Yes, Sarmat12 . Its interesting, Even more so because this is one of the many examples how sino centrism often distorts things. An unfortunate situation.
The article below is one of many ones that consider the war as one of the worst Qing defeats ever and deals with the distortion of it :
Dai, Yingcong, "A Disguised Defeat: The Myanmar Campaign of the Qing Dynasty," Modern Asian Studies, Vol.38, No.1 (2004), pp.145-89.
As most modern scholars explain ; the Chinese annals have a tendency to use self - aggrandizing and cover-up language. Now, in former decades, the claims in Chinese annals, were almost literally accepted. This has lead to a distorted and sino centric picture of the relations between China and others ( an example of such an outdated work : John Fairbank, The Chinese World Order , 1968 ). A classic example is all the talk about the tribute/homage from overseas states that were claimed as Chinese vassals. Nowadays, it's usually emphasized that this was self inflating language to disguise commercial contacts. ( see for instance : Wang Gengwu, Rhetoric of a Lesser Empire 1983 ). In other words, such Chinese suzerainity merely existed in the Chinese books.
Regarding the wars and militairy campaigns in general : Here, of course, the cover- up language was used too. The Burmese greatly defeated the Qing but the war is often euphemistically represented as ' not completely succesful campaigns that caused the Burmese to sue for peace and to accept Chinese suzerainity' . ( As if the Burmese destroyed the armies to accept China as overlord

)
The wars ( 1765-1769 )
In the 1760s the Konbaung state ( called after the dynasty )was the strongest in what is now Burma . Nevertheless , due to the internal war this state had with other Burmese states , Qing thought this was a very good moment to conquer Burma . Hence, Qing invaded this state 4 times in a row . The Burmese under king Hsinbyushin defeated the 'Chinese ' while at the same time they invaded Ayuthaya/Siam, conquered the Shan states, the Lanna kingdom, Laos , Assam in India etc. After having beeing defeated constantly ( with the danger that the war was dragged in to Chinese territory) the Qing forces asked for peace on Burmese terms ( so not viceversa ).
Short summary of the battles
In 1766 Qianglong sent armies from Yunnan into Burma but they were defeated at Kentung. The Chinese viceroy commited suicide after the defeat.
In 1767 the next Chinese Viceroy was given free hand to defeat burma but also his armies ( including the Manchu elite troops ) were defeated , this time at Kaungtong. After that the Burmese took the offensive and entered Chinese terittitory where they raided places at will.
In 1768 the third Chinese viceroy Ming Giu ( son in law of the Qing emperor ) tried to do it. This time the Qing had a better chance because they now attacked Burma 'in the back' , since most of the Burmese armies were still bizzy with fighting Ayuthaya / Siam in the south( Ayuthaya was fighting for independence after beeing conquered by the Burmese in 1767 ). Indeed, initially the Qing made some successes and they even came as far as 50 km of the capital Ava. Yet, , the Burmese came back in time and destroyed the Qing forces. Viceroy Ming Giu realized that the end was near, so he cut his pigtail and sent it per courier to the emperor and committed suicide.
In 1769 The Qing tried one more time. An immense stockade camp was built not far from the Chinese -Burmese frontier but the Burmese took the offensive and besieged it . The Chinese armies asked for peace on Burmese terms to prevent another slaughter ( like in 1768 ). The Burmese king Hsinbyushin was outraged that his generals, without asking his permission, let the chinese alive this time. Nevertheless, peace was signed in 1770 and both parties agreed to restore normal diplomatic and commercial relations.
Edited by Sander - 08-May-2008 at 09:47