Cause & Context
Having migrated to the Volga River basin a century earlier, the Torghut Mongols suffered intensifying political subjugation, forced religious assimilation, and military conscription by Tsarist Russia.
Epochal Overview
In 1771 CE, Khan Ubashi led 170,000 Torghuts on an epic 10,000-li trek across Eurasian steppes, enduring Russian ambushes, blizzards, and starvation to reach Xinjiang; the Qianlong Emperor welcomed them at Chengde.
Key Figures
Khan Ubashi guided the migration with heroic perseverance; the Qianlong Emperor mobilized imperial grain reserves for their resettlement and commemorated the return on imperial stele.
Civilizational Impact
The Torghut return was the final grand nomad migration in world history, uniting all Mongolian branches within Qing China and demonstrating the powerful cohesion of the multi-ethnic Chinese state.