques Got (decorated as Knight of the Legion of Honour), aged 36, who was the Manager of Agency of Banque de l’Indo-Chine, Beijing branch. The document was issued on February 21^st 1921 at the fee of $4 by Marc Eugène Milon de Peillon, who was in charge of the Chancery of the legation of France in Beijing from January 23^rd, 1919.

 

The document was beautifully used for his short return to France via the cities of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Saigon, Colombo, Port Said and Marseilles. He returned back to the Far East, to Penang on January 1922.

 

I have added images of this attractive yet simple passport.

 

 

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