In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Western scientific
interest in China focused primarily on natural history. Prominent
scholars in Europe as well as Westerners in China, including
missionaries, merchants, consular officers, and visiting plant
hunters, eagerly investigated the flora and fauna of China. Yet
despite the importance and extent of this scientific activity, it
has been entirely neglected by historians of science.
This book is the first comprehensive study on this topic. In a
series of vivid chapters, Fa-ti Fan examines the research of
British naturalists in China in relation to the history of natural
history, of empire, and of Sino-Western relations. The author gives
a panoramic view of how the British naturalists and the Chinese
explored, studied, and represented China's natural world in the
social and cultural environment of Qing China.
Using the example of British naturalists in China, the author
argues for reinterpreting the history of natural history, by
including neglected historical actors, intellectual traditions, and
cultural practices. His approach moves beyond viewing the history
of science and empire within European history and considers the
exchange of ideas, aesthetic tastes, material culture, and plants
and animals in local and global contexts. This compelling book
provides an innovative framework for understanding the formation of
scientific practice and knowledge in cultural encounters.
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