ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the changing depictions of Tibet in Chinese-language historiographies produced by Qing court and frontier officials, including the Unified Gazetteer of the Great Qing, Illustrations of Tributaries of the Qing Empire, Gazetteer of Tibet, Topographic Description of Central Tibet, and Comprehensive Gazetteer of Central Tibet. It contextualizes them against the backdrop of the intensified mobility between Tibet and the Inner Territory in the eighteenth century that led to the proliferation of historical and geographical accounts on Tibet, as well as the frequent visits of European diplomats and missionaries to China that enlarged the worldview of the Manchu, Mongol, and Han Chinese intellectuals. It demonstrates that the intellectual awareness of the emerging new world order and the statecraft of ruling the multiethnic territory further promoted the Qing court's intellectual sovereignty over Tibet and incorporation of Tibet into its cosmopolitan narratives.
