Zongli Yamen

The Zongli Yamen was the first significant institutional innovation in the central Beijing bureaucracy that the Qing government had made since the Yongzheng Emperor created the nucleus of the Grand Council in 1729.

The Zongli Yamen was supervised by a controlling board of five senior officials (initially all Manchus), among whom Prince Gong was the de facto leader.

In their discussions on establishing the new agency, Qing officials reiterated that it was only to be a temporary institution, maintained until the current foreign and domestic crisis had passed.

The Zongli Yamen had a relatively low formal status in the Qing administrative hierarchy and its members served concurrently in other government agencies, which further weakened its position.

While the Zongli Yamen remained an important body for a few decades after its foundation, its influence was soon overshadowed by influential officials such as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang.

Front gate of the Zongli Yamen . The tablet reads "中外禔福" ( Peace and Prosperity in China and Outside ), from the biography of Sima Xiangru in the Book of Han . Photography c.1897–98 Marcel Monnier, le Tour d'Asie, Plon 1899
A photographic engraving of the members of the Zongli Yamen in 1894, at the time of the First Sino-Japanese War .