Zongli Yamen (Traditional Chinese: 總理衙門; Simplified Chinese: 总理衙门; Hanyu Pinyin: Zǒnglǐ Yámen; Wade-Giles: Tsungli Yamen) was the name of the government office/department of foreign relations (or Foreign Office) of imperial China during the Qing dynasty. It was established by Prince Gong in 1861, following the Convention of Peking. Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard character sets. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also Simplified Chinese: 简化字; Traditional Chinese: 簡化字; pinyin: jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ... The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is the United Kingdom government department responsible for promoting the interests of the United Kingdom abroad. ... The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: ; Pinyin: QÄ«ng cháo; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun), occasionally known as the Manchu Dynasty, is a Chinese term for the Empire of the Great Qing (Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: dàqÄ«ngguó), founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what... Prince Gong in official dress Prince Gong (Chinese: 恭親王; Wade-Giles: Prince Kung) (January 11, 1833 - May 29, 1898), commonly known in his days as the Sixth Prince (六王爺), was born Yixin (Chinese: 奕訢; Wade-Giles: I-hsin), of the Aisin-Gioro clan (the Qing... 1861 is a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The Convention of Peking (October 18, 1860), also known as the First Convention of Peking, was a treaty between the Qing Government of China and the British Empire, and between China and France, and China and Russia. ...

The Meaning of the Name

Zongli yamen is a traditional abbreviation of the official name in Chinese, Zongli geguo shiwu yamen (總理各國事務衙門), literally meaning "Office in charge of Affairs of 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 Yamen's name means the "Premier's Office". This arose because the word 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. The Manchu language is a member of the Tungusic languages of Altaic family; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 100 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus. ... A yamen (衙門, yámén) is any local bureaucrats, or mandarins, office and residence of the Chinese Empire from the Qing Dynasty (and possibly earlier Chinese dynasties). ... The Premier (Chinese: 总理 pinyin: zŏnglĭ), sometimes referred to as the Prime Minister, is the Chairman of the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China and head of government. ...

Function in Qing Bureaucracy

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. Furthermore, the Zongli yamen was not the sole policy making body in foreign affairs, a prerogative which still rested in the hands of the emperor. While the 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. In 1901, the Zongli Yamen was replaced with the Qing Foreign Office (外務部, Wàiwùbù), which had equal status to other ministries in the government. General Zeng Guofan Marquess ZÄ“ng Guófán, (t. ... Li Hongzhang (February 15, 1823 – November 7, 1901) was a Chinese general who ended several major rebellions, and a leading statesman of the late Qing Empire. ...

References

• Immanuel C. Y. Hsü. China's Entrance into the Family of Nations: The Diplomatic Phase, 1858 -1880. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960.

• Banno Masataka. China and the West, 1858-1861: The Origins of the Tsungli Yamen. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1964.

• H B Morse. International Relations of the Chinese Empire. 3 volumes. London and New York: by Longman and Green, 1910-18.