The High Road to China traces two extraordinary journeys across some of the harshest and highest terrain in the world: the first British expedition to Tibet and the Panchenn Lama's state visit to China to mark the Emperor's 70th birthday. In the late 18th century, with their empire expanding, the British sought a commercial opening to China, from which European traders were banned; and they saw a possible advocate in the Panchen Lama, the spiritual leader of the Buddhist people of Tibet. In the hope of gaining access to Peking, the British envoy, a young Scot named George Bogle, entered into negotiations with the Panchen Lama's envoy, a Hindu monk and trader, and then with the Incarnate himself. All the while, he kept a journal -- his prose by turns playful, self-deprecating, grandiose, and shrewd -- and this remarkable document enables Kate Teltscher to make the meeting of two worlds palpably real. The High Road to China brings the pleasures of narrative prose to bear on a remarkable moment in history, one whose effects are still being felt. - Jacket flap.