The History of China - HANZ X-Over: The Sino-Burmese War (1755-1759)

Episode Date: March 22, 2025

The History of Aotearoa/New Zealand asked for a little boost in the "what going on elsewhere in the world?" category ca. 1759. Well, we were inclined to be accommodating... It also just so happened that the Qing Empire under the Qianlong Emperor happened to be engaged in a tremendous border clash far to its south... Presenting: The Sino-Burmese War Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to an AirWave Media Podcast. jalapeno pepper sauce poured with ease. And if smoky strips of bacon make burgers better, you'll love our cheesy jalapeno and bacon quarter pounder. Get this beefy, bold, bacony, melty mouthful only at McDonald's for a limited time. Hey all, just a quick word from me before we launch into the main topic here today. You will hear next, good friend of the show and producer of the History of New Zealand podcast, our good friend Thomas introduced his show

before it's gonna be thrown back to me for the main episode, so please don't get confused by all that. This is a guest episode that I was asked to do, and so we flash forward ahead in time from our main narrative about a century. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and now over to Thomas. Kia ora, g'day and welcome to the history of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Episode 153.

Around the world in 1769. China. This podcast is recorded in Te Whanganui a Tara, the rohe of Muiupoko, Taranaki Whānui, Te Atiawa and Ngāti Toa Rangatira. We are generously supported by our amazing patrons such as Alan and Nana. If you want to support As hopefully all of you are aware by now, I am currently in the midst of researching and writing the episodes on James Cook's first voyage. Before we get to him though, I thought this would be a good time to stop for a second and get some wider context. Cook arrived in Aotearoa in the year 1769, going on to return twice more in the following decade. He would initially be followed by sealers and whalers looking to harvest blubber, and then by settlers who intended to stay on a more permanent basis.

1769 is the year Europe became interested in the archipelago, since Cook was able to accurately determine its position on the map, which made finding the islands again much easier. In some respects, 1769 is the year that the colonisation of Aotearoa began. Cook would be the first European to formally claim the land for Britain, since Tasman and De Serval didn't really have the time to get around to it. It's also the year that our big time skips will more or less stop. From here it will be mostly a straightforward narrative, since our records will be much more plentiful, at least once we get past the transient Wehler phase.

In short, this is a bit of a turning point in our history, and so I thought it would be a good point to take a look at what else is going on in the rest of the world at this time. Apart from France, and to a lesser extent Britain, we haven't really looked at what is going on in other parts of the globe during the time when de Serval and Cook were sailing around our neck of the woods. However, I haven't done the research and therefore are not qualified to speak on the history of other parts of the world. But I do know a bunch of people who have done that research. So I asked my podcast friends to fill in those gaps.

And over the next few episodes you'll be hearing from them about lots of different interesting events occurring in far flung places. Like America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe. These episodes won't cover everything or everywhere, but hopefully you will find them fun and something a bit different. Or perhaps you might even find them a bit familiar. Cause today's guest is a podcast much larger than my own, covering a country that is much larger and much older than Aotearoa. Please welcome Chris of The History of China.

Hello and welcome to The History of China. Resisting the Dragon, a brief synopsis of the Sino-Burmese War, 1765-1769. China should generously pacify those foreigners. 中国怀肉宁从后. The Qianlong Emperor, 1754. You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous of which is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly well known is this!

Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Ahahaha! Vizini, criminal mastermind and proud Sicilian, shortly before his death. From the Princess Bride. Our old friend Vizini was, as with so much else, almost right. But I'd like to tack on one little minor addendum to his words of wisdom, and that is, never get involved in a land war in Southeast Asia. Sure, Central Asia gets a bad enough rap, but Southeast Asia is one of the true graveyards

of empires. Surprise! I am not your usual host, Thomas. I am Chris Stewart from the History of China podcast. I know, probably not quite what you were expecting, or maybe you read the show notes and so were. At your fearless captain's request, I am here today to give some context to the wider world around the year 1769. Given that that's quite the ask, I'm only taking on a teeny tiny little chunk of it,

