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48-579: After serving as the most influential policymaking body of the dynasty for more than a century, the Deliberative Council was displaced and then made obsolete by the more ethnically mixed Grand Council , which the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1722–1735) created in the late 1720s to circumvent the influence of the deliberative princes and ministers. The Deliberative Council was formally abolished in 1792. Historian Robert Oxnam has called

96-581: A Han Chinese, Fan Wencheng was placed in a high position in the court by the Manchu ruler in a long time of period. Fan Wencheng was responsible for many of the important enterprises of the Qing court during its first 30 years. Fan Wencheng himself was prime minister to Emperor Shunzhi for almost 10 years. It is undeniable that his intelligence and strategy greatly helped the Qing emperors to rule China . Fan drafted

144-598: A person who, through channels other than formal government office, has significant influence over leaders of the government. In 1729, the Yongzheng Emperor launched a military offensive against the Dzungar Khanate . Concerns were raised that the meeting location of the Grand Secretariat (outside the Gate of Supreme Harmony ) did not ensure security for military secrets. The Junjichu was then established in

192-468: A strong ruler who laid the institutional foundation of the Qing dynasty. In 1627 he placed the Eight Banners under the command of eight "high officials" (Ma.: gusai ejen ; Ch.: dachen ), who were also told to assist the princes in policy deliberations. Silas Wu identifies this reform as the bona fide origin of the Deliberative Council, which then became Hong Taiji's main policymaking structure and

240-539: The Banli Junji Shiwu Chu ( Chinese : 辦理軍機事務處 ; "Office for the Handling of Confidential Military Affairs"), was an important policy-making body of China during the Qing dynasty . It was established in 1733 by the Yongzheng Emperor . The council was originally in charge of military affairs, but gradually attained a more important role and eventually attained the role of a privy council , eclipsing

288-533: The Grand Council . Unlike the Deliberative Council, whose membership was almost exclusively Manchu, the Grand Council counted many Chinese among its ranks. This more ethnically mixed privy council served as the empire's main policymaking body for the rest of the Qing dynasty. After the stabilization of the Grand Council in the 1730s, the influence of the Deliberative Council quickly declined. During

336-574: The Grand Secretariat in function and importance, which is why it has become known as the "Grand Council" in English. Despite its important role in the government, the Grand Council remained an informal policy making body in the inner court and its members held other concurrent posts in the Qing civil service. Originally, most of the officials serving in the Grand Council were Manchus , but gradually, Han Chinese officials were admitted into

384-773: The Qianlong period (1736–1796), the titles of "deliberative minister" and "deliberative prince" became mainly honorific. Manchu Grand Secretaries held such titles until 1792, when the Council was formally abolished by the Qianlong Emperor. The title was revived in the second half of the nineteenth century for Prince Gong and others when Prince Gong was head of the Grand Council. Grand Council (Qing dynasty) The Grand Council or Junji Chu ( Chinese : 軍機處 ; Manchu : [REDACTED] coohai nashūn i ba ; literally, "Office of Military Secrets"), officially

432-718: The Three Feudatories had been suppressed and peace reestablished, he decided that the lieutenant-generals of the Banners would no longer be automatic members. After that, the Deliberative Council became more oriented toward civil administration. Nonetheless during the First Oirat–Manchu War , fought from 1687 to 1697 between the Qing Empire and the Dzungar Khanate , the Kangxi Emperor often consulted

480-461: The "princes who deliberate on government" ( 議政王 yìzhèng wáng ; Manchu: doro jafaha beise ). 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. 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

528-477: The Council at that time. In 1656, the emperor issued an edict abolishing the automatic appointment to the Council of Manchu and Mongol Grand Secretaries, yet by the end of his reign in 1661, the Council still counted more than fifty members. During the Shunzhi reign, the Council was often convened to investigate important officials who had been accused of corruption or malfeasance. The Shunzhi Emperor (r. 1643–1661)

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576-703: The Council on how to deal with Galdan , the khan of the Dzungars , and with the Dzungars' enemies the Khalkha Mongols . During his reign, the Council met on imperial request and transmitted the result of its deliberations to the emperor, who usually followed the Council's advice. The Yongzheng Emperor succeeded the Kangxi Emperor after a crisis that pitted many of the Kangxi Emperor's sons against one another. Many Manchu nobles who had sided with

