British Foreign Relations and Colonial Documents: East Asia

The Confidential Print comprises diplomatic dispatches and other papers that in general span from the 1850s to the 1960s. They were printed for limited circulation within the British government and were not available to the public.

Complete UK documents collection in searchable fulltext, being post-1937 FO 371 (General Correspondence from Political Departments, UK Foreign Office): China and FCO 21 (Registered Files [F and FE series] from Far Eastern Department, UK Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office). The period 1919-1937 includes selections from FO 676 (Legations and Embassies), FO 371 (Foreign Office: Political Departments: General Correspondence from 1906-1966), FO 262 (Foreign Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Embassy and Consulates, Japan), and FO 671 (Foreign Office: Consulate, Shanghai, China: General Correspondence.)

“Japanese Imperialism and the War in the Pacific.” Incorporating the Taishō to the Shōwa periods, these papers throw light on Anglo-Japanese ties in a time of shifting alliances.

These files represent a large portion of the archives of the British-run municipal police force based in Shanghai’s former International Settlement. This self-governing area was administered not by the Chinese but by the international group of merchants and bankers who paid the taxes and controlled the municipal council.