albeit an important one. What was going on in and around, in and around China in the same period? And so, with that little introduction out of the way, let's get right into it. China, suffice it to say, had nothing to do with, and didn't even know about the existence of, New Zealand in the 18th century. Though you do occasionally get the odd crackpot asserting outlandish claims like the Ming Admiral Zheng He sailing around the world and discovering everything from Antarctica to the Americas and probably Atlantis beside, the truth is that the evidence of such claims

are effectively nil. The fact of the matter was, China was just not that into the oceans or what might lay beyond them. It had vast coastlines, yes, but it viewed those much more as an end to things than as some sort of a beginning. Instead, China, in the very midst of the iron grip of the Qing Dynasty, a regime of ethnic conquest headed by the Manchu people of the far northeast near Siberia, was very then, Mao and ever, a land-based, internally-focused empire.

The Han Chinese were largely a people of rivers and mountains, farms, roads, cities, and, of course, walls. Their Manchu overlords, meanwhile, descended from the horse lords of the endlessly vast grasslands of the Asian steppe, a cousin people and frequent bitter rival of the Mongols that had centuries earlier ruled over all they surveyed from their saddlebacks. The Qing were at the apogee of their power and prestige in the world at this time, and like their Mongol predecessors, an even much in keeping with native Chinese imperial standards

were an aggressively expansionistic regime. Peace, as they saw it, could be bought only through submission to their will, which was, of course, the same as that of the will of heaven itself, be that voluntarily given and with gifts of tribute, or, failing that, through the judicious application of overwhelming force. The southern borders of China had long been one of the most wild and difficult to control for any dynastic government, and by far the longest and most rugged of those borders is between China and Burma, or as it's also known, Myanmar.

Far from the capital, far from any major population centers, ruggedly terrain and, moreover, thickly forested with jungles that directly abut staggeringly tall mountain ranges, ranging quickly from tropical to sub-arctic climate, the southern borderlands of China and its neighbors were a region that defy any easy categorization. Wild and exotic animals traversed these glades in forests, elephants, tigers, poisonous snakes and lizards, and who knew what other creatures beside. The people, too, were strange and prone to fighting in ways deemed difficult and unfair

by their Chinese counterparts, frustratingly hitting them from ambushes and then fading away into the deep shadows of the underbrush, seemingly able to vanish into the mists. But the absolute most devastating weapon the kingdoms of Southeast Asia could employ against any would-be aggressor, which up until the 19th century almost universally meant China, came in the vector of the tiny, biting insects that patrolled the skies, bogs, rivers, and everywhere else of Southeast Asia. Mosquitoes and other biting pests must surely be the single greatest killer humanity has ever faced, and they would once again prove their brutal efficacy in the 1760s.

The leader of the Qing Empire at this time was none other than one of the true greats of Chinese history, the Qianlong Emperor. He was the dynasty's fourth monarch, and the second longest reigning in all of Chinese history after only his grandfather, who would beat him by one year on the throne. And as of the outbreak of this conflict, almost exactly 30 years into his 60 years of reign period. The outbreak of war with the Kingdom of Burma, under its own Kongbang dynasty, came as the third of a series of military excursions launched by the Qianlong Emperor that came to be recorded

as his Shi Quan Wugong, or his Ten Great Campaigns. It would prove, in time, to be the first, and by far most significant, loss for Qianlong and the Qing overall, in what had been up to that point a string of uninterrupted military victories and conquests stretching back to the rule of his grandfather, the great conqueror himself, Kangxi. Instead, the Qing-Burmese War would be remembered, as asserted by Daiying Song, quote, as the most disastrous frontier war that the Qing-Burmese War would be remembered, as asserted by Dai Ying-seong, quote, as the most disastrous frontier war that the Qing dynasty had ever waged, end quote. And it was all supposed to be so easy. A walkover, really. The Sino-Burmese border had been defined the abstract as of the 14th century by the prior Ming regime, but only ever vaguely.

