Zongli Yamen
| Zongli Yamen | |
|---|---|
Hanyu Pinyin | Zǒnglǐ Gèguó Shìwù Yámen |
The Zongli Yamen (
The former site of the Zongli Yamen is now located in Dongtangzi Hutong,
Meaning of name
Zongli Yamen is a traditional abbreviation of the official name (總理各國事務衙門; 总理各国事務衙门; Zǒnglǐ Gèguó Shìwù Yámén), literally meaning "Office in Charge of Affairs Concerning All Nations".The corresponding name in Manchu, the other official language of the Qing Empire, was Geren gurun i baita be uherileme icihiyara yamun. (
) A common misconception is that the Zongli Yamen's name means the "Premier's Office". This arose because the term zongli (总理) is now used in Chinese to refer to the Premier or Prime Minister of a country. In fact, the name Zongli Yamen is an abbreviation of its full name, which makes it the bona fide office of foreign affairs. In contemporary English sources, it was also called the "Board of Ministers for Foreign Affairs".[6]
Function in the Qing government
Prior to the creation of the Zongli Yamen, Qing foreign relations were conducted by several different agencies, such as the
The successor to the Bureau of Translators, the Tongwen Guan was set up by the Qing dynasty for translating western languages and subordinated to the Zongli Yamen instead of the Hanlin.
In 1873, the Zongli Yamen got into a quarrel with the foreign ministers to China over the protocol that was to be followed at their audience with the Tongzhi Emperor, as the foreign ministers not surprisingly refused to perform the ritual kowtow to the emperor, with an impasse eventually being solved thanks in part to the Japanese ambassador to China, Soejima Taneomi. Similar protocol would be followed in 1891 with the ministers' audience with the Guangxu Emperor.
In 1875, the Zongli Yamen began establishing consulates and legations in foreign countries staffed by Qing diplomats and assisted by both foreign staff and Qing interpreters trained at the Tongwen Guan. Through these permanent diplomatic missions, the Zongli Yamen gained a degree of autonomy in its self-representation and the ability to dispute the views of foreign diplomats in their home countries.[7]
Following the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing government was forced to change its foreign service. According to Article XII in the Boxer Protocol 1901, the Zongli Yamen was replaced with a Foreign Office, known at the time as the Waiwubu (外務部; Wàiwùbù; 'External Affairs Department'), which ranked above the other six boards in the government; "as the course of subsequent events made clear, the Waiwubu was as ineffective in the establishment of good relations between China and the outside world as the Zongli Yamen had been."[8]
See also
- Foreign relations of Imperial China
- List of diplomatic missions of the Qing dynasty
- Dates of establishment of diplomatic relations with the Qing dynasty
- Peking Legation Quarter
Notes
- ISBN 978-0-429-97452-6.
- ISBN 978-9971-9903-9-8.
- ISBN 978-0-300-25606-2.
- ISBN 978-90-04-29331-1.
- ISBN 978-1-135-93562-7.
- ^ See, e.g. Hart v Van Gumpach (China and Japan) [1873] UKPC 9 (28 January 1873)
- S2CID 225314710.
- ^ S. M. Meng, The Tsungli Yamen: Its Organization And Functions, p. 81.
References
- Immanuel C. Y. Hsü. China's Entrance into the Family of Nations: The Diplomatic Phase, 1858 -1880. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1960.
- China and the West, 1858–1861: The Origins of the Tsungli Yamen. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1964.
- Meng, S. M. The Tsungli Yamen: Its Organization and Functions. Cambridge, Massachusetts: East Asian Research Center, 1962.
- H B Morse. International Relations of the Chinese Empire. 3 volumes. London and New York: by Longman and Green, 1910–18.
- W.W. Norton & Company, 1990.
- Maria Bugrova Tsungli Yamen on Bumali Project
