A study of the first encounters between the British culture of the naturalist and the culture of the Chinese Qing empire. The author seeks to explain how Western naturalists in China and their Chinese associates explored, studied and represented China's natural world. The first part of the book covers the period between the middle of the eighteenth century and the Opium war when access to China was solely through the port of Canton (Guangzhou) and research into China's natural history was linked to trade and commerce. The second part continues the history to 1911 and the collapse of the Qing empire.