o certain knowledge of his
suspected demise but probably thought that the fiction of his
existence was the best means of keeping the Mongols in order. It was
not until 1696 that his death and the accession of a youth named
Thsang-yang Gya-thso were made public.

But the young Grand Lama, who owing to the fiction that his
predecessor was still alive had probably been brought up less strictly
than usual, soon began to inspire alarm at Peking for he showed
himself wilful and intelligent. He wrote love songs which are still
popular and his licentious behaviour was quite out of harmony with the
traditions of the holy see. In 1701, under joint pressure from the
Chinese and Mongols, he resigned his ecclesiastical rights and handed
over the care of the Church to the abbot of Tashilhunpo, while
retaining his position as temporal ruler. But the Chinese still felt
uneasy and in 1705 succeeded in inducing him to undertake a journey to
Peking. When he got as far as Mongolia he died of either dropsy or
assassination. The commander of the Oelot garrisons in Tibet was a
friend of the Chinese, and at once produced a new Grand Lama called
Yeses, a man of about twenty-five, who claimed to be the true
reincarnation of the fifth Grand Lama, the pretensions of the
dissolute youth who had just died being thus set aside. It suited the
Chinese to deal with an adult, who could be made to understand
that he had received and held his office only through their good will,
but the Tibetans would have none of this arrangement. They clung to
the memory of the dissolute youth and welcomed with enthusiasm the
news that he had reappeared in Li-t'ang as a new-born child, who was
ultimately recognized as the seventh Grand Lama named Kalzang. The
Chinese imprisoned the infant with his parents in the monastery of
Kumbum in Kansu and gave all their support to Yeses. For the better
control of affairs in Lhasa two Chinese Agents were appointed to
reside there with the Manchu title of Amban.[966]

But the Tibetans would not accept the rule of Yeses and in 1717 the
revolutionary party conspired with the Oelot tribes of Ili to put
Kalzang on the throne by force. The troops sent to take the holy child
were defeated by the Chinese but those which attacked Lhasa were
completely successful. Yeses abdicated and the city passed into the
possession of the Mongols. The Chinese Government were greatly alarmed
and determined to subdue Tibet. Their first expedition was a fa