Guoqiang Li

Presentation

My field of research focuses on the triangular “man-nature-culture” interactions in ancient China through ethnobotanical and ethnozoological knowledge and systems, the exploitation and domestication of plants and animals in the social context and the process, whereby plants and animals have received symbolic attributes in social and cultural life. My main works focus on the sacrifice of animals, the domestication of millet and the role that natural rhythm played in social organization and the formation of Chinese correlative thought. In recent years, my research and fieldwork have been added on Jean-Marie Delavay (1834-1895), missionary of the Foreign Missions from Paris to Yunnan and great botanist collector of plants from Yunnan, and in the footsteps of French missionaries in Yunnan.

Research thematics

• Plants and animals in ancient China

CRCAO research programmes

• Dictionnaire de l’agriculture traditionnelle : français-anglais-chinois-japonais
• Le chien dans la Chine ancienne et aujourd’hui
• Glossaire des termes spécialisés en archéologie, histoire de l’art, culture visuelle et histoire de l’architecture de la Chine et du Japon

Teachings

• Chinese language and civilization