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