It must be remembered that, unlike our modern conception of territory and borders today, as clear defined lines on maps, borders weren't nearly the hard and fast concept that we'd expect them to be, or at least not always. For important areas, sure, yes, strict borders and checkpoints would be enacted and enforced. But for more far-flung regions with much less imperial consideration, such ideas of territoriality were more nebulous, more of a grayscale gradient of various competing influences, a bit like gravitational bodies. The 1380s had seen the Ming conquest of Yunnan, which to this day marks the southern boundary of

Chinese territory. For the subsequent nearly 400 years, that area was left largely to its own devices. The local populace, primarily the Shan peoples, were allowed to essentially pay off both the Chinese and Burmese tax collectors, and otherwise be left mostly alone. But all that changed as of the 1730s, when the Qianlong Emperor's predecessor and father, the Yongzheng Emperor, decided to tighten his control over Yunnan and its border regions. And as it so happened, just as the regional influence of the Burmese Tong... of the Burmese Tonggu dynasty was on its terminal wane. This,

unsurprisingly, ruffled more than a few feathers. By 1732, the Shan peoples had once again thrown together an army and risen in rebellion against this foreign incursion by Beijing. Why should they accept the proposed tax increases? Heck, why should they accept any taxation at all from the Forbidden City? What had it ever done for them? In the words of one of their own resistance leaders, quote, "...the lands and waters are our properties. We could plow ourselves and eat our own produce.

There is not a need to pay tribute to foreign governments." And with that, a Shan Force of indigenous backcountry survivalists got together and laid siege to the outlying Chinese Imperial garrison at Pu'ar. For three full months, the siege was maintained by the natives, until, at last, a Qing relief force was dispatched in response to their desperate pleas for aid. At about 5,000 soldiers strong, it was envisioned by Beijing as being a devastating lesson in overkill, enough of an overwhelming troop force to scour these troublesome rebels from the land and make anyone ever think of skimping out on their tax obligations think twice.

Instead, it became the opening salvo in a conflict that would claim perhaps as many as 70,000 Chinese lives over the subsequent 30 years to Burma's mere 10,000. It was set the boundary of what even today is the border between China and Burma, and forever thereafter tarnished the image that the Qing had so striven to cultivate across the world, that of overwhelming power and inevitable victory. It would not prove to be anything close to the end or fall or even massive decline of Great Qing, but it would thereafter stand as an inescapable testament that resistance was not, in fact, futile.

Because in spite of the vast number of Qing troops sent to put down the revolt and lift the siege of Pu'er, they found themselves unable to effectively pursue and capture the indigenous rebels as they fled back into the forests and mountains. And so, it was deemed that a new tact would be needed. Round about the time of the Qianlong Emperor's own accession to the Dragon Throne in 1735, the strategy had shifted from military shock and awe to a more business-like approach. The Qing quite simply bought off ten of the local Shan State magistrates, known as Saboise, into siding consistently with them over the rapidly fading Burmese Tungu regime.

To the rest of the 1730s and across the 40s and into the 50s, this system largely held, until that is, the Tungu fell entirely. As of 1752, the Tungu dynasty was replaced by the rising power of the Konbang, which went on to reunify much of the fractured kingdom by 1758. Not surprisingly, they were not too happy with the idea of being semi-secretly undermined and controlled by a foreign entity out of Beijing. The founder and leader of the Konbong, King Aung Pai, sent an expedition of his own that same year to challenge the 20 years of Qing authority in the Shan State and reestablish

Burmese control. The local Qing-aligned magistrates smartly fled ahead of the reconquest force to the relative safety of Qing's Yunnan province, where they wrote petitions to the Qianlong Emperor to intervene on their behalf and preserve the status quo with military force of his own. At first, the Qing Emperor wanted to defray the costs of any such military assertion of power by, you know, making the locals do it. It's your sate, Sabwas, so go fix it.

