Ki-tong Tcheng

Born in Fujian in 1851, Chen Jitong—often rendered in French as Tcheng Ki-tong—was a Chinese diplomat, scholar, and writer in the late Qing dynasty. He studied French and went on to serve with Qing legations in Europe, especially in Paris, where he became known not just as an official but as a lively public voice explaining China to Western audiences.

He wrote several books in French, including The Chinese Painted by Themselves (Les Chinois peints par eux-mêmes), using essays and observations to challenge easy stereotypes and present everyday Chinese life from a Chinese perspective. That made him an unusual literary figure of his time: a bilingual cultural mediator who wrote for European readers while speaking with strong self-possession about his own society.

Later in life he returned to China, where he was also involved in reform-minded journalism. Today he is remembered as an early cross-cultural author whose work sits between literature, diplomacy, and modern Chinese intellectual history.