Pyotr Parfyonovich Vladimirov was born in 1905. After completing his military service, he entered the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies named after Narymanov and graduated successfully. The pinnacle of his career was the post of USSR General Consul in Shanghai and USSR Ambassador to Burma.
In the diaries being published, personal and official entries by P.P. Vladimirov intertwine. Under conditions of constant surveillance created by the head of the punitive organs in a special area of Cannes-Shan, a notebook-diary became the only convenient and safe place to store various translations, documents, articles, situation reports, official telegrams, and so on.