624-483: The Council to foster loyalty among the Manchu elite. Between 1651 and 1653, he added thirty new members who lacked official positions in the Banners or the metropolitan bureaucracy. Two of the new appointees were Chinese Bannermen Fan Wencheng 范文程 (1597–1666) and Ning Wanwo 寗完我 (d. 1665), two of only three Chinese who were ever appointed to the Council. All four of the future regents for the Kangxi Emperor ( Oboi , Suksaha , Ebilun , and Soni ) were also appointed to

672-542: The Council varied from time to time, from as few as three to as many as ten. Usually, the number of officials serving in the council was five, two Manchus, two Han Chinese, and one Prince of the First Rank , who acted as the council's president. The most senior among them was called the Chief Councilor ( Chinese : 領班軍機大臣 ; pinyin : lǐngbān jūnjī dàchén ), but this was simply a working designation and

720-477: The Council. He used the same method to purge Hooge for good in 1648. 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. 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

768-541: The Emperor on various policies and problems. Its proximity to the Emperor and inner court, secrecy, and unofficial status allowed it to expand and sustained its central role in state administration, and also freed it from some of the constraints of many of the outer-court agencies. In 1796, the Qianlong Emperor abdicated in favor of his son, the Jiaqing Emperor . Upon his father's death three years later, in 1799,

816-525: The Emperor, officials posted to the Study became highly influential to the Emperor. After the establishment of the Grand Council, the Southern Study remained an important institution but lost its policy advisory role. Officials regarded secondment to the Southern Study as an honourable recognition of their literary achievements. In Chinese, the term "access to the Southern Study" in modern usage indicates

864-697: The Grand Council at audiences. With the deaths of Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor in 1908, Puyi , Guangxu's nephew, succeeded the throne. Eventually, in May 1911, Puyi's father, Prince Chun , who was Prince-Regent , abolished the Grand Council, favoring an "Imperial Cabinet". Yikuang , the Prime Minister at the time, founded the first Imperial Cabinet in 1911. The Qing dynasty, despite this concession to those calling for reform, collapsed not long after. The number of officials comprising

912-710: The Grand Councilors....whose power surpassed that of the imperial master." This configuration survived the regency for the Tongzhi Emperor and lasted into the regency of the Guangxu Emperor . After the Guangxu Emperor formally took over the reins of power from his regent, Empress Dowager Cixi, both the Grand Council and the Emperor often sought the advice of the Empress Dowager, who was kept informed of state affairs. In fact, in 1894, with

960-712: The Inner Court of the Forbidden City . Trustworthy members of Cabinet staff were then seconded to work in the new Office. After defeating the Dzungars, the Yongzheng Emperor found that the streamlined operations of the Office of Military Secrets avoided problems with bureaucratic inefficiency. As a result, the Junjichu turned from a temporary institution into a "Grand Council" in 1732, quickly outstripping

1008-482: The Interim Council disbanded and the Grand Council was reconstituted. During the Qianlong Emperor's reign, the Grand Council had many duties. Some of them included more mundane duties such as keeping track of paperwork and planning events, including entertainments for the imperial court and transportation of the Emperor. Other duties were more tied to state administration, such as drafting edicts, and advising

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1056-469: The Jiaqing Emperor, along with purging his father's favorite , Heshen , who had served on the Grand Council since 1776, introduced numerous reforms to the Grand Council, including a reduction of the numbers of grand councilors, the introduction of administrative punishments for grand councilors, and the regulation of Grand Council clerk appointments by imperial audiences. During the regencies of

1104-417: The Qing Empire. The council's powers gradually waned after the establishment of the Southern Study and the Grand Council, and it was abolished in 1717. The Southern Study ( Chinese : 南書房 ; pinyin : Nánshūfáng ; Manchu : [REDACTED] Julergi bithei boo ) was an institution that held the highest policy-making power after its establishment in 1677 . It was abolished in 1898. The Southern Study

1152-602: The Qing dynasty. After Fan Wencheng retired, Emperor Shunzhi also pursued him as Grand Tutor ( 太傅 ) and Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent ( 太子太保 ). These positions are the first grade of the Qing government office, symbolizing the highest honor of the entire empire. The Grand Tutor is the emperor's teacher, and the Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent protects the security of the crown prince. Fan Wencheng died aged 70 after Kangxi became emperor in 1666. As

1200-587: The Six Ministries. They also decided to grant membership to the president of the Court of Colonial Affairs , whose independence the Shunzhi Emperor had compromised by subjugating it to the Board of Rites. By 1662, the Deliberative Council had been reduced to 31 members, chiefly senior Manchu leaders who had significant experience in both military affairs and civil government. The Kangxi Emperor reverted many of

