Enlightenment · East Asia · War

1720

Qing Conquest of Tibet

October 1, 1720

Kangxi's armies drove the Dzungar Mongols out of Lhasa and installed a Qing-approved Dalai Lama. An amban, or imperial resident, was stationed in the Potala. Tibet became a protectorate under Beijing that would outlast the Manchus themselves. The great Qing expansion into Inner Asia was nearly complete. Kangxi's successors would maintain this arrangement for nearly two centuries, claiming sovereignty that Tibetans would endlessly contest.