In this article, the Authors present the life and achievements of Edward Kajdański as a diplomat, journalist, writer, and painter. Edward Kajdański was born in Harbin, in north Manchuria, November 26, 1925. Place of birth determined his later life, designated spheres of interests, gave a solid education and brought a very rich experience.

His father was an engineer Edward Kajdański, who died in 1936, and mother – Helena (maiden name Biełow) – half Italian, half Russian. Edward Kajdański received thorough education in the Henryk Sienkiewicz Polish Gymnasium in Harbin, and after graduation, first he worked in a sugar factory ‘Aszyche’ from January 1944, and began his studies at the Faculty of Electromechanics at North Manchurian University, which in August 1945, after the entry of the Red Army, changed the name into University of Harbin. After this change, Edward Kajdański studied at the Faculty of Architecture. In addition, for two years he attended evening pharmacy classes at the Red Cross Medical Technical School in Harbin. In 1950 he graduated from the University of Harbin and because of the outbreak of the Korean War left Harbin. In 1951, he arrived in Gdynia and started working in Gdansk Brewery. His extensive knowledge, knowledge of Chinese, English and Russian caused that Mr. Kajdański never complained about the lack of employment. He worked in commercial enterprises, but very quickly he was noticed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who directed him to work in the Office of the Commercial Counsellor in Beijing (1963–1967). In the years 1979–1982 he was the consul and the head of the Consulate General in Guangzhou. He returned permanently to Poland in 1982, and settled down in Gdansk.

In addition to the professional activity Edward Kajdański also worked as a scientist, disseminating knowledge about the Middle Kingdom in Poland, which resulted in hundreds of articles, as well as scientific and popular science books on China. The most attention he devoted to the achievements of Polish Jesuit missionary Michael Boym. In the work of Edward Kajdański, as important as the writing, is painting, which is multi-dimensional and thematically diversified. Among his works there are both reconstructions of Michael Boym’s maps and herbs, the works dating back to the old Chinese painting, reconstructions of frescoes and copies of paintings on silk, as well as illustrations he created for his books. The important part of the paintings is referring to the style zhongcai, or ‘painting of heavy, intense colors’. His extremely rich national activities has been valued on many national and international exhibitions.For his merits for the Polish-Chinese relations, especially in the field of mutual knowledge of cultures and historical research contacts, Mr. Kajdański was awarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with the honor distinction ‘Bene Merito’.

In the article the Author reminisces the history of his cooperation with Edward Kajdański, which began during his stay in Gdansk in 1990. In 2001, Zhang Zhenhuei translated into Chinese the book The Ambassador of the Middle Kingdom. After the release of the translation, on the invitation of Zhang Xiping, he began with his wife to translate all the works of Michal Boym previously translated from Latin by Kajdański. Cooperation of the Chinese interpreter with Kajdański lasts for several years and has been assessed by him as the only example of such extensive cooperation of Chinese scholar and Western sinologist in the study of sinological issues and translation of foreign classical sinological works. Along with E. Kajdański and Zhang Xiping he worked on the issuing in China Selected Works of Michal Boym.

The Author describes and analyzes the achievements and experiences of Edward Kajdański against changing political situation, first in Harbin, and then generally in China. The Author emphasizes the outstanding role that E. Kajdański played in bringing closer to the Poles the Chinese culture, history and medicine, as well as in mutual acquaintance and recognition of both nations.

Michael Boym (1612–1659), born in the noble and court’s doctor family in Poland, as a missionary who came to China, occupies quiet an important position in Sino-European relations. Although scholars have done some research on the relations between Michael Boym and South Ming court, and achieved some progress on the knowledge about Mr Boym but no breakthrough. Based on original literature from Jesuits Archive in Rome and Boym’s own scientific achievements presented by Poland scholar Edward Kajdański in the book The Ambassador of The Middle Kingdom, this paper attempts to deepen the research on relations between Michael Boym and South Ming court.

