In 1741 the population was estimated by Père Amiot, S.J., at over one
hundred and fifty millions, as against twenty-one million households
in 1701.
In 1753 there was trouble in Ili. After the death of Galdan II., son
of Arabtan, an attempt was made by one, Amursana, to usurp the
principality. He was, however, driven out, and fled to Peking, where
he was favourably received by Ch'ien Lung, and an army was sent to
reinstate him. With the subsequent settlement, under which he was to
have only one quarter of Ili, Amursana was profoundly dissatisfied,
and took the earliest opportunity of turning on his benefactors. He
murdered the Manchu-Chinese garrison and all the other Chinese he
could find, and proclaimed himself khan of the Eleuths. His triumph
was short-lived; another army was sent from Peking, this time against
him, and he fled into Russian territory, dying there soon afterwards
of smallpox. This campaign was lavishly illustrated by Chinese
artists, who produced a series of realistic pictures of the battles
and skirmishes fought by Ch'ien Lung's victorious troops. How far
these were prepared under the guidance of the Jesuit Fathers does not
seem to be known. About sixty years previously, under the reign of
K'ang Hsi, the Jesuits had carried out extensive surveys, and had
drawn fairly accurate maps of Chinese territory, which had been sent
to Paris and there engraved on copper by order of Louis XIV. In like
manner, the pictures now in question were forwarded to Paris and
engraved, between 1769 and 1774, by skilled draughtsmen, as may be
gathered from the lettering at the foot of each; for instance--_Gravé
par J. P. Le Bas, graveur du cabinet du roi_ (Cambridge University
Library).
Kuldja and Kashgaria were next added to the empire, and Manchu
supremacy was established in Tibet. Burma and Nepal were forced to
pay tribute, after a disastrous war (1766-1770) with the former
country, in which a Chinese army had been almost exterminated;
rebellions in Ss[)u]ch'uan (1770), Shantung (1777), and Formosa
(1786) were suppressed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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