-- Written by Claire SAINT-GUILY
Initially impulsed by the count Charles de Polignac (1884-1962), the expedition, named after him, aimed to explore the high Yang-tseu (Yangzi jiang 長江) and the Yalong (Yalong jiang 雅礱江), both rivers were coveted by the occidentals forces established in China in 1909. The Yang-tseu connect the area from east to west in the middle China giving to a military fleet a strategic asset, in particular for the colonial empires considering the territory. The first intention of the French explorers was to discover if the river was navigable. A possible path was to allow, following the river, the connection of the French railroad in Yunnan to the land in the north-west of the country. Charles de Polignac received the help of the experimented captain Louis Audemard (1865-1955), navigating in China since 1904, and the balloonist Jacques Faure (1873-1910), who also went in China for a previous expedition.
Charles de Polignac and Jacques Faure met Louis Audemard in Shanghai in October 1909, they followed the Yang-tseu on board of the gunboat Doudart-de-Lagrée until Tchong-king (Chongqing 重慶), then went on the Min river (Min jiang 岷江) to Tcheng-tou (Chengdu 成都), where they prepared the details of their expedition. After climbing the Mount Omi (Emei shan 峨眉山), the members went on 29 march 1910 from Ho-si (Hexi 河西) to Te-li-pou (Delipu 得力鋪) to join the low part of the Yalong. Once arrived, they navigated on the high part of the Yang-tseu until they reached the hanging bridge of Tseu-li-kiang (Zili jiang 梓里江), marking the extreme spot of their hydrographic expedition. Then, they went down the Yang-tseu to Longkaï (Longhai 龍海) on 10 march 1910 where Charles de Polignac and Jacques Faure were both urgently called back in France. Louis Audemard kept going alone with the expedition from Long-kaï to Soui-fou (Yibin 宜賓), which he attained on 4 July 1910.
The Polignac expedition is a scientific project inscribed in the French expansionist political context of the period. The project seems to have been commissioned by the Ministry of the Foreign Affairs. Following the numerous exploration expeditions at this time, the information gathered allowed to extend the French geographical knowledge on a coveted area because of its resources and tactical position.
The expedition was published on several papers in France. Louis Audemard wrote an article for the Bulletin de la Société de géographie (numéro 24, 1911) tracing back their path, and an Atlas of the hydrographic surveys published by the Hydrographic Service of the Marine. Charles de Polignac also related the expedition in an article in Le Monde Illustré (numéro 2799, 10 juillet 1910) and during a presentation at the Société de géographie (4 novembre 1910), which financially supported the expedition.
The Cernuschi museum’s Polignac archives, named after his donor, are composed of 512 stereoscopics glass plates tracing the expedition from the point of their departure and the different ascensions along the river. The authors of the plates are Charles de Polignac and Louis Audemard. The archives were completed with the Atlas of Louis Audemard, also given to the museum.