Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers

Derived from informal deliberative groups created by Nurhaci (1559–1626) in the 1610s and early 1620s, the Council was formally established by his son and successor Hong Taiji (1592–1643) in 1626 and expanded in 1637.

Staffed mainly by Manchu dignitaries, this aristocratic institution served as the chief source of advice on military matters for Hong Taiji and the Shunzhi (r. 1643–1661) and Kangxi (r. 1661–1722) emperors.

[4] In 1622, he gave eight of his sons (who were called "princes," or beile) control over one banner each[4] and ordered them to meet to deliberate major policies, especially military matters.

[6] Another precursor to the Council was a group of "five high officials" and "ten judges" (jarguci), all Manchu, that Nurhaci put in charge of administrative and judicial tasks in 1615 or 1616.

[7] Robert Oxnam claims that this group was then referred to as "high officials who deliberate on government" (議政大臣 yìzhèng dàchén; Manchu: hebe-i amban) and assisted the princes in discussing policy.

[10] Nurhaci was succeeded by his son Hong Taiji (r. 1626–1643), who, instead of following his father's wish for collegial rule, became a strong ruler who laid the institutional foundation of the Qing dynasty.

[11] Silas Wu identifies this reform as the bona fide origin of the Deliberative Council, which then became Hong Taiji's main policymaking structure and was consulted on foreign and military matters.

[14] By limiting Council membership to Manchu military leaders from outside the imperial clan, Hung Taiji enhanced his personal power at the expense of the other princes.

[17] After Dorgon's death on the last day of 1650, the Shunzhi Emperor started his personal rule: he ordered the members of the Council to memorialize to him directly on important matters of state.

[19] After Dorgon's supporters had been purged from the court (by March 1651), his former co-regent Jirgalang made a number of special appointments to the Council to foster loyalty among the Manchu elite.

[25] The Kangxi Emperor reverted many of the bureaucratic reforms of the Oboi faction after 1669, but continued to rely on the Deliberative Council as a body of Manchu counselors whom he consulted on a wide variety of military and civil matters, especially those that were too sensitive or complex to handle through the regular bureaucracy.

[26] The emperor allowed the president of the Censorate to sit on the Council, then in 1683, after the rebellion of the Three Feudatories had been suppressed and peace reestablished, he decided that the lieutenant-generals of the Banners would no longer be automatic members.

Full-face painted portrait of a corpulent man with a thin mustachio wearing a red hat and a multi-layered yellow robe with dragon decorations, and sitting on a throne mounted on a low podium.
Hong Taiji , seen here in imperial regalia, formally established the Council of Deliberative Ministers in 1627.
Full-face painted portrait of a severe-looking sitting man wearing a black-and-red round cap adorned with a peacock feather and dressed in dark blue robes decorated with four-clawed golden dragons
Oboi used the Deliberative Council as his main policymaking tool from 1661 to 1669 during his co-regency for the Kangxi Emperor .
painted portrait of a man with small eyes and a thin mustache sitting cross-legged on what appears to be a large embroidered cushion placed on a low platform. He is holding a folded string-bound book in his left hand, and flanked on each side by a low table on which are posed boxes of books (to his left) and a cup containing brushes (on his right). He is wearing an opulent yellow imperial robe with five-clawed dragons, clouds, and water patterns.
To diminish the influence of Manchu nobles, the Yongzheng Emperor created the Grand Council , a new deliberative body that bypassed the Deliberative Council.