Vincentian missionary and traveler, born Caylus, France, 1813; died Paris, France, 1860. He went to China in 1839, and five years later was sent to explore Tartary and Mongolia. With a companion, Joseph Gabet, he visited the nomadic tribes of those regions and on encountering a Tibetan embassy accompanied it to Lhasa, where he was well received. Owing to the enmity of the Chinese commissioner, however, he was expelled and sent to Canton. Returning to France, Huc joined the secular clergy, after publishing an account of his voyage that enjoyed extraordinary popularity.