A Trip by Pavel Ibis to Taiwan in 1875: subjects, techniques, and research tools of the ethnological studies
The article describes the research tools, techniques, subjects and academic value of the unprecedented study by Pavel Ibis (1852-1877), the Naval Navigator Corp ensign, who came to the Formosa Island for a solo ethnographic trip in January 1875, crossing it on foot in two months. After his death, Ibis was forgotten in Russia for more than a century. It wasn’t until the early 1980s that M. Chigrinsky published the two articles reestablishing Ibis’ story along with a brief summary of the German language article. Nowadays, the name of Ibis has been brought from obscurity in Russia, Taiwan and the rest of the world. Nevertheless, his actual contribution to the Taiwan ethnologic studies is still waiting for special scientific assessment.