The Lhasa riot of 1750 or Lhasa uprising of 1750 took place in the

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

an capital

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

, and lasted several days during the period of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

's patronage in Tibet. The uprising began on 11 November 1750 after the expected new regent of Tibet,

Gyurme Namgyal Gyurme Namgyal (; ) (died 11 November 1750) was a ruling prince of Tibet of the Pholha family. He was the son and successor of Polhané Sönam Topgyé and ruled from 1747 to 1750 during the period of Qing rule of Tibet. Gyurme Namgyal was murdered ...

, was assassinated by two Qing

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

diplomats, or

amban Amban (Manchu language, Manchu and Mongolian language, Mongol: ''Amban'', Standard Tibetan, Tibetan: ་''am ben'', , Uyghur language, Uighur:''am ben'') is a Manchu language term meaning "high official", corresponding to a number of different ...

s. As a result, both ''ambans'' were murdered, and 51 Qing soldiers and 77 Chinese citizens were killed in the uprising. A year later the leader of the rebellion, Lobsang Trashi, and fourteen other rebels were executed by Qing officials.

Origins of the riot

Pholhanas, the regent of Tibet, died in February 1747, during his time in office the country had enjoyed a relatively tranquil period, still, he had had discords with the Dalai Lama and news of them had reached Beijing after 1745. The ambans had mediated some of these conflicts, but the relations between them remained tense. In 1746 the Dalai Lama secretly sent a mission to Beijing to complain to the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

about Pholhanas treatment to him.Yingcong 2009, p. 130 After Pholhanas' death, he was succeeded by his second son,

, as regent. The new regent also maintained bad relations with the Dalai Lama, he even rejected the Dalai Lama's offer to sing

sutra ''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...

s in the funerary ceremony in honor of his father.Yingcong 2009, p. 130 Fucine mediated and the prince later agreed to the Dalai Lama's offer.Yingcong 2009, p. 130 Relations with the Qing also soured, because the Manchus suspected that the Tibetan prince was working to isolate the Dalai Lama from his followers while also preparing to military prevent a Qing intervention. Gyurme Namgyal even killed his brother, Gyumey Tseten, who was more pro-Qing.Yingcong 2009, p. 130 The Manchus believed that the prince had sent an envoy to the

Dzungars The Dzungar people (also written as Zunghar; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') were the many Mongol Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the Dzungar Khanate in the 17th and 18th centuries. Historically they were one of major tr ...

, who rivaled the Qing control of Tibet.

Assassination of Gyurme Namgyal

The ambans

Fucine The Fucine Lake ( it, Lago Fucino or ) was a large endorheic lake in western Abruzzo, central Italy, stretching from Avezzano in the northwest to Ortucchio in the southeast, and touching Trasacco in the southwest. Once the third largest lake in I ...

and Labdon decided to act before the prince had a chance to rebel, the emperor's withdrawal of the garrison of Lhasa had deprived them of a physical means with which enforce their authority so they decided on a bold plan.Petech 1972, p. 216 On 11 November 1750 the prince was back in Lhasa, and the ambans summoned him to a conference in their office, the house that had been the residence of

Lha-bzang Khan Lha-bzang Khan (; Mongolian: ''Lazang Haan''; alternatively, Lhazang or Lapsangn or Lajang; d.1717) was the ruler of the Khoshut (also spelled Qoshot, Qośot, or Qosot) tribe of the Oirats. He was the son of Tenzin Dalai Khan (1668–1701) and g ...

the last

Khoshut The Khoshut ( Mongolian: Хошууд,, qoşūd, ; literally "bannermen," from Middle Mongolian ''qosighu'' "flag, banner") are one of the four major tribes of the Oirat people. Originally, Khoshuuds were one of the Khorchin tribes in southeaste ...

King of Tibet, to assassinate him. When

was killed, Lobsang Trashi, a chamberlain, was in a small separate room but heard what happened. After killing the regent, all the guards searched the place for the members of Gyurme Namgyal's entourage, but Lobsang Trashi managed to escape by jumping through a window.Petech 1972, p. 217 Immediately after the murder, the ambans sent a messenger to Minister Gashi Pandita, asking him to take over as head of the Tibetan government. The minister looked bewildered but asked first the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

for advice. While the Tibetan government deliberated the streets of Lhasa broke into a storm of riots.

