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Kuo'erka jilüe 廓爾喀紀略

May 31, 2011 © Ulrich Theobald

(Qinding) Kuo'erka jilüe (欽定)廓爾喀紀略 "(Imperially endorsed) Military history of the campaigns against the Gorkhas" is a history of the two campaigns of the Qing dynasty 清 (1644-1911) to repell the Nepalese Gorkha army out of Tibet during the years 1791 to 1793. It was compiled on imperial order by the Military Annals Bureau (fanglüeguan 方略館). The 54-juan long history is written in the style of the military annals (fanglüe 方略).

The book is intricately related to the military annals Balebu jilüe 巴勒布紀略. It describes how the Gorkhas invaded Tibet and sacked the rich monastery of Shigatse 日喀則, and how the Qing troops liberated the southern parts of Tibet from occupation. The historical material is not included in the local gazetteer of Tibet, the Wei-Zang tongzhi 衛藏通志, and therefore of high value for the history of how Qing China gained total control over Tibet.

The Kuo'erka jilüe was printed by the imperial Wuying Hall 武英殿. In 1991 it was published in the series Xizangxue Hanwen wenxian huike I 西藏學漢文文獻彙刊第一輯.

Sources:
Gao Wende 高文德, ed. (1995). Zhongguo shaoshu minzu shi da cidian 中國少數民族史大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin jiaoyu chubanshe), 2384.
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文鬰, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 1, 916.