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1/2 Sho - In the name of Qianlong, 1735-1796
| Issuer | Tibet |
|---|---|
| Year | 1793 |
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| Currency | Srang (1792-1959) |
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| Obverse description | Four large Chinese characters arranged in a cruciform pattern reading top to bottom, right to left within the central field: 乾隆寶藏 (Qianlong Baozang, meaning 'Qianlong [Emperor's] Tibetan Treasure'). Cloud motifs occupy each of the four corners. A surrounding border legend of smaller Chinese characters indicates the regnal year, reading 年五十八 (Year Fifty-Eight, corresponding to 1793). The overall design is executed in a flat, engraved style characteristic of Sino-Tibetan coinage of the period. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | 五 乾 年藏 寶十 隆 八 (Translation: Qian Long Bao Cang / Nian Wu Shi Ba Qianlong (Emperor) / Tibetan coin / Year 58) |
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| Additional information |
The 1793 date is not incidental. That year, following the Qing expulsion of the Gurkha invasion force from Tibetan territory, the Qianlong Emperor imposed a sweeping administrative reorganization of Tibet under the Lifanyuan. Part of that settlement required Tibetan coinage to bear the Chinese reign title — a direct assertion of Qing suzerainty encoded in silver. The Sho series issued under this arrangement replaced an earlier, purely Tibetan coinage that the Gurkhas had debased and flooded across the border as an economic weapon.
C#71 places this among the earliest issues of that post-invasion monetary reset.