11/2 Sho - In the name of Qianlong, 1735-1796

The 1793 Tibetan coinage reform followed directly from the Qing military intervention that expelled the Gurkha invasion — the second Gurkha War had reached within striking distance of Lhasa, and the Qianlong Emperor's subsequent "Twenty-Nine Article Ordinance" restructured Tibetan governance, including its currency. This issue was produced under that reorganization, with the Qianlong reign title applied as an assertion of imperial oversight rather than routine administration.

The reform mandated weight and fineness standards monitored by the Qing Amban in Lhasa — a direct response to the debased coinage that had partly destabilized Tibetan trade and contributed to the conditions the Gurkhas exploited.