{{Short description|Chinese diplomat, general, scholar, and shipbuilder}}{{Distinguish|text=military officer Chen Jitang}}{{family name hatnote|Chen|lang=Chinese}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Chen Jitong | native_name = {{no bold|陳季同}} | native_name_lang = zh | honorific_suffix = | image = File:Chen Chi-tung.jpg | alt = | order = | ambassador_from = Chinese<!--China--> | country = the UK | term_start = ? | term_end = ? | predecessor = | successor = | monarch = Guangxu | prime_minister = | order2 = | ambassador_from2 = Chinese<!--China--> | country2 = France | term_start2 = ? | term_end2 = ? | predecessor2 = | successor2 = | monarch2 = Guangxu | prime_minister2 = | pronunciation = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1851|1|1|df=yes}} | birth_place = {{flagicon|Qing Dynasty}} Houguan, Fujian,<br>Qing Dynasty, China | death_date = {{death date and age|1907|1|1|1851|1|1|df=yes}} | death_place = {{flagicon|Qing Dynasty}} ?? Qing Dynasty, China | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = | other_party = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = Chen Shoupeng (陈寿彭) | education = Sciences Po | alma_mater = | occupation = Diplomat | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards = | blank1 = | data1 = | blank2 = | data2 = | blank3 = | data3 = | blank4 = | data4 = | blank5 = | data5 = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = | nickname = | allegiance = | branch = | service_years = | rank = | unit = | commands = | battles = | mawards = | military_blank1 = | military_data1 = | military_blank2 = | military_data2 = | military_blank3 = | military_data3 = | military_blank4 = | military_data4 = | military_blank5 = | military_data5 = | module = | module2 = | module3 = | module4 = | module5 = | footnotes = }}

'''Chen Jitong''' ({{lang-zh|s=陈季同|t=陳季同|p=Chén Jìtóng}}; 1851–1907), courtesy name '''Jingru''' ({{lang|zh|敬如}}), also known as '''Tcheng Ki-tong''', was a Chinese diplomat, general, scholar, and shipbuilder during the late Qing dynasty. Chen was born in Houguan, now in present-day Minhou, Fuzhou. In 1869 he started to study the French language at the school attached to the Fuzhou shipyard. In 1875 Shen Baozhen sent thirty Chinese students, from the training school attached to the Foochow Arsenal to study shipbuilding and navigation in Europe. In 1876, Chen Jitong was selected to go to Europe and he wrote a book on his impressions after his return to China the following year. He subsequently served on a number of important positions in the Qing foreign service. While serving as a diplomat in France, he wrote several famous works in French, becoming the first Francophone Chinese author.

In 1891, he was dismissed from all official positions and settled in Shanghai. Following China's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War, he served as foreign minister of the short-lived Republic of Formosa.

==Writings== * -- Tcheng-ki-tong, ''[https://archive.org/details/leschinoispeint00tchegoog Les Chinois peints par eux memes]'' Paris: Levy, 1884. Internet Archive * -- ''[https://archive.org/details/journaldunmanda00mondgoogJournal Journal d'un mandarin: lettres de Chine et documents diplomatiques inédits]'' Paris: Plom, 1887. Internet Archive * -- ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=OYcIAAAAQAAJ The Chinese painted by themselves.]'' Translated from the French by James Millington. London: Field & Tuer, [1885?] * -- Tcheng-Ki-Tong, ''Chin-Chin or The Chinaman at Home''. Tr. R. H. Sherard. London: A. P. Marsden, 1895. * -- ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=kfvO_mEqJGcC Contes chinois]'' Paris: Levy, 1889.

==References== *Yeh, Catherine Vance. "The Life-Style of Four Wenren in Late Qing Shanghai." ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'' 57, no. 2 (1997): 419–70. * Ke Ren, "Chen Jitong, Les Parisiens peints par un Chinois, and the Literary Self-Fashioning of a Chinese Boulevardier in Fin-de-siècle Paris", ''L'Esprit créateur'', Volume 56, Number 3, Fall 2016, Johns Hopkins University Press, pp.&nbsp;90–103.

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20090612191548/http://www.lexiaolong.com/html/francais/040Tcheng.html Speech by Chen] {{in lang|fr}} * {{cite web |url=http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/13977 |title=Chen Jitong and Cosmopolitan Possibilities in the Late Qing World |last1=YU |first1=Wen |date=May 24, 2016 |website=Dissertation Reviews |publisher= |access-date= |quote=}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Jitong}} Category:1851 births Category:1907 deaths Category:19th-century Chinese diplomats Category:Ambassadors of China to France Category:Writers from Fuzhou Category:Politicians from Fuzhou Category:1895 in Taiwan Category:Sciences Po alumni Category:Chinese expatriates in France Category:Chinese shipbuilders Category:French-language Chinese writers