The Qing dynasty, led by the Manchus, ruled Tibet from 1720 to 1912. The Qing called Tibet a fanbu, fanbang or fanshu, which has usually been translated as "vassal", "vassal state", or "borderlands", along with many of its other Inner Asian territories. Like the earlier Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, the Qing dynasty exerted military and administrative control over Tibet while granting it a degree of political autonomy. The extent of its control over the region has been the subject of political debate.: "From the outset, it became apparent that a major problem lay in the nature of Tibet's international status. Was Tibet part of China? Neither the Tibetans nor the Chinese were willing to provide a satisfactory answer to this question.": "The status of Tibet is at the core of the dispute, as it has been for all parties drawn into it over the past century. China maintains that Tibet is an inalienable part of China. Tibetans maintain that Tibet has historically been an independent country. In reality, the conflict over Tibet's status has been a conflict over history."
By 1642, Güshi Khan of the Khoshut Khanate had reunified Tibet under the spiritual and temporal authority of the 5th Dalai Lama of the Gelug school, who established a civil administration known as Ganden Phodrang. In 1653, the Dalai Lama travelled on a state visit to the Qing court, and was received in Beijing and "recognized as the spiritual authority of the Qing Empire". The Dzungar Khanate invaded Tibet in 1717 and was subsequently expelled by the Qing in 1720. The Qing emperors then appointed imperial residents known as ambans to Tibet, most of them ethnic Manchus, that reported to the Lifan Yuan, a Qing government body that oversaw the empire's frontier.Emblems of Empire: Selections from the Mactaggart Art Collection, by John E. Vollmer, Jacqueline Simcox, p154: "The ambans were not viceroys or administrators, but were essentially ambassadors appointed to look after Manchu interests, and to protect the Dalai Lama on behalf of the emperor." During the Qing era, Lhasa was politically semi-autonomous under the Dalai Lamas or regents. Qing authorities engaged in occasional military interventions in Tibet, intervened in Tibetan frontier defense, collected tribute, stationed troops, and influenced reincarnation selection through the Golden Urn. About half of the Tibetan lands were exempted from Lhasa's administrative rule and annexed into neighboring Chinese provinces, although most were only nominally subordinated to Beijing.
By the late 19th century, Chinese hegemony over Tibet only existed in theory, and Britain invaded Tibet in 1903–1904. Russia was also competing for influence in Tibet, and the two powers signed the 1907 Anglo-Russian Convention recognizing Qing suzerainty of Tibet, although Qing China had used the term "sovereignty" to describe its position and later sent an army to Tibet for establishing direct rule in 1910.India Quarterly (volume 7), by Indian Council of World Affairs, p120 The dynasty was overthrown by revolutionaries in 1911–1912.Tsering Shakya, "The Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tubten Gyatso" Treasury of Lives, accessed May 11, 2021. The 13th Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa in 1913 and ruled a de facto independent Tibet until his death in 1933.
Political status
The political status of Tibet during the Qing period has been described as a "Chinese protectorate," a "Qing protectorate," a "Manchu protectorate," a "subordinate place... within the Qing Empire," a "part of an empire," a "vassal state," a "dependent state," and a "tributary or a dependency." Western historians such as Goldstein, Elliot Sperling, and Jaques Gernet have described Tibet during the Qing period as a protectorate, vassal state, tributary, or something similar. Tibet was referred to by the Qing as a fanbu (), fanbang () or fanshu (), which has usually been translated as "vassal" or "vassal state". As a fanshu it fell under the jurisdiction of the Lifan Yuan, which also oversaw Mongolia. Chinese authorities referred to Tibet as a vassal state up until the 1950s, and then as an "integral" part of China.
According to Jaques Gernet, the Qing gained a firm hold over Tibet in 1751, although as a protectorate, Tibet retained a large amount of internal authority. Melvyn Goldstein states there is "no question" that Tibet was subordinate to the Qing dynasty following the first decades of the 18th century. Meanwhile, Elliot Sperling says that after the Sino-Nepalese War (1788–1792), Tibet's subordination to the Qing was "beyond dispute" and that one of the memoirs of a Tibetan minister involved in the war states unambiguously that he was a subject of the Qing emperor. The Golden Urn system of selecting reincarnations was instituted by the Qing, and real authority over Tibet was wielded by its offices and officials. However, for most of the 19th century this authority was weak. After the death of the 8th Dalai Lama, Jamphel Gyatso in 1804, the Dalai Lamas did not exercise any real power for the next 70 years, during which monk regents reigned with the support of the Qing. In terms of foreign recognition, Britain and Russia formally acknowledged Chinese authority over Tibet in treaties of 1906 and 1907. This was after the 1904 British expedition to Tibet stirred China into becoming more directly involved in Tibetan affairs and working to integrate Tibet with "the rest of China."Tibet, China and the United States: Reflections on the Tibet Question by Melvyn C. Goldstein In 1910, the Qing reasserted control over Tibet by occupying Lhasa and deposing the 13th Dalai Lama. The Qing dynasty was overthrown in the Xinhai revolution the next year, and the Republic of China lacked the ability to continue the occupation. The 13th Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa in 1913 and ruled an independent Tibet until his death in 1933.
