The High Road to China: George Bogle, the Panchen Lama and the First British Expedition to Tibet

The High Road to China: George Bogle, the Panchen Lama and the First British Expedition to Tibet by Teltscher, Kate. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780747585473.

In 1774, British traders longed to open relations with China so they sent a young Scotsman, George Bogle, as an envoy to Tibet. Bogle became smitten by what he saw there, and struck up a remarkable friendship with the Panchen Lama. This gripping book tells the story of their two extraordinary journeys across some of the harshest and highest terrain in the world: Bogles mission, and the Panchen Lamas state visit to China, on which British hopes were hung. Piecing together extracts from Bogles private papers, Tibetan biographies of the Panchen Lama, the account of a wandering Hindu monk and the writings of the Emperor himself, Kate Teltsher deftly reconstructs the momentous meeting of these very different worlds.