Ep. 359 | Plant Hunters during the Qing Dynasty (Part 1)

The China History Podcast

Laszlo Montgomery

Places & Travel, Society & Culture, History

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 March 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

I was afraid I'd barely be able to scrape together enough material for a short episode. Instead, this one is gonna take almost two hours to tell. I hope no one minds that I opted not to drown anyone with Latin names and to go easy on the scientific aspects behind plants. The focus will be on the European and later, American plant hunters who came to China between the 16th and 20th centuries. This episode will look at some of the exploits of the early Jesuit missionaries up through Robert Fortune's four trips to China. Next time in Part 2, all the famous post-Fortune plant hunters will be featured. Be looking for that soon. If you'd like to support the China History Podcast and listen ad-free and get new episodes weeks or months early: CHP Premium: https://teacupmedianetwork.supercast.com/ CHP Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/TheChinaHistoryPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Greetings all CHB listeners. You're tuned to the China History podcast. This is Lozlo Montgomery here with a new
0:06.2	episode. I resisted covering this topic for a really long time. The main reason was that I had my
0:13.9	reservations about how many listeners would be interested in this subject. So when author and travel writer
0:19.9	David Leftman started to really twist my arm
0:22.7	recently, and I recounted the other listener request for this topic, I decided to move ahead with it.
0:29.0	For many of you who have no interest in botany, horticulture, gardening, plants, flowers, or trees,
0:36.5	this episode might still satisfy your discerning taste in
0:39.7	China history topics. And for everyone else who is interested in the subject, if you never
0:45.2	knew about the plant collecting that went on in China, particularly during the second half of the
0:50.1	19th century and into the first couple decades of the 20th century, you'll enjoy this one.
0:57.1	The exploits of these, mostly European plant hunters, sounds a little different in 2025 than it
1:03.7	probably did back in 1925. I only say that because in today's much different world and with
1:10.0	China standing as tall as it is,
1:12.4	the idea of foreigners wandering all over whatever corners of China they could get access to,
1:19.4	exploring and exporting all these plants, trees and seeds out of the country,
1:26.0	freely and with little or no government regulation or interference,
1:30.2	hasn't aged well.
1:32.3	Plant hunters in China during the Victorian age have been called by some historians,
1:38.0	participators in scientific imperialism.
1:40.8	So keep that in mind.
1:43.1	But don't let that diminish the story.
1:45.2	The essence of what these men and women from all over the world did was
	...

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