This was thoroughly in line with the time-tested Chinese policy known as Yi-I-Zi-Yi, meaning use the barbarians to control one another. It had always been something of an iffy proposition, trading stability and direct control for pure line-item budgetary savings, and its myriad flaws and weaknesses as a strategy shown through yet again here and now. Suffice it to say, Qianlong's exhortation that the Shan magistrates handled their own business fell entirely flat. After all, if they could have dealt with the Burmese military on their own, they would have already, right?

In 1764, a Burmese army, which was on its way to Siam, today Thailand, was increasing its grip of the borderlands, and the Sabwas complained to China. In response, the Emperor finally appointed Liu Zhao, a respected scholarly minister from Beijing to sort out matters. Arriving at Kunming, Liu made the assessment that the use of the Taishan militias alone was not working out as planned, and that he needed to commit regular Green Standard Army troops, that is regular Han Chinese Qing Imperial troops, to suppress the rebellion and retake control of the area. This leads us to our first of four invasions, from 1765 to 1766.

Early that year, a 20,000-strong Burmese army stationed at Kheng Tung, led by General Né Myo Taihapate, left Kheng Tung for yet another Burmese invasion of Siam. The conflict ignited in December of 1765, when the Qing dynasty launched an invasion into Burmese-held territories. With the main Burmese army gone, Viceroy Liu Zhao used a few minor trade disputes between local Chinese and Burmese merchants as an excuse to order an invasion of Khung Tong altogether. The Chinese forces aimed to suppress the Burmese reassertion of the borderlands. However, Liu Zhao's campaign faced stiff resistance and logistical challenges virtually from the outset. 3,500 Green Standard Army troops, along with the Taishan militias, laid siege to Kongtong, but could not match the battle-hardened Burmese

troops within the garrison itself. In the face of such mounting difficulties, Governor Leo, in his embarrassment, first tried to conceal what had happened. When the Emperor became suspicious, he ordered Leo's immediate recall and demotion. Instead of obeying and facing his shame, though, Leo took the honorable way out, committing suicide by slicing his throat with a stationary knife, supposedly writing as the blood poured from his own neck, there's no way to pay back the emperor's favor, I deserve death for my crime. But that sounds like somebody trying to play up the story to make him fang shou ru a little bit too much. While this kind of suicide in the face of bureaucratic failure was not all that unusual

in Imperial China, it nevertheless reportedly enraged the Qianlong Emperor. Not so much that Liu was dead, but that he'd failed to get the job done and so more resources would have to be committed. Because at this point, he couldn't just pretend that it wasn't happening. At this point, he couldn't just pretend that it wasn't happening. With the death of one of his actual commanders in the field, now sorting out the Burmese — or as the Chinese were calling them the Mian people — was now a matter of dynastic prestige. You can't just let them walk away with a win like this. As such, Qianlong appointed to Liu's command Yang Yingzhu, a battle-hardened frontier soldier and commander fresh out of the Xinjiang and Guangzhou theaters.

As such, this would mark the second invasion of 1766-67, the Sage of Kangtong. In October of 1766, Yang Yingzhu initiated a more direct invasion of Burma itself, targeting once again the strategic fortress of Kangtung, or as the Chinese called it then, Menggeng, then known in Burmese as Taikun City. Yes, all of these names will be on the quiz at the end. Kangtung was the largest of the states in present-day Shan State, far from the Burmese heartland, but ranked first in the order of precedence at the time of the invasion. It was also the easternmost of the Shan State's cities, lying almost entirely east of the Salween and stretching eastward all the way to the Mekong River. The Burmese, under brilliant commanders like Maha Tihah Tora, employed guerrilla tactics, leveraging their familiarity with the terrain to disrupt Chinese supply lines.

attacks, leveraging their familiarity with the terrain to disrupt Chinese supply lines. As planned, the Qing troops easily captured Bamo in December of 1766 and established there a supply base. Despite these initial Chinese advances, the prolonged siege of the city and the effect of Burmese resistance led to an eventual Chinese retreat. Two Burmese armies, one led by Maha Situ and the other led by Nye Myosithu, surrounded the Qing army. Meanwhile, Maha Tihatura's army also arrived and took position near Bammo to block the escape route back to Yunnan.

