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

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