- Source: List of Qing ambans in Tibet
From 1727 until 1912, roughly corresponding to the era of Tibet under Qing rule, the Qing Emperor appointed "imperial commissioner-resident of Tibet" (Chinese: 欽差駐藏辦事大臣). The official rank of the imperial resident is amban (Tibetan: བོད་བཞུགས་ཨམ་བན, Wylie: bod bzhugs am ban, colloquially "High Commissioner"). With increasing diplomatic contacts between the British and the Qing in from the 1890s, some assistant ambans (Chinese: 欽差駐藏幫辦大臣) were just as notable as the senior ambans. Two of them, Feng Quan and Zhao Erfeng, who were stationed in Chamdo, were both murdered, the former in the Batang uprising and the latter in Xinhai Revolution.
List
The ethnicity of several ambans are unknown. By ethnicity, of the 80 ambans, most were Manchu and four were Han: Zhou Ying, Bao Jinzhong, Meng Bao, and Zhao Erfeng. At least fifteen Mongols were known to have served as ambans, perhaps more.
(H=Han, M=Mongol, ?=unknown, unmarked=Manchu)
Sengge 僧格 1727–1733
Mala 馬臘 1728,1729–1731, 1733–1736
Mailu 邁祿 1727–1733
Zhou Ying 周瑛 1727–1729 (Han)
Bao Jinzhong 包進忠 1729–1732 (Han)
Qingbao 青保 1731–1734 (Mongol)
Miaoshou 苗壽 1731–1734
Lizhu 李柱 1732–1733
A'erxun 阿爾珣 1734
Nasutai 那素泰 1734–1737
Hangyilu 杭弈祿 1737–1738
Jishan 紀山 1738–1741
Suobai 索拜 1741–1744, 1747–1748
Fuqing 傅清 1744–1748
Labudun 拉布敦 1748–1749
Tongning 同寧 1750
Bandi 班第 1750–1752 (the first with official Amban title)
Duo'erji 多爾濟 1752–1754 (?)
Salashan 薩拉善 1754–1757
Guanbao 官保 1757–1761
Funai 輔鼐 1761–1764
Aminertu 阿敏爾圖 1764–1766
Guanbao 官保 1766–1767
Manggulai 莽古賚 1767–1773
Wumitai 伍彌泰 1773–1775 (Mongol)
Liubaozhu 留保住 1775–1779, 1785–1786 (Mongol)
Suolin 索琳 1779–1780
Boqing'e 博清額 1780–1785
Fozhi 佛智 1788–1789
Shulian 舒濂 1788–1790
Bazhong 巴忠 1788–1789 (Mongol)
Pufu 普福 1790 (Mongol)
Baotai 保泰 1790–1791
Kuilin 奎林 1791
Ehui 鄂輝 1791–1792
Chengde 成德 1792–1793
Helin 和琳 1792–1794
Songyun 松筠 1794–1799 (Mongol)
Yingshan 英善 1799–1803
Hening 和甯 1800 (Mongol)
Funing 福甯 1803–1804
Cebake 策拔克 1804–1805 (Mongol)
Yuning 玉甯 1805–1808
Wenbi 文弼 1808–1811
Yangchun 陽春 1811–1812
Hutuli 瑚圖禮 1811–1813
Ximing 喜明 1814–1817
Yulin 玉麟 1817–1820
Wen'gan 1820–1823
Songting 松廷 1823–1827
Huixian (Qing official) 惠顯 1827–1830
Xingke 興科 1830–1833
Longwen 隆文 1833–1834
Wenwei 文蔚 1834–1835,1853
Qinglu 慶祿 1836 (Mongol)
Guanshengbao 關聖保 1836–1839
Meng Bao 孟保 1839–1842/1843 (Han)
Haipu 海朴 1842–1843
Qishan 琦善 1843–1847
Binliang 斌良 1847–1848
Muteng'e 穆騰額 1848–1852
Haimei 海枚 1852
Hetehe 赫特賀 1853–1857 (Mongol)
Manqing 滿慶 1857–1862 (Mongol)
Chongshi 崇實 1859–1861
Jingwen 景紋 1861–1869
Enlin 恩麟 1868–1872 (Mongol)
Chengji 承繼 1872–1874
Songgui 松溎 1874–1879
Seleng'e 色楞額 1879–1885
Wenshuo 文碩 1885–1888
Changgeng 長庚 1888–1890
Shengtai 升泰 1890–1892 (Mongol)
Kuihuan 奎煥 1892–1896
Wenhai 文海 1896–1900
Qingshan 慶善 1900
Yugang 裕鋼 1900–1902 (Mongol)
Assistant: An Cheng 1900–1902 (Manchu)
Assistant: Naqin 1902–1903 (Manchu)
Assistant: Gui Lin 桂霖 1903–1904 (Manchu)
You Tai 有泰 1904–1906 (Mongol)
Assistant: Feng Quan 鳳全 1904–1905 (Manchu), placed at Chamdo, murdered in Batang uprising en route
Assistant: Lian Yu 聯豫 1905–1906 (Manchu)
Diplomat: Tang Shaoyi 1904–1906 (Han)
Diplomat: Zhang Yintang 1904–1906 (Han)
Lian Yu 聯豫 1906–1912 (Manchu)
Assistant: Zhang Yintang 1906–1907 (Han), refused appointment as assistant amban, but effectively functioned as one.
Assistant: Wen Tsung-Yao 1906–1912
Assistant: Zhao Erfeng 趙爾豐 (Han) at Chamdo
General Zhong Ying 1912–1913
See also
Lifan Yuan
List of rulers of Tibet
Notes
References
Sources
Coleman, William M. (2002), "The Uprising at Batang: Khams and its Significance in Chinese and Tibetan History", in Lawrence Epstein (ed.), Khams Pa Histories: Visions of People, Place and Authority : PIATS 2000 : Tibetan Studies : Proceedings of the Ninth Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Leiden 2000, International Association for Tibetan Studies / BRILL, pp. 31–56, ISBN 90-04-12423-3
Coleman, William M. (2014), Making the State on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier: Chinese Expansion and Local Power in Batang, 1842–1939, Columbia University (PhD thesis)
Ho, Dahpon David (2008). "The Men Who Would Not Be Amban and the One Who Would". Modern China. 34 (2): 210–246. doi:10.1177/0097700407312856. ISSN 0097-7004. S2CID 143539645.
Kolmaš, Josef (1994), "The Ambans and Assistant Ambans of Tibet", Archiv Orientální. Supplementa 7, Prague: The Oriental Institute
Mehra, Parshotam (1974), The McMahon Line and After: A Study of the Triangular Contest on India's North-eastern Frontier Between Britain, China and Tibet, 1904–47, Macmillan, ISBN 9780333157374 – via archive.org
Wang, Hui (2011). The Politics of Imagining Asia. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-05519-3.
Wang, Xiuyu (2011), China's Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan's Tibetan Borderlands, Lexington Books, ISBN 978-0-7391-6809-7