The high road to China
Subtitle: George Bogle, the Panchen Lama and the first British expedition to Tibet
By: Kate Teltscher.
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: 2006
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 316
Subjects: Bogle, George, -- 1746-1781 -- Travel -- China -- Tibet.; Dpal-ldan-ye-śes, -- Panchen Lama III, -- 1738?-1780 -- Travel -- China.; Tibet (China) -- Discovery and exploration -- British.
Other titles: George Bogle, the Panchen Lama and the first British expedition to Tibet
Description: "In 1774 the head of the East India Company in Bengal, Warren Hastings, determined to open trade relations with the hitherto impenetrable court of imperial China. To this end he entrusted the young Scotsman George Bogle to be the first British envoy to Tibet. Once there, Bogle attempted to enlist the influence of the Panchen Lama in a bid to attract the sympathy of the Qianlong Emperor; a hard task, for the imperial court generally viewed trade with disdain, and took an altogether dim view of the British Empire." "But what began as an unprecedented diplomatic mission soon acquired a different character. Bogle became smitten by what he saw in Tibet, and in particular by the person of the Panchen Lama himself, with whom he struck up a remarkable friendship, fuelled by a reciprocal desire for understanding." "This book tells the story of the British attempt to reach the Qianlong Emperor's ear, a narrative of two extraordinary journeys across some of the harshest and highest terrain in the world: Bogle's mission, and the Panchen Lama's state visit to China, on which British hopes were hung. Piecing together the narrative from Bogle's private papers, Tibetan biographies of the Panchen Lama, the account of a wandering Hindu monk, and the writings of the Qianlong Emperor himself, Kate Teltscher deftly reconstructs the momentous meeting of four very different worlds."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-299) and index.