This retreat was further complicated by internal challenges, including the spread of tropical diseases among the Chinese troops. This impasse did not favor them, who were already totally unprepared to fight in the tropical weather of Upper Burma. Thousands of Chinese soldiers reportedly were struck down by cholera, dysentery, and malaria. One Qing report stated that 800 out of 1000 soldiers in one garrison had died of disease, and another 100 were ill. With this vast weakening of the Chinese army, the Burmese launched their offensive. First, Nianmyo Situ easily retook the lightly held Bamo.

The main Qing army was now totally holed up in the Kengtong-Bamo corridor, cut off from all supplies and all relief. The Burmese then proceeded to attack the main Chinese army from two sides, with Nianmyo Situ's army attacking from the north, while the garr army from two sides, with Nemio Situ's army attacking from the north, while the garrison from within Kangtong also sallied forth to take the Qing from their turned flank. The Chinese were forced to retreat eastward and then northward, where another Burmese army led by none other than Maha Thehatora was waiting for them.

The two other Burmese armies also followed, and the Qing were destroyed entirely. Maha Situ's army, which had been guarding the western flank of the Irawati River, then marched north of Mied Kirna and defeated other lightly held Chinese garrisons along the border. The Burmese then proceeded to occupy eight Chinese Shan states within Yunnan itself, so they had taken the fight and occupation to Qing territory. The victorious Burmese returned to Ava with the captured guns, muskets, and even prisoners as of early May. Within Qing, at Kunming City, Yang Yingju began to resort to lies. He reported that Bamo had been occupied, and its inhabitants had all submitted to Qing authority as evidenced by the fact

that they had started wearing their hair in the mandated Qing queue. He further reported that the Burmese commander, Niemio Sithu, after losing 10,000 men, had sued for peace, and Yang recommended to the emperor that he graciously accept the peace offer to restore normal trade relations between the two countries. To this, though, the Qianlong Emperor scoffed. Something was wrong here. Something didn't smell right. And so instead of accepting Yang's suggestion, he ordered the commander back to Beijing to follow up on this report and just, you know, make sure of things.

Upon his arrival, it's enough to say that the Emperor ordered Yang to commit suicide. The Third Invasion of 1767-1768 and the Battle of Gotek Gorge. Hey, are you in the mood for something new? Why not fly with Air Transat to an eclectic music scene? A vibrant nightlife. and your next big discovery. Starting this summer, you can fly direct from Toronto to Berlin, exclusively with Air Transat. Now all things Berlin feel closer than ever. Air Transat.

Travel moves us. Undeterred, the Qing Dynasty launched a third invasion in November of 1767. This time, there was going to be no holding back. Xianlong would send a force of 50,000 troops led by not just Chinese but now Manchu bannermen and under the command of the Manchu general Ming Rui. Ming Rui had seen battle against the Turkic peoples in the northwest and was in command of the strategically vital post of Yili, which is in present-day Xinjiang. His appointment meant that this was no longer some mere border dispute, but a full-fledged

international war. The Qing emperor and his court couldn't comprehend how such a puny and tiny country like Burma could possibly resist the might of the Qing empire for this long. Surely it must be the Chinese who are somehow the problem here. Surely they just must be not as good at fighting as the Manchu were, and so they needed the Manchu there to encourage them and give them the proper motivation. This is literally what the Qianlong Emperor was thinking and how he made his decisions. As such, for the Emperor, it was time for the Manchus themselves to enter the chat.