The first trustworthy and reliable image of the Far East was presented to the European readers by the missionaries who have been working in India, Japan, China and other Oriental countries in 16th–18th centuries. In the case of the Middle Kingdom it was the Society of Jesus that was sending there the most qualified and educated monks. They were using their mathematical or astronomical knowledge as a key to better understand and accept Chinese intellectual elite. This special interaction between a science and the Christian faith became a symbol of the Jesuits’ way of acting in China. As a result, the Jesuit missionaries presented the European science to Chinese and at the same time gained many important information about the Middle Kingdom. Their observations were presented to the European readers in their letters, relations and, above all, in the academic treatises presenting all the facts and miracles (“mirabilia”) of the Oriental world. Between them the most influential description of China during the first half of the 17th century was De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta (first edition in Latin – Augsburg 1615), written by Nicolas Trigault SI as a translation or augmented version of the Matteo Ricci’s journal. This picturesque description of the Middle Kingdom and the Jesuit mission to China provided European readers with more, better organized and more accurate information about China than has been ever available. It also presented the Jesuit mission in a favorable light, creating an image of the Society of Jesus as the most effective order in the Far East

The discoveries of new lands, establishing the colonies and the activities of East India Companies caused the development of East–West trade and in consequence new styles of fashion. In the 18th and 19th centuries the fascination with the East in Europe caused the appearance of the new styles of fashion, as well as decorations of textiles and dress. Among the new trends, chinoiserie and japonism were the strongest trends among the artists and tailors. In the paper, the Author discusses the fashion trends in the Far Eastern Harbin in the first half of the 20th century.

The city of Harbin was built in the first decade of that century and its early inhabitants were the builders of the Chinese Eastern Railway constructed by the Russian government in Manchuria. Like Shanghai (‘The Paris of the East’) Harbin was an exterritorial enclave inhabited mainly by Russians and people of Russian Empire (Poles above all), but also with Italians, Frenchmen and other European nationalities. The city had strong trade connections with all European countries, particularly after the Bolshevik revolution when thousands of people migrated and settled there. The Russian community in Harbin was dominated and established close cultural contacts with Paris, the strongest refugee center outside Russia. Hence, the great influence of the Paris fashion enriched with many Chinese and oriental elements is noticeable in the dress of Harbin inhabitants before the Second World War.

The article presents the revolutionary events in Harbin in 1917. The Author presents the figures of the major antagonists – General Horvath – general manager of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER, built in the Chinese Manchuria under the contract between the Russo-Chinese Bank and China) and the Bolshevik Martemyan Ryutin who in 1917 attempted to overthrow General Horvath i. e. the legal authorities of the expropriated zone of the CER. This event was opposed by the Allies and the United States and the Chinese authorities, centrally as well as locally, and led to the forcible removal of the Bolsheviks from the zone of CER by the Chinese troops and was the first and the only successful example of foreign intervention against the Bolsheviks and their power.

The victory of the Chinese communists and the proclamation of the PRC on 1st October 1949 automatically confronted a new Chinese leaders with the issue of ‘liberation’ of Tibet. The coordinated propaganda campaign has started, in which the leading role played the Xinhua News Agency and the authority of the CCP party – the People’s Daily (‘Renmin Ribao’). The importance of the issue followed from the fact that Mao Zedong personally directed the entire action, and personally revised most of the texts concerning Tibet. In fact, the official formula of ‘peaceful liberation’ promoted by Beijing, meant the incorporation of Tibet with the consent of local authorities. Hence, the concept of a ‘gradual approach’ developed by Mao, anticipating the absorption of Tibet mainly by peaceful means, gradation of transformation, avoiding radical reforms and action by gentle persuasion. It may be recalled that at that time the use of military force was treated by Mao as finality. As soon has turned out, along with political, diplomatic and propaganda preparations intensive preparations for the military operation were undertaken in Beijing. The article presents the successive stages of the Chinese conquest of Tibet, which eventually ended with a Chinese military invasion, coincidentally in the same period, while on the Korean Peninsula Korean War broke out.

Chinese legal system is very complex. Understanding Chinese characteristics requires becoming acquainted with Chinese culture and philosophy. Starting from the third generation of leaders we can observe convergence of governance models postulated by Confucianism and Legalism, but in a modern version. From time immemorial, the idea of harmony played a decisive role in Chinese social and political thought. Currently, concepts such as ‘One Belt, One Road’, or the search for economic stabilization as part of the ‘New Normal’ still correspond with striving for harmony in all aspects of life, rooted for centuries in the minds of Chinese citizens. At the current stage of development, to achieve harmony it is necessary to develop a social and political consensus around a new stage of reform and openness policy, social harmony, scientific approach to development and, above all, recognition of the Chinese characteristics.

