In 1834, in company with his fellow Lazarite missionaries Jean-Gabriel Perboyre and Joseph Perry, he travelled to China.
They stayed for six months in the monastery of Kounboum near Koukou-Noor (Lake Qinghai), learning the Tibetan language and studying the Buddhist religion, before setting out for Tibet in September 1845.
Gabet and Huc were sent with an official escort via "Ta-Tsien-Lou" (Kangding) and Chengdu to Canton, arriving there in September 1846.
Christian missionaries had returned to China at the start of the 19th century after a long absence that followed the end of the Jesuit mission when the Order was dissolved by the Pope in 1773).
The edict of official tolerance appended to the Treaty of Whampoa (Huangpu) between France and China was only promulgated in 1844.
He drew attention to the Church's success in establishing itself in the West in the early centuries, despite persecution, thanks to its reliance on hard work as well as the grace of God, and he believed the same could be accomplished in China.