The formal structure of the Qing government centered on the emperor as the absolute ruler, who presided over six Boards (Ministries), each headed by two presidents and assisted by four vice presidents. In contrast to the Ming system, however, Qing ethnic policy dictated that appointments were split between Manchu noblemen and Han officials who had passed the highest levels of the
state examinations. The
Grand Secretariat, which had been an important policy-making body under the Ming, lost its importance during the Qing and evolved into an imperial
chancery. The institutions which had been inherited from the Ming formed the core of the Qing "
Outer Court", which handled routine matters and was located in the southern part of the
Forbidden City. In order not to let the routine administration take over the running of the empire, the Qing emperors made sure that all important matters were decided in the "
Inner Court", which was dominated by the imperial family and Manchu nobility and which was located in the northern part of the Forbidden City. The core institution of the inner court was the
Grand Council. It emerged in the 1720s under the reign of the
Yongzheng Emperor as a body charged with handling Qing military campaigns against the Mongols, but soon took over other military and administrative duties, centralizing authority under the crown. The grand councillors served as a sort of
privy council to the emperor. The
Six Ministries and their respective areas of responsibilities were as follows:
Board of Civil Appointments : The personnel administration of all civil officials – including evaluation, promotion, and dismissal. It was also in charge of the "honours list".
Board of Revenue : The literal translation of the Chinese word
hu () is "household". For much of Qing history, the government's main source of revenue came from taxation on landownership supplemented by
official monopolies on salt, which was an essential household item, and tea. Thus, in the predominantly agrarian Qing dynasty, the "household" was the basis of imperial finance. The department was charged with revenue collection and the financial management of the government. : The Board of Revenue was second in importance only to the Board of Civil appointments which was ranked first. It followed the Qing practice of 1 supervising minister (normally Manchu) and 2 ministers (1 Manchu 1 Chinese) and 2 vice-ministers (1 Manchu 1 Chinese). The Board was tasked with keeping a record of lands, provincial borders and conducting a census. The Board also controlled the collection of taxes, non-military salaries, auditing of their provincial counterparts both their treasuries and granaries as well as the central treasury, the transportation of taxes and tributes. Additionally, its responsibilities included coinage, the custom house network and the system of weights and measurements alongside the Department of works. : The Board had 14 bureaus which were responsible to it: :* The Board of Jiangsu and Anhui, which was responsible for land and poll taxes in the aforementioned provinces as well as the accounts of the government silk factories in Suzhou and Nanjing. It also was responsible for the arrears of taxes the provinces might be responsible for and making sure the weight stated by the provinces was true. :* The Bureau of Zhejiang, which was responsible for the land and poll taxes in Zhejiang and the government silk factories at Hangzhou as well as reporting annually to the emperor the population and grain production of the Empire :* The Bureau of Jiangxi, which was responsible for the land and poll taxes of Jiangxi and to audit and reports of inter-provincial support of its military expenses. :* The Bureau of Fujian, which was responsible for the accounts of Zhili and Fujian, auditing the miscellaneous expenses of Zhili which drew from the central treasury, to audit customs collected at Tianjin, to administer all government relief work, auditing rent received for housing by the government for bannermen, to control the orchards of the Imperial Household Department and the nomadic prairie of Qiqihar. :* The Bureau of Huguang, which was responsible for the land and poll taxes of Huguang, auditing customs collected inland in Hubei, auditing surcharges on the taxes of land, salt, tea and commodities across the empire :* The Bureau of Shandong, which was responsible for auditing the accounts of Shandong, Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang, to pay the officers of the 8 banners and control the government monopolies of salt and Ginseng. :* The Bureau of Shanxi to audit the accounts of Shanxi :* The Bureau of Shaanxi, which was responsible for auditing Shaanxi, Gansu and Xinjiang, controlling the government tea monopoly, to act as the paymaster of the empire except where specified. :* The Bureau of Henan, which was responsible for the land and poll taxes of Henan, to audit the expenses of troops in Qiqihar, to encourage the revisions of reports rejected by the Board, to investigate reports sent to it and report to the emperor and act upon his instructions. :* The Bureau of Sichuan, which was responsible for the land and poll taxes of Sichuan, auditing customs in Sichuan, to control all confiscated material, to report on crop conditions across the empire. :* The Bureau of Guangdong, which was responsible for the land and poll taxes of Guangdong, to control the bannermen succession and assign Han members and control assignments of the Board. :* The Bureau of Guangxi, which was responsible for the land and poll taxes of Guangxi, the customs of Guangxi, the direction and administration of the Beijing mints and the regulation of coinage as well as mining. :* The Bureau of Yunnan, which was responsible for the land and poll taxes of Yunnan, the mining royalties of Yunnan, to control the transportation of grain to Beijing in select provinces. :* The Bureau of Guizhou, which was responsible for the land and poll taxes of Guizhou, the inland and maritime customs and the auditing of the fur tributes. The Board also controlled the relief in the event of natural disasters and maintained a granary reserve of 18,250,000 shih of grain, the practice of private granaries was also protected and both private and state granaries were guarded by bannermen. In the event of disaster the Board would often cancel tax arrears or reduce the current taxes or even not collect taxes for a time, charitable works would also be organised such as orphanages, hospitals, poorhouses, widows and the shipwrecked. The board recorded the total size of the empire to be 1,047,783,839 Mou of land of which 70% belonged to the people, 7.8% to the military who farmed it with soldiers, 1.9% by bannermen and Imperial Clansmen, 17% frontier land which could be claimed by any citizen, 0.58% as official land and 0.1% as scholars land. Most farms during the period were reported to be small and not exceeding several Mou in size. There were two types of taxes, the land-poll tax and commodity taxes. In 1713 the Kangxi Emperor decided that the census of that year should be used for setting the poll tax to avoid tax dodging this census was still quoted in government figures in 1887 despite the rapid growth in population in the intervening 174 years. The Poll tax was eventually combined with the land tax in 1857 almost universally, only government, sacrificial and hunting land was exempt from this alongside canals and barracks. The magistrates who collected taxes levied a 10% surcharge on the collection which was sanctioned by the Kangxi emperor in 1709 this was routinely abused however and peasants were exploited and charged higher surcharges with instances of a 50% surcharge. Despite the reputation of corruption within the Qing dynasty the collection of taxes was efficient and regular and the chief duty of magistrates was to collect taxes and this was done twice annually in spring and autumn with 2 months available for payment per period with an equal apportionment per collection. It was regular for taxes to be waived in poorer regions on an account of bad harvest as the continued collection would make the emperor appear as a tyrant. Taxes were collected per group of households 5 or 10 and each was summoned to pay taxes with records kept by the taxpayer, the magistrate and Beijing the burden of paying taxes was given to the payer though in the event of a failure to pay the Magistrate would hire professional collectors. However, there was no uniform tax rate and it varied considerably from over 2.9 taels per mou in Hubei to 0.0002 in Gansu. Thus in 1887 on 1,047,783,839 mou of land the Board only collected 31,184,042 taels an average of 0.31 per Mou a very low rate of taxation.