1248-542: The Yongzheng Emperor's rivals during the succession struggle were still members of the Deliberative Council. To avoid alienating these grandees, the Yongzheng Emperor still made new appointments to the Council and consulted it on various military matters, but he also worked to undermine its power. To bypass the Council, he created smaller parallel bodies which he found more reliable and less entrenched. Slowly, he transferred deliberative powers to these more trusted ministers. Around 1730, these informal institutions crystallized into

1296-564: The affairs of the court. Fan's courage and wisdom, and his tactics and wisdom on the battlefield helped the Qing to defeat the Ming many times. When the Qing dynasty was just established, Fang Wencheng emphasized the importance of respecting the traditional Han culture to the new Manchu emperors, and consequently the Han Chinese during the early Qing dynasty were ironically somewhat grateful to him After Hong Taiji died, his son Shunzhi became

1344-519: 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. The emperor allowed the president of the Censorate to sit on the Council, then in 1683, after the rebellion of

1392-573: The discipline. The Qing army should respect the Han people and do not infringe on the wealth of the Han people. Therefore, People will know the intention of the Qing dynasty. According to the Draft History of Qing , Fan suggested that the official in the Ming dynasty can continue to be an official to help people to get rid of poverty, and the Qing should widely recruit capable and talented people to join

1440-622: The early days of the Qing dynasty were drafted by him. He was born in an official family in Ming dynasty , claiming himself to be a descendant of Fan Zhongyan (989–1052) , a famous statesman in the Northern Song dynasty . However, the Fan family had exiled and migrated to Manchuria by early 17th century. (The specific position is in Shenyang city in China.) Fan Wencheng's great-grandfather

1488-543: The emperor of Qing dynasty. Shunzhi emperor called Fan family attached to the Bordered Yellow Banner . When Dorgon was in command of the Qing army to crusade against the Ming dynasty, Fan submitted a written statement to Shunzhi claimed that now people are destitute, before, Qing dynasty used massacres to suppress the insurgency, so the people were suspicious of the purpose of the Qing dynasty. Therefore, this expedition requires that soldiers strictly abide by

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1536-477: The empress dowagers Ci'an and Cixi , the Grand Council took on many of the decision-making duties, particularly as the two women were novices in affairs of state. Soon after the two women became regents for the Tongzhi Emperor in 1861, edicts went out detailing how state papers and affairs were to be dealt with, with many of the policies being decided by the Grand Council. Papers were to be first sent to

1584-502: The empress dowagers, who would refer them back to the Prince-Regent , Prince Gong , who oversaw the Grand Council. The Grand Council would then discuss the issue and seek the discretion of the empress dowagers and draft up orders accordingly, with edict drafts having to be approved by the empress dowagers. Such a configuration would lead Zeng Guofan to remark, after an audience in 1869, that "the state of affairs hinged entirely on

1632-486: The imperial clan, Hung Taiji enhanced his personal power at the expense of the other princes. Nonetheless the Council remained a bastion of "collective aristocratic rule" within the Qing government. When Hong Taiji died in 1643, he was replaced by the young Shunzhi Emperor and two co-regents: Dorgon and Jirgalang . In 1644, under their leadership, the Qing dynasty replaced the collapsed Ming dynasty and moved its capital to Beijing . The Deliberative Council of Ministers

1680-628: The origin of the Council "a complicated and often confusing process." The Council originated in informal institutions created by Nurhaci (1559–1626) to promote collegial rule among his sons. In 1601, Nurhaci had organized Manchu society into four "Banners" that were doubled in number in 1615 to become the Eight Banners . In 1622, he gave eight of his sons (who were called "princes," or beile ) control over one banner each and ordered them to meet to deliberate major policies, especially military matters. Nurhaci's eight sons were known collectively as

1728-489: The outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894, copies of memoranda from the Grand Council were sent both to the Guangxu Emperor and Empress Dowager Cixi, which was practiced until 1898, at which point the Empress Dowager resumed her "tutelage" of the Guangxu Emperor. From that time until the nearly simultaneous deaths of Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor a decade later, they jointly received

1776-590: The powers of the Council of Advisor Princes, and the Southern Study, to become the chief policy-making body of the Qing Empire. In 1735, the Yongzheng Emperor died and was succeeded by his son, the Qianlong Emperor . Shortly before his death, the Yongzheng Emperor established an interim council to assist his son. The Interim Council soon consolidated many of the "Inner Court" agencies of the Yongzheng era, and expanded its power. Three years later, in 1738,

