High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Paul Pelliot (May 28, 1878?October 26, 1945) was a French sinologist and explorer of Central Asia. Initially intending to enter the foreign service, Pelliot took up the study of Chinese and became a pupil of Sylvain Lévi and Édouard Chavannes. Pelliot worked at École française d'Extrême Orient in Hanoi, from where he was dispatched in 1900 to Beijing to search for Chinese books for the École's library. While there, he was caught up in the Boxer Rebellion and trapped in the siege of foreign legations. Pelliot made two forays into enemy territory during the siege - one to capture an enemy standard and another to obtain fresh fruit for those under siege. For his bravery, he received the Légion d'honneur. At age 22, Paul Pelliot returned to Hanoi, where he was made a Professor of Chinese at the École. He was later elected professor at the Collège de France.