British Naturalists in Qing China: Science, Empire, and Cultural Encounter. By Fa-Ti Fan. [Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 2004. ix +238 pp. £32.95. ISBN 0-674-01143-0.]
Authors: Coggins Chris 
Published: January 2005

For those who have conducted research on the fauna and flora of China and who have been curious about the “Reeves” in Muntiacus reevesi (the Chinese muntjac) or the “Cunningham” in Cunninghamia lanceolata (the Chinese fir), this book is a great revelation. Many wild plants and animals from China bear scientific names honouring Western naturalists, and this book is the first historical analysis of how Westerners conducted natural history research in China from the mid-18th to the early 20th century. By focusing on British naturalists during a period of dramatic change in the relationship between China and the West, the author has developed a richly textured account of the encounter between vastly different systems of knowledge and representation of the natural world. As such, this work is sure to be of great interest for scholars of the social sciences, cultural studies and the social construction of nature.

Drawing on a vast and diverse array of scientific journals, personal correspondence, memoirs and administrative records from the period, the author convincingly ties British natural history research to larger imperial demands for useful information on natural resources in a vast area that was scarcely known by outsiders before the Opium War (1839–1842). The connection between commerce and natural history is exemplified by the English East India Company's interest in botanical, biogeographic and horticultural information on tea trees. Of greater significance still, according to the author, was the way in which knowledge of the natural world was produced through an elaborate network of relationships between British naturalists and Chinese people of all walks of life. The latter included not only the bureaucrats who monitored the already highly circumscribed lives of British expatriates in Canton [Guangzhou] at the beginning of the 19th century, but also collectors, who often made long trips into the interior in search of specimens, and painters, who had to learn an entirely new repertoire in order to provide scientific drawings to British patrons from the factories of Guangzhou to Kew Gardens. Indeed, one of the primary goals of the book is to “explain the formation of scientific practice and knowledge in cultural borderlands during a critical period of Sino-Western relations.” The author sets himself a difficult task: to reconstruct the economic and cultural lineaments of “scientific imperialism” without ignoring “the indigenous people, their motivations, and their actions.” Not only does the book succeed in this effort, it avoids facile demonization of the main Western actors in this drama. Instead, we see a compelling set of portraits of British men of widely differing backgrounds and interests who often made great sacrifices in their quests for scientific knowledge. Generally, these men were keenly aware of the degree to which they relied on local Chinese experts and indigenous knowledge for the success of their own endeavours.