1824-478: The princes in discussing policy. Franz Michael, however, claims that they were mere "technical advisors", a point of view supported by Silas Wu. In 1623, "eight high officials" were also made deliberative officials, but their functions were chiefly censorial and their primary role was to let Nurhaci know of conspiracies among the princes. Nurhaci was succeeded by his son Hong Taiji (r. 1626–1643), who, instead of following his father's wish for collegial rule , became

1872-488: The ranks of the council. One of the earliest Han Chinese officials to serve in the council was Zhang Tingyu . The chancellery was housed in an insignificant building just west of the gate to the Palace of Heavenly Purity in the Forbidden City . In the early Qing dynasty, political power was held by the Council of Princes and High Officials (議政王大臣會議), which consisted of eight imperial princes who served as imperial advisers at

1920-632: The same time. It also included a few Manchu officials. Established in 1637, the council was responsible for deciding major policies of the Qing government. Decisions of the council had precedence over decisions of the Grant Secretariat, the imperial cabinet. Under rules set by Nurhaci , the Council even had the power to depose the Emperor. In 1643, the Shunzhi Emperor expanded the council's composition to Han Chinese officials, with its mandate expanded to all important decisions relating to

1968-644: Was Dorgon's main policymaking body during his regency. Soon after moving to Beijing, he gave the Council control over both military and civil affairs, and expanded its membership to all lieutenant-generals and deputy lieutenant-generals in the Manchu and Mongol Banners, as well as to all Mongols and Manchus who held posts of Grand Secretary or Board president. Far from limiting Dorgon's power, the Council served as his tool to denounce and arraign other princes who challenged his authority. In May 1644, for instance, he had Hong Taiji's son Hooge accused of seditious behavior and made Hooge's enemies testify against him in front of

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2016-462: Was built by the Kangxi Emperor in the southwestern corner of the Palace of Heavenly Purity . Members of the Hanlin Academy , selected based on literary merit, were posted to the Study so that the Emperor had easy access to them when he sought counsel or discussion. When posted to the Study, officials were known as "[having] access to the Southern Study" (南書房行走). Because of their proximity to

2064-599: Was consulted on foreign and military matters. In 1637, one year after he had declared himself emperor of the Qing dynasty , Hong Taiji officially excluded imperial princes from the Council. Instead, the Council was manned by eight lieutenant-generals (later called dutong 都統 in Chinese) with two deputies ( fu dutong 副都統 ) each, who were put in charge of managing the Eight Manchu Banners. By limiting Council membership to Manchu military leaders from outside

2112-422: Was not an official title. Fan Wencheng Fan Wencheng ( Chinese : 范文程 ; pinyin : Fàn Wénchéng , courtesy name : Xiandou 憲斗, 1597–1666) was a Qing dynasty scholar-official , prime minister and grand secretary ( Daxue Shi ). His official career went through four generation of Qing dynasty emperors through Nurhaci , Hong Taiji , Shunzhi , and Kangxi . Many rules and regulations in

2160-550: Was promoted from a flunky to a statesman by Nurhaci, because Fan's idea of defeating the Ming cajoled the Jin khans into pursuing this "great enterprise." Fan Wencheng was familiar with the political and military situations in the Ming dynasty and the Liaodong area. Hence, he was chosen by Nurhaci as a counselor for a war. After Nurhaci died, his son Hong Taiji became the emperor. Hong Taiji called Fan Wencheng to help him deal with

2208-474: Was respected and recognized Fan's wisdom and knowledge after speaking with him. Nurhaci also learned of Fan's ancestral connections to the Song official Fan Zhongyan, with whose story Nurhaci is depicted as being casually familiar. The khan was delighted and said to the gathered nobles, out of Fan's hearing, evidently, "This is the descendant of a famous minister, and you are to greet him most cordially." Soon, Fan

2256-414: Was succeeded by four regents led by Oboi, who took care of state affairs during the minority of the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1661–1722). Under the Oboi regency (1661–1669), the Deliberative Council became "the most prominent Manchu institution." While keeping their own seats on the Council, the regents limited membership to lieutenant-generals of the Manchu and Mongol Banners and to Manchu and Mongol presidents of

2304-482: Was the president of the Board of War during the Ming dynasty who surrendered to Manchu army (led by Nurhachi ) when it conquered the North Pass ( Fushun ) in 1618. Fan Wencheng loved reading when he was a young. He was very intelligent and decisive and became a scholar ( 秀才 ) of Shenyang city. In 1618, When Nurhaci overcame Fushun from the Ming dynasty, Fan Wencheng was brought to Nurhaci's headquarters. Nurhaci

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