ABSTRACT
This chapter studies the stone steles in Lhasa which Qing officials erected in the eighteenth century and inscribed with imperial edicts or official decrees, including the bilingual Smallpox Stone Stele erected by Helin (1753–96) in 1794, the bilingual Kundeling Stone Stele written by Hening (1741–1820) in 1794, and the quadrilingual Gurkha Edict Stone Stele composed by Qianlong in 1793. This chapter compares the Chinese and Tibetan inscriptions, analyzes the materiality of the steles, and investigates the accompanying legends and the medical and ritual practices. It illustrates that the stone steles, meant to display Qing military power, imperial grace, and civilizing project, were mistranslated by the Tibetan translators to avoid the unfavorable expressions of “barbarian.” It also demonstrates that some of the stone steles were damaged by the Tibetans as medicine to cure smallpox, and some of the steles served as sources of power as well as imaginations for court life and the emperor. The chapter argues that through the mistranslation, damage, and gossip, Tibetan translators contested the central–peripheral and civilized–barbarian structure, and accepted the sovereign power as healer, patron, and Buddha.