The de facto independent Tibetan government (1912–1951) and Tibetan exiles promote the status of independent nation, with only a "priest and patron" relationship between the Dalai Lama and the Qing emperor.: The statement of Tibetan claims at the 1914 Simla Conference read: "Tibet and China have never been under each other and will never associate with each other in future. It is decided that Tibet is an independent state.": '[From 1642], as a Buddhist government, the Ganden Phodrang's choice to relinquish... the military defence of its territory to foreign troops, first Mongol and later Sino-Manchu, in the framework of “patron-preceptor” (mchod yon) relationships, created a structural situation involving long-term contacts and cooperation between Tibetans and "foreign" military cultures.' There are varying interpretations of the patron and priest relationship, a Tibetan political theory that the relationship between Tibet and China was a symbiotic link between a spiritual leader and a lay patron, such as the relationship between the Dalai Lama and the Qing emperor. They were respectively spiritual teacher and lay patron, rather than subject and lord. Chöyön is an abbreviation of two Tibetan words: chöney, "that which is worthy of being given gifts and alms" (for example, a lama or a deity), and yöndag, "he who gives gifts to that which is worthy" (a patron). During the 1913 Simla Conference, the 13th Dalai Lama's negotiators cited the priest and patron relationship to explain the lack of any clearly demarcated boundary between Tibet and the rest of China (i.e. as a religious benefactor, the Qing did not need to be hedged against).
There are also different interpretations of titles and symbolic gestures between Tibetan and Qing authorities. The 13th Dalai Lama, for example, knelt, but did not kowtow, before the Empress Dowager Cixi and the young Emperor while he delivered his petition in Beijing. Chinese sources emphasize the submission of kneeling; Tibetan sources emphasize the lack of the kowtow. Titles and commands given to Tibetans by the Chinese, likewise, are variously interpreted. The Qing authorities gave the 13th Dalai Lama the title of "Loyally Submissive Vice-Regent", and ordered to follow Qing commands and communicate with the emperor only through the Manchu amban in Lhasa; but opinions vary as to whether these titles and commands reflected actual political power, or symbolic gestures ignored by Tibetans.The History of Tibet: Volume III The Modern Period: 1895-1959 edited by Alex McKay, London and New York: Routledge Curzon (2003), p.9 Some authors claim that kneeling before the Emperor followed the 17th-century precedent in the case of the 5th Dalai Lama. reads in part "Both (Tibetan and Chinese) accounts agree that the Dalai Lama was exempt from the traditional kowtow symbolizing total subservience; he was, however, required to kneel before the emperor." Other historians indicate that the emperor treated the Dalai Lama as an equal.
According to Sperling, the description of a "priest-patron" religious relationship governing Sino-Tibetan relations that excluded concrete political subordination is a recent phenomenon and not substantiated. The priest and patron relationship coexisted with Tibet's political subordination to the Yuan and Qing dynasties, despite Tibetan exile commentators having come to believe that this political subordination was a misunderstanding. Sperling describes this as a "cultural notion at work as a national idea is defined anew." Tibetan interaction with the West, assimilation of modern ideals about Tibet, and the goal of cultural preservation increasingly centered discussion of Tibet around its religious and spiritual significance. This impetus to formulate a Tibetan identity based primarily on religion has made understanding the political realities of Tibet's relationship to the Mongol Yuan and Manchu Qing dynasty difficult.
Government Regent From 1721 to 1727, Tibet was governed by Khangchenné, who led the Tibetan cabinet known as the Kashag under close supervision of the Chinese garrison commander stationed in Lhasa. From 1728 to 1750, Tibet was a monarchy led by the princes or kings Polhané Sönam Topgyé and Gyurme Namgyal under the supervision of the Qing ambans. The regents of Tibet after 1727 were recognized by the Chinese as wang (prince) but as "king" by European missionaries. Both Polhané and Gyurme were de facto rulers of Tibet who exercised power in their own name and authority without reference to the Dalai Lama. Their post was hereditary. The Kashag was merely an executive organ and provincial administration was controlled by the nominees of the rulers. Compulsory transport service was a monopoly of the regent. After 1750, the hereditary office was abolished, and regents (gyeltsap) became temporary offices again. They were appointed to oversee the government, under the supervision of the ambans, before the Dalai Lama reached the age of majority in his 18th year.
Dalai Lama When the Qing dynasty installed the 7th Dalai Lama in 1720, his religious supremacy was recognized by the Tibetan government, but the Qing ignored his theoretical rights. After 1720, the government was appointed by the Qing but due to distance and bad organization, retained a large amount of internal authority. After the civil war of 1727–1728, the 7th Dalai Lama was suspected of complicity in the murder of Khangchenné, who led the Tibetan cabinet, and was exiled to Gartar Monastery in Kham. All temporal authority was wielded by Polhané Sönam Topgyé in the meantime. After the events of 1750 in which the 7th Dalai Lama managed to quell the riots caused by the death of Polhané's successor at the hands of the Qing ambans, the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty promulgated the 13-Article Ordinance for the More Effective Governing of Tibet, granting the 7th Dalai Lama secular power. At the same time, the powers of the Qing ambans in Lhasa were also greatly increased. The 7th Dalai Lama then conducted government with some degree of control by the Qing.