Chinese Botany at the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair

This article examines the Chinese botanical exhibits at the 1873 Vienna World’s Fair as part of global knowledge formation within Austro-Hungarian Empire. It argues that these exhibits were not static displays but dynamic objects mediating trade, science, and imperial representation. Drawing on customs records, diplomatic correspondence, exhibition catalogues, and contemporary reports, the study traces their trajectory from collection across treaty ports and Southeast Asia to exhibition and reception in Vienna. Focusing on commodities such as soybeans, star anise, and Dita, it shows how Chinese plant-based products were reinterpreted within European commercial evaluation frameworks and, in this process, how they acquired new meanings and became embedded in imperial knowledge systems. The article demonstrates that 1873 marked a key moment in the localization of global knowledge for the monarchy, revealing how Chinese plant-based products participated in material circulation and knowledge production, and how, through the world’s fair, they further helped to influence European understandings of East Asia.