{"record":{"affiliations":[{"polityId":"polity-752125d979e200bf190546c6","role":"Foreign Office official and special envoy","sourceIds":["a-qing-commission","a-jacar-burlingame"],"validTime":{"attestations":[],"continuity":"interval","end":{"precision":"year","value":"1870"},"endInclusive":true,"start":{"precision":"year","value":"1867"}}}],"aliases":["Chih Kang","Chih-Kang","Chi-Kang","Zhigang","志剛","志刚"],"appointmentIds":[],"appointmentsDataset":"https://chanceries.org/diplomats.json","archivalSources":[],"canonicalUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/person-de0800336750fdccc72acb0e-fc91e000ab/","countrySlug":null,"countrySlugs":["china"],"documentedRoles":[{"assertionId":"assert-2cbad1491f4d77eaf7597147","associationBasis":"documented-participant","evidenceClass":"direct","note":"Co-signed the 28 July 1868 Washington treaty as Chih-Kang; the Qing instructions also assigned him consultation on dispatches to Beijing.","predicate":"participated_in","role":"commissioned envoy and treaty signatory","sourceIds":["a-qing-treaty","s09-a-qing-credentials"],"targetId":"event-8eb389f49994f259f1370e02","targetType":"event","title":"China and the United States sign the Burlingame-Seward Treaty","url":"/research/history/china-burlingame-8eb389f499/","validTime":{"attestations":[{"precision":"day","value":"1868-07-28"}],"continuity":"attestation","end":null,"endInclusive":true,"start":null}}],"entityId":"https://chanceries.org/diplopedia/people/person-de0800336750fdccc72acb0e-fc91e000ab/#person","eventIds":[],"expandedParagraphs":["Zhi Gang carried Qing credentials to Washington with Anson Burlingame and Sun Jiagu in 1868. The court had commissioned him as a Foreign Office official to visit the treaty powers. In the account of his audience before departure preserved in the later edited Chu shi tai xi ji yao, he described entering the Zongli Yamen from the Ministry of Rites.","He joined the delegation’s June 2 notification to William H. Seward and signed the additional treaty articles at Washington on July 28 under the name Chih-Kang. His edited account also describes the White House credentials ceremony, with Burlingame entering first and Zhi and Sun following.","The Qing government assigned different tasks within the delegation. Burlingame controlled negotiations, while Zhi Gang and Sun Jiagu were to consult with him on reports to Beijing. The court also expected its own officials to acquire experience for future missions.","After Burlingame died in Russia in 1870, Zhi Gang led the remaining tour. The delegation returned to Beijing that November. His account described diplomatic encounters and observations abroad and circulated in edited forms after the journey."],"id":"global:person-de0800336750fdccc72acb0e","identifiers":{},"identityScope":"global","legacyPersonIds":[],"legacyUrl":"https://chanceries.org/diplomat-fc91e000ab88f5d38560.html","name":"Zhi Gang","notes":[{"sourceIds":["a-jacar-burlingame"],"text":"Zhi Gang’s travel account was edited before publication."}],"paragraphSources":[["a-qing-commission","s09-a-qing-credentials","a-zhi-jiyao-scan"],["s09-a-qing-credentials","a-qing-treaty","a-zhi-jiyao-scan"],["s09-a-qing-credentials"],["a-jacar-burlingame","a-zhi-cinii","a-zhi-jiyao-scan"]],"profileUrl":"diplomat-fc91e000ab88f5d38560.html","relatedEvents":[],"relatedPeople":[{"certainty":"documented","name":"Sun Jiagu","note":"Zhi’s later edited account places both envoys behind Burlingame as the delegation entered the White House to present Qing credentials in 1868.","profileUrl":"diplomat-d96e85881bfb449bbb06.html","sourceIds":["a-zhi-jiyao-scan"],"targetId":"global:person-5776f5a54b5ba8f6c60e6ecd","type":"co_participant","validTime":{"attestations":[{"precision":"year","value":"1868"}],"continuity":"attestation","end":null,"endInclusive":true,"start":null}}],"relationships":[{"certainty":"documented","note":"Zhi’s later edited account places both envoys behind Burlingame as the delegation entered the White House to present Qing credentials in 