He'd always doubted the battle worthiness of his green standard armies. He viewed them as just functionally, racially, socially inferior to his own people. The Manchus saw themselves as a warlike and conquering race, and the Chinese as a defeated, servile and occupied people. The mountains and thick jungles of Burma kept the use of cavalry forces to a minimum, which definitely did not favor the Manchus or their preferred tactics. The Qing court was now also forced to take seriously the considered threat of illness among its troops, and as a precaution, the campaign was planned for the winter months

rather than the summer, when diseases were believed to be less prevalent. For their part, the Burmese now faced down the largest Chinese army ever yet mobilized against them. Yet to this, its new king, Xin Buxin, did not seem to realize just what a grave situation he found himself in. Throughout the first two invasions, he steadfastly refused to recall the main Burmese army from their offensive campaign against Siam. And in fact he actually allowed many of the Shan and Laotian battalions to demobilize

the start of the rainy season. As a result, when the invasion did come in November of 1767, the Burmese defenses hadn't been upgraded to meet a much larger and more determined foe than ever before. The Burmese command looked much as it had during that of the second invasion, and in fact, rather shabbier. Given that the main Burmese army was only about 7,000 strong, the entire Burmese defense at the start of the third invasion was probably somewhere on the order of no more than 20,000 strong? The entire Burmese defense at the start of the third invasion was probably somewhere on the order of no more than 20,000 in total, again facing a force of more than

50,000 crack Chinese troops, commanded by their Manchu generals. Commander Ming-Rui planned a two-pronged invasion as soon as the rainy season ended. The main Chinese army, led by General Ming himself, was to approach Ava through Xianhui, Laxiu, and Xipao, and down the Namtu River. The main invasion route was the same route followed by the Manchu forces a century earlier when they chased the fleeing Yongli Emperor of southern Ming to his eventual demise. The ultimate objective was for both armies to clamp themselves in a pincher action against the Burmese capital of Ava and drive it to surrender.

In spite of their king's initial obstinance, the Burmese overall, and especially its field commanders, were now significantly better prepared and faced this invasion under the leadership once again of Mahasithu, Namiasithu, Balamindin, and Mahatirathora. The major battle of this invasion occurred at the Battle of Gotake Gorge. Outnumbered more than 2 to 1, Mahasithu's main Burmese army was thoroughly routed by Ming-Rui's bannermen. Mahatana Tora was also repulsed at Xianhui. But having smashed now through the main Burmese armies, Ming-Rui pressed full steam ahead regardless of what was going on around him, overrunning one town after another and reaching Sengu on the Irrawaddy River some 30 miles north of Ava at the beginning of 1768.

Nevertheless, the Burmese forces, despite being heavily outnumbered, utilized their knowledge of the terrain as well as guerrilla tactics to first encircle and then decisively defeat the Qing Chinese army. It turned out that Ming-Rui had overstretched himself and was in no position to proceed any further. He now found himself too far away from his main supply base at Xinyi, hundreds of miles away from the northern Shan Hills. The Remy's guerrilla attacks on the long supply lines across the jungles of the Shan Hills were seriously hampering the Qing army's ability to proceed or even properly supply itself. The Northern Army had suffered heavy casualties in their repeated attacks against the Kongtong fort.

The fort's commander, Ardunga, against the express orders of Mingrei, retreated back to Yunnan. Ardunga was later publicly shamed and executed via slow slicing or death by a thousand cuts on the orders of the emperor himself. To do this against a fellow Manchu officer was truly a mark of shame. The situation, however, would turn even worse for poor General Ming-rei. By early 1768, battle-hardened Burmese reinforcements from Siam began to arrive back at the Burmese defensive lines. Bolstered by these reinforcements, two Burmese armies led by Mahataya Thora and Nehmyosithu

succeeded now in retaking Shenhui from the Qing. The Manchu commanders, instead of surrendering, committed suicide. In March of 1768, Ming-rei began his own personal retreat, pursued hotly by a Burmese army of 10,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. Through careful maneuvering, the Burmese army managed to achieve complete encirclement of the Chinese at modern-day Pianwulin, or Meimei, about 50 miles northeast of Ava. Over the course of three days of bloody fighting at the Battle of Meimei, the Qing banner army

