The Lifan Yuan (; ; Mongolian: Гадаад Монголын төрийг засах явдлын яам, ''γadaγadu mongγul un törü-yi jasaqu yabudal-un yamun'') was an agency in the government of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

of China which administered the empire's Inner Asian territories such as

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...

and oversaw the appointments of

Amban Amban ( Manchu and Mongol: ''Amban'', Tibetan: ་''am ben'', , Uighur:''am ben'') is a Manchu language term meaning "high official", corresponding to a number of different official titles in the imperial government of Qing China. For insta ...

s in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. Until the 1860s, it was also responsible for the Qing's relations with the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

Name

The name Lifan Yuan has various translations in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

, including the ''Board for National Minority Affairs'', ''Court of Territorial Affairs'', ''Board for the Administration of Outlying Regions'', ''Office for Relations with Principalities'', ''Office of Barbarian Control'', ''Office of Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs'' and ''Court of Colonial Affairs''. etc. The office was initially known as the Mongol Yamen (; , lit. the Mongol department) when it was first created in 1636. In 1639 the department was renamed and expanded to "Lifan Yuan" in Chinese and "Tulergi golo be dasara jurgan" in Manchu. The Manchu name literally means the department for the administration of outlying regions. During the period of the Late Qing Reform or New Policies, the name was changed again to Lifan Ministry () in 1907 and existed until the end of the Qing dynasty in 1912.

Function

Prior to the establishment of the Zongli Yamen, the Court also supervised the empire's relation with Russia under the treaties of Nerchinsk and Kyakhta. Lifan Yuan was exclusively staffed with members from the Eight Banners. Lifan Yuan was the closest administrative office that the Qing dynasty had that would have been comparable with a foreign policy department. Guests of the Lifan Yuan were housed in the Bureau of Interpreters () in the southeast part of the Inner City, later also known as the Russian hostel () due to the predominance of Russian visitors there. It was also called the ‘south pavilion’ (南館 ''nan kuan'') to distinguish it from the ‘north pavilion’ (北館 ''pei kuan'') where the Albazinians lived. From the

Treaty of Kyakhta The Treaty of Kyakhta (or Kiakhta),, ; , Xiao'erjing: بُلِيًاصِٿِ\ٿِاكْتُ تِيَوْيُؤ; mn, Хиагтын гэрээ, Hiagtiin geree, along with the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689), regulated the relations between Imperial ...

this residence became permanent. There was also a Russian Language Institute (), which was a school where Manchus learned to speak Russian. Founded in 1708, it was incorporated into the newly founded Tongwen Guan in 1862. The Lifan Yuan was roughly a Qing version of the Xuanzheng Yuan () or

Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs __NOTOC__ The Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs, or Xuanzheng Yuan () was a government agency of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China to handle Buddhist affairs across the empire in addition to managing the territory of Tibet. It was origi ...

, instituted by the Mongol-led

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

for administering affairs in Tibet.State and Ethnicity in China's Southwest, by Xiaolin Guo, p29 It is to be distinguished from the Ministry of Rites, which was the traditional Chinese institution for dealing with all outsiders during the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

. The Qing used the Board of Rites to deal with the tributary countries to the south and east like

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

Korea,

Nguyen dynasty Nguyễn () is the most common Vietnamese surname. Outside of Vietnam, the surname is commonly rendered without diacritics as Nguyen. Nguyên (元）is a different word and surname. By some estimates 39 percent of Vietnamese people bear this s ...

Vietnam, the Ryukyu Kingdom and western peoples who came by sea like the Dutch and the English. The Lifan Yuan was established at the time of

Huang Taiji Hong Taiji (28 November 1592 – 21 September 1643), also rendered as Huang Taiji and sometimes referred to as Abahai in Western literature, also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizong of Qing, was the second khan of the Later Jin ...

to deal with the Mongols. After the establishment to the Qing dynasty it continued to be a separate institution for dealing with Mongols and Russians and other Inner Asian peoples to the north and west. It was replaced by the Zongli Yamen for conducting foreign relations in 1861.

Name

Function

See also

References

Further reading