2025
SELECTED RESEARCH · 2025
The Issues of the Sixth Dalai Lama and the Transformation of Qing Information System on Tibet
Ling-Wei Kung
Religions 16, no. 1, article 31 (2025): 1–25.
DOI: 10.3390/rel16010031
Research summary
Using Tibetan, Mongolian, Manchu, and Chinese sources, this article investigates how controversies surrounding the Fifth and Sixth Dalai Lamas transformed Qing intelligence practices concerning Tibet. It examines information concealed from the court, the growth of networks based in Xining and Dartsédo, and the roles of lama intermediaries and multilingual communication. The article argues that these developments enabled stronger Qing intervention in Tibetan affairs. It also advances a specific interpretation of the Sixth Dalai Lama’s fate in 1706; that interpretation should be read as the article’s historical argument, supported and assessed through its evidence.
This summary is prepared from the full article; consult the PDF for the original abstract and complete argument.
Main contributions
- Analyses information gaps as a driver of changes in Qing–Tibetan relations.
- Reconstructs lama intermediaries and intelligence networks across frontier and court.
- Combines four language traditions to assess politically consequential historical claims.
Citation
Kung, Ling-Wei. “The Issues of the Sixth Dalai Lama and the Transformation of Qing Information System on Tibet.” Religions 16, no. 1, article 31 (2025): 1–25.
How can missing information change an empire’s intelligence system?
