circular telegram

English

Noun

circular telegram (plural circular telegrams)

1. (chiefly historical) A broadly distributed message, similar to a circular letter, transmitted as a telegram, especially in the context of diplomacy.
   • 1905 February, “The integrity of the Chinese empire”, in Journal of the American Asiatic Association‎, volume V, number 1, page 4:

     [The diplomats's] communication was in the form circular telegram sent on January 13 to the American ambassadors to Germany, Austria , France , Great Britain and Italy, and the American ministers to Belgium and Portugal. […]

   • 2025, Robert L. Worden, Jane Leung Larson, A Chinese Reformer in Exile: Kang Youwei and the Chinese Empire Reform Association in North America, 1899-1911, BRILL, →ISBN, page 99:

     Kang found the circular telegram an effective way to contact his dispersed organization […]

Translations

broadly distributed message via telegraph

Chinese: Mandarin: 通電 / 通电 (zh) (tōngdiàn)