Board of Rites : This board was responsible for all matters concerning court protocol. It organized the periodic worship of ancestors and various gods by the emperor, managed relations with
tributary nations, and oversaw the nationwide
civil examination system.
Board of War : Unlike its Ming predecessor, which had full control over all military matters, the Qing Board of War had very limited powers. First, the
Eight Banners were under the direct control of the emperor and hereditary Manchu and Mongol princes, leaving only the
Green Standard Army under ministerial control. Furthermore, the ministry's functions were purely administrative. Campaigns and troop movements were monitored and directed by the emperor, first through the Manchu ruling council and later through the Grand Council. The Board contained four Bureaus: The Bureau of Military section, which handled the organisation of army corps and the appointment and dismissal of officials, as well as their ranks and titles. The Bureau of Statistics, for the reward, punishment, and investigation of officials, as well as for defense, policing, and issuing passports for those leaving the country and enforcing regulations. The Bureau of Communications, which managed the supply of horses and the relay communication system. The Commissariat Bureau, which handled the records of servicemen, the recruitment of officers from the examinations, and the supply of ammunition and uniforms. The division of the Board into four Bureaus did not follow a scientific process and it was confused and unsatisfactory. As in many organisations in the Qing government, appointments were made based on racial background. Certain positions could only be held by bannermen, while others (namely, those in the provincial forces) were exclusively Chinese. Guard posts for rivers and canals were also exclusively Chinese, whereas gate posts for city gates were exclusively held by Chinese bannermen, though this exclusivity was not always present. Many of the bannermen were given concurrent appointments, holding multiple offices that did not give them work but gave them a title. Only the Zenone or Tartar-General (the commander of a province's forces) were not given concurrent appointments. The confused organisation of troops led to severe organisational and command issues and led to a lack of standardisation. The provincial commander in chief would command a couple thousand men in Canton as would the governor of Guangdong and the viceroy of Liangguang, each would maintain their own distinct forces. The viceroy could technically command the other two being a higher-ranked official but the governor could also command the provincial commander in chief simultaneously the provincial commander in chief was the Supreme Military official of the province; however, other circuits did not have to heed the orders of the provincial commander in chief as his control was indirect thus in a province there was no singular military official. While the Qing government was established as an
absolute monarchy like previous dynasties in China, by the early 20th century however the Qing court began to move towards a
constitutional monarchy, with government bodies like the
Advisory Council established and a
parliamentary election to
prepare for a constitutional government. In addition to the six boards, there was a
Lifan Yuan unique to the Qing government. This institution was established to supervise the administration of Tibet and the Mongol lands. As the empire expanded, it took over administrative responsibility of all minority ethnic groups living in and around the empire, including early contacts with Russia – then seen as a tribute nation. The office had the status of a full ministry and was headed by officials of equal rank. However, appointees were at first restricted only to candidates of Manchu and Mongol ethnicity, until later open to Han Chinese as well. (Chefoo) in the Qing dynasty Even though the Board of Rites and Lifan Yuan performed some duties of a foreign office, they fell short of developing into a professional foreign service. It was not until 1861 – a year after losing the
Second Opium War to the Anglo-French coalition – that the Qing government bowed to foreign pressure and created a proper foreign affairs office known as the
Zongli Yamen. The office was originally intended to be temporary and was staffed by officials seconded from the Grand Council. However, as dealings with foreigners became increasingly complicated and frequent, the office grew in size and importance, aided by revenue from customs duties which came under its direct jurisdiction. There was also another government institution called
Imperial Household Department which was unique to the Qing dynasty. It was established before the fall of the Ming, but it became mature only after 1661, following the death of the
Shunzhi Emperor and the accession of his son, the
Kangxi Emperor. The department's original purpose was to manage the internal affairs of the imperial family and the activities of the
inner palace (in which tasks it largely replaced
eunuchs). Additionally, it also played an important role in managing the relations between the imperial court and the regions of
Tibet and
Mongolia, both of which were under Qing rule; engaged in trading activities (jade,
ginseng, salt, furs, etc.); managed textile factories in the
Jiangnan region; and even published books.
Relations with the Salt Superintendents and salt merchants, such as those at Yangzhou, were particularly lucrative, especially since they were direct, and did not go through absorptive layers of bureaucracy. The department was manned by
booi, or "bondservants," from the Upper Three
Banners. By the 19th century, it managed the activities of at least 56 subagencies. == Administrative divisions ==