The uprising

Immediately after his escape from the residence of the ambans, Lobsang Trashi spread the news about the murder of the regent. In a short time, a crowd of over a thousand armed men of the city, gathered very excited outside the residence of the ambans. Gashi Pandita had no opportunity to intervene, because they were no regular Tibetan troops in Lhasa. The Dalai Lama sent some of his secretaries at the crowd to urge them to calm themselves and avoid taking violent actions. The main official of the

Gelug file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous ...

order,

Reting Rinpoche Reting Rinpoche () was a title held by abbots of Reting Monastery, a Buddhist monastery in central Tibet. History of the lineage Historically, the Reting Rinpoche has occasionally acted as the selector of the new Dalai Lama incarnation. It is f ...

Ngawang Chokden, personally tried in vain to hold back the crowd. The crowd besieged and burned the residence of the ambans. Fucine, injured with multiple stab wounds, committed suicide. Labdon died while fighting with the rebels. The 49 Qing soldiers and two officers who defended the residence, were also killed. Next, the crowd targeted the treasury of the Qing army where they captured 85,000

tael Tael (),"Tael" entry
at the

Potala Palace The Potala Palace is a ''dzong'' fortress in Lhasa, Tibet. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and a World Heritage Site since 1994. The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythica ...

, where they were offered refuge and assistance.

End of the rebellion

The riot ended as suddenly as it broke out. The rebels found no support from the Tibetan nobility and members of the government. Both groups were opposed to the policies of Gyurme Namgyal, and believed that challenging the Manchu superpower could only end in a military catastrophe. The Dalai Lama, who headed the Gelug order had continued to deal with the many Tibetan monasteries of his order in eastern Tibet and

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. His concern was in first place for its religious institutions, and the powerful Manchu Emperors were patrons of Tibetan Buddhism. Two days after the death of Gyurme Namgyal and ambans, on 13 November, the Dalai Lama appointed his minister Gashi Pandita as provisional regent. He was asked the government to lead the entry of final orders of the emperor. At the same time, he issued a proclamation in which he forbade all Tibetans Trashi Lobsang and his supporters to support. Lobsang Trashi fled with his followers Lhasa in order to get hold of the money Dzjoengarije to settle. On 21 November 1750, Gashi Pandita did the Dalai Lama Lobsang Trashi and that fourteen of his followers were taken down. Likewise, much of the looted money secured. On 22 November, the situation had become so quiet that the Chinese refugees in their homes could return to Lhasa.

Qianlong's expedition to Lhasa

At the beginning of 1750, provincial officials in Sichuan had been in on alert and were considering a preemptive invasion before the prince made his move. The news of the murder of the ambans outraged the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speaki ...

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...

, and he decided to take swift military action. The initial orders to the commandants in

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

and

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

was to lead a column of 8,000 men and 5,000 men respectively,Yingcong 2009, p. 130 but after the Emperor got news from the Dalai Lama that the rebellion was quelled he reduced the expeditionary force to 800 soldiers under General Cereng.Yingcong 2009, p. 131 The Qing general, , entered the city on 18 January 1751,Yingcong 2009, p. 131 as the first representative of the Emperor to arrive to Lhasa after the riot and he came with a personal escort from Kokonor, where he had been the Imperial representative. Upon entering, he immediately demanded the surrender of the insurgents. Ban Di was greeted by Pandita and handed over the prisoners involved in the riot. After a brief interrogation through torture he sentenced Lobsang Trashi to be executed. The Dalai Lama request for a lenient sentence was in vain.

Luciano Petech Luciano Petech (8 June 1914, Trieste – 29 September 2010, Rome) was an Italian scholar of Himalayan history and the early relations between Tibet, Nepal and Italy. He was Chair of History of Eastern Asia at the University of Rome from 1955 to 1 ...

described the end of the insurgents as follows: On 23 January 1751, Tibetan rebels who participated in the Lhasa riot of 1750 against the Qing were sliced to death by Qing Manchu general Bandi, similar to what happened on 1 November 1728. 6 Tibetan rebel leaders plus Tibetan rebel leader Blo-bzan-bkra-sis were sliced to death. The rest of the Tibetan rebel leaders were strangled and beheaded and their heads were displayed to the Tibetan public on poles. The Qing seized the property of the rebels and exiled other Tibetan rebels. Manchu General Bandi sent a report to the Qing

Qianlong emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...