The concept of socialist rule of law with Chinese characteristics was the subject of the fourth plenary session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The communique published after this meeting concerned some changes in legal system, separation of powers, human rights’ protection and reforms in legislation. The authority of the state formulated a list of conditions necessary to realize. The most important thing is to maintain the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

The 21st century has been said to be the century of Asia. The dynamism of Asian economies for a few last decades is a kind of confirmation of the above statement. The contemporary world is undergoing transformation not only in its economic, but also geopolitical sphere. The changes lead to the formation of new political and economic order, where a place for new emerging powers should be found. China is one of such powers. This country is the most evident example of an Asian economy which is changing not only internally, but also causing great shift in the world order. The article shows the new position of the Chinese economy in this world order.

The aim of this article is to analyze changes in the Human Development Index in BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa in the years 1980–2013. This study shows the contribution of each component index since 1980 for all BRICS countries: life expectancy of birth, expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling, gross national income per capita (PPP USD). The article presents HDI value and China’s place in the ranking of the BRICS countries – in 2013 and between 1980–2013.

The automotive industry in China seems to be bound for success taking into consideration huge domestic market and the support provided by the government. The policies introduced by the Chinese authorities show their understanding of the importance of the automotive industry for the growth of the whole economy. We
should expect from Chinese authorities and companies intensified efforts aiming to improve quality and safety of the domestically produced cars as well as increased works towards brand building. The latter is significant barrier to sales domestically where Chinese firms compete with well-established global brands that are favored by Chinese consumers but also in developed markets and higher market segments.

Chinese automobile companies in their internationalization mainly search for technology they lack to become competitive on both domestic and international markets. The analysis of their website shows their dedication to research and development, for example Great Wall states “we have kept to a strategy of “excessive investment in technical R&D”. Majority of companies engage in development of new energy cars which seems to be primarily result of the government’s policy on fostering emerging industries.

Although Chinese automakers face many challenges but we should prepare ourselves that in the near future we will be driving Chinese cars.

Chinese Internet sector companies have capabilities to create innovation that will shape internal market, and could have significant impact on global competition. These capabilities are based on several important factors. Probably the most important of these factors is huge capacity and dynamic growth of the internal market. Companies located in smaller countries do not have such possibilities of growth, because their internal markets do not have sufficient capacity. Chinese Internet software developers can grow on internal market to the size that gives them possibility to compete with global corporations and expand to international markets. Second most important factor of Chinese Internet sector competitiveness is of thousands of computer science graduates that enter Chinese labor market every year. Wages of software engineers in China are much lower than in western countries, so Chinese software developers have considerable cost advantage over their global competitors. Third factor of Chinese Internet software developers competitiveness is the support of government that is successfully using censorship laws to exclude foreign competition from local market. All those factors make Chinese Internet companies highly competitive and enable them to enter international markets. Case studies of Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu prove that Chinese companies can not only dominate local market, but also successfully compete with global corporations.

Aleksandra Kajdańska, Edward Kajdański, Jedwab. Szlakami dżonek i karawan, Książka i Wiedza, Warszawa 2007, ss. 528 (Monika Miazek-Męczyńska)

Edward Kajdański, Wspomnienia z mojej Atlantydy, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków 2013, ss. 530 (Bogdan Góralczyk)

The Authors in the form of poetic prose presented a historical event from the year 1900 describing the episode connected with the activities of Yi He Tuan movement and the uprising of boxers. The main hero of the story is Chiang Muhang called the Immortal, the leader of the boxers who stand out against the betrayal of the Empress Ci Xi and fight with the invaders. The title overseas devils are commanders of the German army. The action takes place in Shandong province. The Authors describe how Chiang Muhang, using supernatural powers, defeats the camp of German soldiers located in the forest.

After 1918 a large Polish colony in Harbin, associated with Chinese Eastern Railway, increased because of many Polish refugees escaping from Bolshevik Russia. One of them was Stefan Kosinski who was, until the revolution, an entrepreneur in the railway industry in Yekaterinburg. This article is an attempt to reconstruct his history, based on contemporary letters and photographs.