was completely annihilated. The slaughter was such that the Burmese could hardly grip their swords as the hilts became slick and slippery with their enemy's blood. Of the original 30,000 men of the main army, by the end of the battle only some 2,500 remained alive to be captured. The rest had been killed either on the battlefield, through disease, or through execution after their surrender. General Ming-Rui himself was severely wounded in the battle. Only a small group managed to break through and escape the carnage at all. Ming-Rui himself could have escaped with the group, but instead he cut off his cue and sent it to the Qianlong Emperor as a token

of his loyalty by those who were escaping, and as a symbol of his shame and defeat. He then hanged himself from a tree. In the end, only a few dozen of the Qing banner army, once 50,000 strong, would ever survive to return to Beijing. Surely the Qing would call it off here. But no, we're not quite done yet, because we've got one more invasion to go in 1769 that will culminate with the Treaty of Kangtung. The Qing Dynasty, maintaining its pursuit of regional dominance, initiated a fourth invasion on October of 1769, this time an even larger force than before, 60,000 soldiers under General Hu Heng.

However, this invasion faced immediate challenges, including effective Burmese naval operations that disrupted Chinese supply lines along the vital Irrawaddy River. But almost nothing went according to plan for the poor Qing soldiers. One army did cross over to the western bank of the Irrawaddy as planned, but the commander of that army did not want to march far away from the base. When the Burmese army assigned to guard the west bank approached, the Chinese retreated back to the East Bank. Likewise, the army assigned to march down the East Bank also did not proceed.

This left the Chinese flotilla on the river exposed. The Burmese flotilla came up the river and attacked and then sank all the Qing boats. The Qing army now converged on attacking Kongtong itself, but for four consecutive weeks the Burmese defenders within put up a remarkable resistance, withstanding repeated attempts by the Bannermen to scale the walls and storm the fortress. A bit more than a month into the invasion, the entire Qing expeditionary force had gotten bogged down and invaded no more than the scant border of Burma itself. Predictably, as before, many of these Chinese soldiers and sailors fell ill and began to

die in humongous numbers. The commander Fuheng himself was struck down by fever, and even more ominously, the Burmese army that had been sent to cut the enemy lines of communication also succeeded in its mission, effectively sealing the Chinese off and encircling them from the rear. By early December, the Qing forces were completely surrounded once again. The Burmese Army, led once again by Maha Teotora, successfully retook strategic positions, including the Chinese fortress at Chonyangbin. The Burmese also employed tactics that exacerbated the impact of tropical diseases including the Chinese fortress at Shunyangbin. The Burmese also employed tactics that exacerbated the impact of tropical diseases on the Chinese forces, further weakening

their position. The Chinese command, having already lost some 20,000 men of its initial 60,000, as well as having much of their arms and ammunition seized and taken by the Burmese defenders, were forced to ask for terms of surrender. Much of the Burmese general staff were averse to granting them any terms at all, saying that the Chinese were surrounded like cattle in a pen, ready for the slaughter, starving, and in just a few days they just wiped themselves out to a man. But to this, Mahataya Tora, who'd overseen the annihilation of Ming-rei's army just a year before at the Battle of Mamyo, realized that another slaughter would just stiffen

the resolve of the Qing government. As such, he was said to have stated to the Convention of Assembled Statesmen and Elders, quote, Comrades, unless we make peace, another invasion will come. And when we have defeated it, yet another will come. Our nation cannot go on just propelling invasion after invasion of the Chinese, for we have other things to do. Let us stop the slaughter and let their people and our people live in peace. It would take a further year of negotiations, but in December 1769, the Treaty of Kongtong was signed, with terms very favorable to Burma. First, the Chinese would surrender all of their sabwas and other rebels and fugitives from Burmese justice