on 26 January 1751 on how he carried out the slicings and executions of the Tibetan rebels. The Tibetan rebels dBan-rgyas (Wang-chieh), Padma-sku-rje-c'os-a['el (Pa-t'e-ma-ku-erh-chi-ch'un-p'i-lo) and Tarqan Yasor (Ta-erh-han Ya-hsün) were sliced to death for injuring the Manchu ambans with arrows, bows and fowling pieces during the Lhasa riot when they assault the building the Manchu ambans (Labdon and Fucin) were in. Tibetan rebel Sacan Hasiha (Ch'e-ch'en-ha-shih-ha) was sliced to death for murder of multiple individuals. Tibetan rebelsCh'ui-mu-cha-t'e and Rab-brtan (A-la-pu-tan) were sliced to death for looting money and setting fire during the attack on the Ambans. Tibetan rebel Blo-bzan-bkra-sis, the mgron-gner was sliced to death for being the overall leader of the rebels who led the attack which looted money and killed the Manchu ambans. Two Tibetan rebels who had already died before the execution had their dead bodies beheaded, one died in jail, Lag-mgon-po (La-k'o-kun-pu) and the other killed himself since he was scared of the punishment, Pei-lung-sha-k'o-pa. Bandi sentenced to strangulation several rebel followers and bKra-sis-rab-brtan (Cha-shih-la-pu-tan) a messenger. He ordered the live beheadings of Man-chin Te-shih-nai and rDson-dpon dBan-rgyal (Ts'eng-pen Wang-cha-lo and P'yag-mdsod-pa Lha-skyabs (Shang-cho-t'e-pa La-cha-pu) for leading the attack on the building by being the first to go to on the staircase to the next floor and setting fire and carrying the straw to fuel the fire besides killing several men on orders from the rebel leader.

Previous similar executions

On 1 November 1728, after the Qing reconquest of Lhasa in Tibet, several Tibetan rebels were sliced to death by Qing Manchu officers and officials in front of the

in Lhasa. The Qing Manchu President of the Board of Civil Office, Jalangga, Mongol sub-chancellor Sen-ge and brigadier-general Manchu Mala ordered the Tibetan rebels Lum-pa-nas and Na-p'od-pa to be sliced to death. They ordered gZims-dpon C'os-ac'ad (Hsi-mu-pen ch'ui-cha-t'e), son of Lum-pa-nas and rNog Tarqan bsKal-bzajn-c'os-adar and dKon-mc'og-lha-sgrub (Kun-ch'u-k'o-la-ku-pu) and dGa'-ldan-p'un-ts'ogs (K'a-erh-tan-p'en-ch'u-k'o), sons of Na-p'od-pa to be beheaded. Byams-pa (Cha-mu-pa) and his brother Lhag-gsan (La-k'o-sang) and their brothers, younger and older, daughters, wives and mother were exiled after their father sByar-ra-nas was beheaded. The Manchus wrote that they "set an example" by forcing the Tibetans to publicly watch the executions of Tibetan rebels of slicing like Na-p'od-pa since they said it was the Tibetan's nature to be cruel. The exiled Tibetans were enslaved and given as slaves to soldiers in Ching-chou (Jingzhou), K'ang-zhou (Kangzhou) and Chiang-ning (Jiangning) in the marshall-residences there. The Tibetan rNam-rgyal-grva-ts'an college administrator (gner-adsin) and sKyor'lun Lama were tied together with Lum-pa-nas and Na-p'od-pa on 4 scaffolds (k'rims-sin) to be sliced. The Manchus used musket matchlocks to fire 3 salvoes and then the Manchus strangled the 2 Lamas while slicing (Lingchi) Lum-pa-nas and Na-p'od-pa to death while they beheaded the 13 other rebels leaders. The Tibetan population was depressed by the scene and the writer of MBTJ continued to feel sad as he described it 5 years later. All relatives of the Tibetan rebels including little children were executed by the Qing Manchus except the exiled and deported family of sByar-ra-ba which was condemned to be slaves and most exiles sentenced to deportation died in the process of deportation. The public executions spectacle worked on the Tibetans since they were "cowed into submission" by the Qing. Even the Tibetan collaborator with the Qing,

Polhané Sönam Topgyé Polhané Sönam Topgyé (; ) (1689 – 12 March 1747) was one of the most important political personalities of Tibet in the first half of the 18th century. Between 1728 and 1747 he was effectively the ruling prince of Tibet and carried royal titles ...

(P'o-lha-nas) felt sad at his fellow Tibetans being executed in this manner and he prayed for them. All of this was included in a report sent to the Qing emperor at the time, the Yongzheng Emperor. Qing

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...

general

Yue Zhongqi Yue Zhongqi (岳鍾琪, 1686 – 1754) was a Chinese military commander of the Qing dynasty. He was a descendant of Yue Fei, and served as Ministry of War and Viceroy of Chuan-Shaan during the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor. Yue succeeded Ni ...

interviewed the Tibetan collaborator with the Qing,

(P'o-lha-nas) concerning his involvement in crushing the Tibetan rebels and sent a report to the Qing Yongzheng emperor on 17 August 1728.

Notes

References

* * * {{Tibet topics Rebellions in the Qing dynasty History of Tibet 1750 in China History of Lhasa 18th century in Tibet