2 Sho - In the name of Xuantong, 1908-1912

The Xuantong-era Tibetan coinage occupies an uncomfortable historical position: struck under nominal Qing suzerainty at a moment when that suzerainty was actively collapsing. The 1910 Qing military invasion of Tibet under Zhao Erfeng forced the 13th Dalai Lama to flee to British India — the same year this issue was being produced. Whether the Tibetan mint at Lhasa continued striking during the occupation itself remains a point of genuine uncertainty among specialists.

Xuantong, the reign title of the child emperor Puyi, lent his name to these coins despite Lhasa exercising de facto independent monetary control. Qing rule in Tibet effectively ended with the 1911 revolution before it had fully consolidated.