Fyodor Isakovich Baykov was the first Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n envoy to China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 (1658). For background see Russo-Chinese Relations. Like many later Russian ambassadors to China (Nicolae Milescu

Nicolae Milescu

Nicolae Milescu was a Moldavian writer, traveler, geographer, and diplomat. Milescu spoke 9 languages: Romanian, Latin, Greek, Modern Greek, French, German, Turkish, Swedish and Russian...

, Sava Vladislavich

Sava Vladislavich

Count Savva Lukich Vladislavich-Raguzinsky was a Serbian merchant-adventurer in the employ of Peter the Great who conducted important diplomatic negotiations in Constantinople, Rome and Beijing...

) he left a detailed account of his journey.

In 1654 Tsar Alexis sent Baykov to the court of the Shunzhi Emperor

Shunzhi Emperor

The Shunzhi Emperor was the third emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the first Qing emperor to rule over China, which he did from 1644 to 1661. "Shunzhi" was the name of his reign period...

 to negotiate a treaty establishing regular trade between Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 and Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

. (The first Russian to reach Peking was probably Ivan Petlin in 1618, but he was not properly an ambassador.)

At this time the Manchu Qing Dynasty

Qing Dynasty

The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....

 had just been established and Russian adventurers had just entered the Amur River valley from the north, but the Manchus apparently did not understand that these barbarians from beyond Mongolia were the same as those who were raiding their northern frontier

Russian-Manchu border conflicts

The Russian–Manchu border conflicts were a series of intermittent skirmishes between the Manchus and the Cossacks in which the Cossacks tried and failed to gain the land north of the Amur River...

. The Russians of course knew the connection, but gave Baykov no instructions for dealing with the Amur problem. He was, however, instructed to make obeisance to no one but the emperor himself.

Before leaving Tobolsk, he sent Setkul Ablin

Setkul Ablin

Setkul Ablin was a trader who thrice journeyed from Russia to China as a Russian agent. He was called a 'Bukharan' but the Russians used this term loosely for any trader from Central Asia....

 ahead as messenger. Ablin reached Peking in late 1655, sold his trade goods and returned in the spring of 1656, passing, but not meeting, Baykov's party.

After a long stay at Tobolsk

Tobolsk

Tobolsk is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh Rivers. It is a historic capital of Siberia. Population: -History:...

 Baykov's mission set out in June or autumn of 1654. He traveled up the Irtysh River across Dzungaria

Dzungaria

Dzungaria, also called Zungaria, is a geographical region in northwest China corresponding to the northern half of Xinjiang. It covers approximately , lying mostly within Xinjiang, and extending into western Mongolia and eastern Kazakhstan...

 and Gobi Desert

Gobi Desert

The Gobi is a large desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded by the Altai Mountains and the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia on the north, by the Hexi Corridor and Tibetan Plateau to the...

. In 1655 they reached Kalgan

Kalgan

Kalgan may refer to:* Kalgan, Western Australia, a town*Kalgan River, in Western Australia*An earlier name for Zhangjiakou, in Hebei Province, China*A name used by World Of Warcraft developer Tom Chilton...

 on the Great Wall. Here he was stopped by the Chinese who did not know who he was (They thought Ablin had been the real ambassador). After receiving permission, he reached the Forbidden City

Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. It is located in the middle of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum...

 on 3 March 1656.

He refused to kowtow

Kowtow

Kowtow is the act of deep respect shown by kneeling and bowing so low as to have one's head touching the ground. An alternative Chinese term is ketou, however the meaning is somewhat altered: kòu originally meant "knock with reverence", whereas kē has the general meaning of "touch upon ".In Han...

 at the city gate, but was admitted anyway and was housed by the Li-Fan Yuan. He insisted that his presents and credentials be presented to the emperor himself and in general did not behave with proper submissiveness to the great Chinese emperor. After several months of isolation, he was expelled from China's capital (in 1657
or 4 September, 1656
) and reached Moscow the following year.