Although the Manchu rulers copied the Chinese administration system that had existed since Tang Dynasty (and with some parts since Han Dynasty), they created some important new elements that ensured the autocratic rule of the emperor and the Manchu elite. The capital of the Manchu empires was moved from Shenyang 沈陽 (Mukden, also called Shengjing 盛京)/Liaoning Prov. to Beijing in 1644. Unlike the former kinship of the emperor, the male relatives of the Manchu emperor (Manchu: beile 貝勒) were allowed to take part - to a certain extent - in the central government. Brothers and sons of the emperor were called Prince (Qinwang 親王); the most famous of them is probably Prince Gong 恭親王奕訢 who took over the government in the last years of the Chinese empire. To avoid succession struggles, the successor was nominated only shortly before the death of the emperor. Princes were not granted territories like under Han and Jin Dynasties to prevent some ambitous princes to rise their arms against the emperor. The traditional titles of Three Dukes (San Gong 三公: Grand Preceptor Taishi 太師, Grand Mentor Taifu 太傅, and Grand Guardian Taibao 太保) and Three Solitaries (San Gu 三孤) were purely honorary in practice. These titles are very old and were first used during the begin of Han Dynasty. The large imperial household of the imperial palace required a special agency, the Imperial Household Department (Neiwu Fu 內務府). Most posts of the imperial household were occupied by eunuchs; the highest of them (taijian 太監) gained great importance in the run of daily business. The central government was first lead by the Grand Secretariat (Neige 內閣; or Cabinet) that was modeled after the traditional Chinese government, with palace academies for the recruitment of highest officials (inlcuding the Ming time Hanlin Academy 翰林院), the translation of edicts and documents into Chinese and Manchu, etc.; the Six Ministries (Liu Bu 六部: Personnel Libu 吏部, Revenue Hubu 戶部, Rites Libu 禮部, War Bingbu 兵部, Justice Xingbu 刑部, and Public Works Gongbu 工部; each headed by a minister shangshu 尚書); and the Censorate (Ducha Yuan 都察院). At the begin of 18th century, the influence of the Grand Secretariate was gradually weakened and the institution was reduced to an apparatus of paperwork. Instead, the originally inofficial Council of State (Junji Chu 軍機處) took over the tasks of government. It was chaired by a prince and lead by five Grand Ministers of State (Junji Dachen 軍機大臣). The Censorate was thoroughly copied from the Ming government and had the task to maintain disciplinary surveillance over the officialdom, the staff consisting of Investigating Censors (Jiancha Yushi 監察御史). A special agency, in its meaning almost equal to the ministeries, was the Court of Colonial Affairs (Lifan Yuan 理藩院), from 1861 on called Central Foreign Office (Zongli Yamen 總理衙門). The imperial administration was undertaken by several courts, offices and directorates that managed the questions of communication, jurisdiction, imperial sacrifices, state banquets, astronomy, education, the flow of documents between the center and the provinces, and so on. An important office for the vast Qing empire was a translation bureau, publishing dictionaries for Mongolian, Kalmükian, Manchurian, Turkish, Arabian, and so on. Each instituition, central and territorial, was headed by Manchu and Chinese in equal numbers, leading to an oversized bureaucratic staff. The territorial administration was modeled after the Ming administration in provinces (sheng 省). Their names were equal to the modern provinces, except Zhili 直隸 (modern Hebei); Fengtian 奉天 (modern Liaoning), Chinese Turkestan (Dsunghary, the Ili Territories; later Uyghuria or Xinjiang; became province in 1884); Taiwan became province in 1885. Tibet (Xizang 西藏) was relatively autonomous, equally Mongolia (called Wuliasutai 烏里雅蘇台). Provinces were personally headed by a governor (xunfu 巡撫) instead of the Ming time collective chaqian 差遣 commission, but the governor was subordinate to one of nine Governors-general (zongdu 總都). Both of these posts were assited by a large group of agencies. Provicial administration was divided into circuits (dao 道) with Circuit Intendants (daotai 道臺) that had to supervise the waterways, grain tax and transport, salt control (salt production and sales was still a state monopoly), and so on. The territorial administration was organized in prefectures (fu 府), headed by a prefect (zhifu 知府), subprefectures (ting 廳), departments (zhou 州) and districts (xian 縣), headed by a magistrate (zhixian 知縣). In Outer Mongolia, the tribes or banners were organized in leagues (meng 盟). In the 19th century, these territories were taken under tighter control of the central government, just like Tibet, where the Qing government had stationed two representatives. The Qing military was organized in eight Manchu banners (qi 旗), later increased by eight Mongol and eight Chinese banners. Each banner was commanded by a Commander-in-chief (dutong 都統) and stayed under the authority of the emperor or one of the imperial princes. Some were stationed in the capital or even acted as palace guard, other banners were stationed throughout the empire. Military posts were hereditary. Chinese troops were generally designated as "Green Standards" (lüying 綠營). A very important aspect of Chinese government and administration was the official recruitment, an invention of Tang Dynasty but only perfected during Ming time. This system relied on open, competitive examinations with yearly quotas of employable officials (Manchu, Mongol and Chinese). The first step were the prefecture examinations, leading to the title shengyuan 生員. People that passed the provincial examinations (entitled juren 舉人) were allowed to take over lower-level appointments. People passing the metropolitan examinations were called jinshi 進士, and they were enabled to become officials with high ranks after making studies at the central Hanlin Academy. The examinations took three days in a clausure where the candidates were asked to interprete Confucian classics and to write essays in prescribed literary forms (the in/famous eight-foot-essay baguwen 八股文). All official posts were graded in a nine rank system (jiu pin 九品) that was also a heritage from Tang Dynasty. Although this open system of recruitment seemed to be quite objective and fair, it was corrupted by the possibility to buy lower ranks in the academies, and the fact that financing studies for the examinations were granted by relatives of the candidate. Later, after the candidate had obtained his post, he had to reward his friends and relatives. Additionally, local administrators had to deliver a certain amount of taxes to the central government, and there was no limit for levying taxes - the rest

Map and Geography Event History Emperors and Rulers Government and Administration Literature and Philosophy Religion Technology and Inventions Economy Arts