who had taken shelter in Chinese territory. Second, the Chinese would undertake to respect Burmese sovereignty over those Shan states that had been historically part of Burma. Third, that all prisoners of war would be released. Fourth, that the Emperor of China and the King of Burma would resume friendly relations, regularly exchanging embassies bearing letters of goodwill and presence. This treaty was signed and effectively ended the conflict, reaffirming Burma's control over its borders and maintaining its independence from Qing hegemony. In terms of its aftermath and significance, the Sino-Burmese War had profound implications

not only for both of the nations directly involved, but for the wider region of East and Southeast Asia as a whole, and even to some extent, broader Oceania. For Burma, the successful defense against multiple invasions solidified its sovereignty and deterred further chain expansion into either its territory or even that of its neighbors. The war also influenced Burma's subsequent foreign policy, as it navigated relations with neighboring states, including Siam. Additionally, the conflict highlighted the effectiveness of Burmese military strategies,

particularly their use of guerrilla tactics and knowledge of local terrain, something that would come in handy again and again and again across Southeast Asia over all time. For the Qing Empire, the war exposed the vulnerabilities of projecting vast military powers over distant territories, especially against an adversary familiar with their local environment and capable of mobilizing effective resistance. Though hostilities did formally cease with the Treaty of Canton, it remained an uneasy truce that would ensue. In fact, none of the points of the treaty were truly honored by either side.

Because the Chinese did not return the sabwas, the Burmese did not return the 2,500 Chinese prisoners of war who were instead resettled within the kingdom. The Qing had irrevocably lost some of its generation's most important frontier experts and military commanders, including Yang Yingzhu, Mingrei, Ali Geun, and Fu Heng. In pure economic terms, the war cost some 9.8 million tails of silver, just gone, never to be recovered. Nonetheless, the Emperor kept a heavy military lineup in the border areas of Yunnan for about 10 years in an attempt to wait for the perfect moment to strike yet again while

imposing a ban on inter-border trade for a further 20 years. The conflict also strained Qing resources and challenged the Empire's perception of its own invincibility and inevitability. In the broader context, the war contributed to the shaping of Southeast Asia's overall political landscape even as it exists today, influencing the balance of power among the regional states. It would in fact be two decades before Burma and Qing China resumed a diplomatic relationship as of 1790. This resumption was brokered by the Taishan nobles and Yunnan officials alike, who wanted to see trade across their mutual border resume. To the Burmese, then under their king, Budapaya, the resumption was to be on equal terms, and they considered the exchange of presence as a part of diplomatic

etiquette, not as a tributary relationship. To the dragon thrown in Beijing, on the other hand, eh, close enough. We'll call it a tributary relationship anyway. The emperor decided to view the resumption of relations with the Burmese as a nominal submission, and therefore unilaterally claimed victory and retroactively included the Burmese campaign on his list of ten great campaigns where it still sits today. Imagine that, just declaring victory and walking away. Good thing no one's ever done that since then.

And so now you know a little bit more about the world surrounding 1769. The massive world changing, or at least region changing, but little remembered and little discussed war between Qing, China, and the Kingdom of Burma. Once again I am Chris Stewart with the History of China podcast. Please do come and check out my own show if you are interested in more such tales as this. Until then, you seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you, and I hate to die. And as always, thanks for listening.

Thank you once again to Chris of the History of China for putting this episode together. I only asked for 15 minutes so he really went the extra mile. If you'd like to listen to The History of China, I'll put a link in the show notes. I highly recommend it. It's one that I've binged and regularly keep up to date with myself. Next time we'll be moving to the West. Not capital W West, I mean that we'll be hearing all about China's westerly neighbours, India and Iran, in a double feature from the history of fresh produce and the history of Persia.

See you next time. The Civil War and Reconstruction was a pivotal era in American history. When a war was fought to save the Union and to free the slaves. And when the work to rebuild the nation after that war was over turned into a struggle to guarantee liberty and justice for all Americans. I'm Tracy and I'm Rich and we want to invite you to join us as we take an in-depth look at this pivotal era in American history.

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