1868.","sourceIds":["a-zhi-jiyao-scan"],"targetId":"global:person-5776f5a54b5ba8f6c60e6ecd","type":"co_participant","validTime":{"attestations":[{"precision":"year","value":"1868"}],"continuity":"attestation","end":null,"endInclusive":true,"start":null}}],"researchStatus":"limited","reviewedOn":"2026-11-02","revision":"9e94d43c0b4e7da5","sources":[{"accessedOn":"2026-11-01","date":"1867-11-28","id":"a-qing-commission","locator":"FRUS 1868, Part I, document 265, enclosure C and enclosure E","publisher":"Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State","title":"Williams to Seward, with Qing commissions and instructions, 28 November 1867","type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1868p1/d265"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-01","date":"1868-07-28","id":"a-qing-treaty","locator":"Preamble; Articles V–VIII; concluding Washington date and signatures; source edition pp. 992–996","publisher":"GRIPS and University of Tokyo, The World and Japan Database","title":"Additional articles to the United States–Qing treaty, signed at Washington, 28 July 1868","type":"primary-record","url":"https://worldjpn.net/documents/texts/pw/18680728.T1E.html"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-01","date":"","id":"a-jacar-burlingame","locator":"Sections 幕末に欧米へ派遣された3つの使節団, paragraph on the 1860 ratification mission; and 清朝によるバーリンゲーム使節団派遣と西洋への眼差し, paragraphs on Zhi Gang’s leadership and published accounts","publisher":"Japan Center for Asian Historical Records, National Archives of Japan","title":"Japanese and Qing diplomatic missions before the Iwakura mission","type":"institutional-history","url":"https://www.jacar.go.jp/exhibition/iwakura/column/index.html"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-01","date":"","id":"a-zhi-cinii","locator":"Author and bibliographic fields; NCID BA55656912","publisher":"National Institute of Informatics, CiNii Books","title":"Chu shi tai xi ji, 1981 edition, NCID BA55656912","type":"library-catalog","url":"https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA55656912?l=ja"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-02","date":"1868-06-02","id":"s09-a-qing-credentials","inspection":{"inspectedOn":"2026-11-02","language":"en","representation":"published_translation","scope":"Complete displayed document: joint notification and published English translations of the imperial credentials and explanatory instructions.","status":"document_inspected"},"locator":"FRUS 1868, Part I, document 289, pp. 601–603: opening joint letter, imperial credentials, and Prince Kung’s explanatory communication","publisher":"Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State","title":"The Chinese Embassy to Seward, with credentials and instructions, 2 June 1868","translation":{"edition":"FRUS 1868, Part I, document 289, pp. 601–603","language":"en","originalLanguage":"zh","translator":"J. M. L. Brown (credentials); translator not identified in the displayed explanatory communication"},"type":"primary-record","url":"https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1868p1/d289"},{"accessedOn":"2026-11-02","archivalReference":"NLC403-312001069108-15851; NLC shelfmark 地980/893.1","date":"","edition":"Cataloged as Guangxu 14–16 [1888–1890], two volumes; this file is volume 1. Distinct from the 1877 初使泰西記 and the 1981 edited edition.","id":"a-zhi-jiyao-scan","inspection":{"inspectedOn":"2026-11-02","language":"zh-Hant","representation":"original_document","scope":"Original printed-page facsimiles visually inspected at PDF pp. 5–7, 25, 28–31, 35, 40; claims use pp. 5–6 and 28. Full 45-page volume downloaded; no claim of reading every page.","status":"document_inspected"},"itemUrl":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/NLC403-312001069108-15851_%E5%88%9D%E4%BD%BF%E6%B3%B0%E8%A5%BF%E7%B4%80%E8%A6%81_%E5%8D%B7%E4%B8%80.pdf","locator":"Volume 1, printed leaves 1–2 and 24–25 (PDF pp. 5–6, 28–29); treaty closing line leaf 31 (PDF p. 35)","publisher":"Historical Chinese printed edition; National Library of China facsimile via Wikimedia Commons","title":"初使泰西紀要, 卷一, later edited edition of Zhi Gang’s mission account","type":"primary-record","url":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NLC403-312001069108-15851_%E5%88%9D%E4%BD%BF%E6%B3%B0%E8%A5%BF%E7%B4%80%E8%A6%81_%E5%8D%B7%E4%B8%80.pdf"}],"topics":["Qing diplomacy","Diplomatic correspondence"]},"schemaVersion":1}