The Fifth Dalai Lama established warm relations with the Shunzhi Emperor of China, the second Manchu emperor of the Qing Dynasty, during a state visit to Beijing in 1652 after several earlier invitations.

He set out accompanied by 3,000 men and stayed at the Yellow Palace which had been specially constructed by the Manchu emperor to house him.

The emperor met the Dalai Lama in January 1653 when he was only 14 (15 by Western reckoning).

The Emperor subsequently granted him the honorific title "Dalai Lama, Overseer of the Buddhist Faith on Earth Under the Great Benevolent Self-subsisting Buddha of the Western Paradise", and presented him a golden seal (see pic above).

The Dalai Lama stayed in Beijing for two months and was honoured with two grand imperial receptions.