Rediscovering a Jesuit Legacy of Natural History: Pierre-Martial Cibot and Sino-European Exchange of Fungus Knowledge in the Late 18th and 19th Centuries

Abstract

The French Jesuit missionary Pierre-Martial Cibot stood conspicuous in Sino-European exchange of natural knowledge. However, his exploratory research on Chinese fungi, which is significant to the body of mycological knowledge, remains largely undiscussed and needs to be reappraised in the cross-cultural and historical context. Drawing on Cibot’s 1770s writings on Chinese fungi, this article provides a microhistorical treatment of their intricate interactions with late 18th- and 19th-century scientific scholarship. Cibot was arguably the author who wrote the first scientific treatise in China on local fungal species. His Christian faith and European epistemic base occasioned tensions with the acculturation of nature in China, which, together with his concerns with European natural history, agriculture and medicine, led to his critical appropriation of Chinese fungus lore. The writings were not published without change. Cibot's findings about Chinese fungi, mingled with confusion, also circulated unevenly in the European world. Nevertheless, they inspired new scientific studies, engaged with practical concerns, and even aided humanities research. Cibot's efforts highlight the agency of a multitude of border-crossing actors beyond European scientific centres, and invite a broader historical framework for understanding the making of modern mycology as a global enterprise.