Evariste Régis Huc

French missionary
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Corrections? Updates? Omissions? Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login).
Thank you for your feedback

Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.

Quick Facts
Born:
June 1, 1813, Caylus, France
Died:
March 26, 1860, Paris (aged 46)

Evariste Régis Huc (born June 1, 1813, Caylus, France—died March 26, 1860, Paris) was a French missionary of the Vincentian (Lazarist) order whose account of his journey through China and Tibet provides a vivid picture of China on the verge of modern times.

Sent by his order to Macau (1839), he lived in South China, Beijing, and Heishui (now in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region)—the latter some 300 miles (480 km) northeast of Beijing. In 1844, with another Vincentian, Joseph Gabet, and a Tibetan convert to Christianity, Father Huc set out from Dolon Nor (now Duolun, Inner Mongolia), about 150 miles (240 km) north of Beijing, and reached Lhasa, Tibet, in January 1846. Though the missionaries were well received by the Tibetans, the Chinese imperial commissioners succeeded in having them expelled. They reached Guangzhou (Canton), Guangdong province, China, in September 1846. Huc returned to Europe in 1852 and left the Vincentians the following year. His widely read account, Souvenirs d’un voyage dans la Tartarie, le Thibet et la Chine pendant les années 1844, 1845, et 1846 (1850), was frequently reprinted.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.