Zongli Yamen
The Zǒnglǐ Yámen ( 總理 衙門 / 总理 衙门 ) was the Foreign Ministry of Imperial China in the late Qing Dynasty . It was established by Prince Gong in implementation of the Treaty of Tianjin of 1858, which obliged China to enter into equal diplomatic relations with other states. Before that, the maintenance of contacts with foreign states was mainly in the hands of the Ministry of Rites .
Name meaning
Zongli yamen is the traditional abbreviation of the official Chinese name Zongli Geguo shiwu yamen ( 總理 各國 事務 衙門 / 总理 各国 事务 衙门 ), which means “Office for the interests of different nations”. The equivalent in Manchurian , the second official language of the empire, was Geren gurun i baita be uherileme icihiyara yamun . The term yamen was borrowed from the traditional Chinese term for imperial authorities. Due to the current meaning of the word Zongli , the name was sometimes misunderstood as a designation for the seat of the Prime Minister.
tasks
The establishment of equal diplomatic relations with other states forced by the Treaty of Tianjin contradicted the concept of sinocentrism and therefore aroused strong reluctance within the Qing aristocracy. This was reflected not least in the importance of the newly created Zongli Yamen: Within the Chinese hierarchy of authorities, it had a comparatively low status; the foreign policy of the empire was by no means in his hands, but continued to be subject to the prerogative of the emperor. The policies of Zongli Yamen have also been overshadowed by the actions of influential Qing officials such as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang . Sometimes he had to share staff with other authorities. In 1901 he was replaced by the Foreign Office ( 外務 部 / 外务 部 , Wàiwùbù ), which was on a par with the other imperial ministries.
literature
- Banno Masataka: China and the West, 1858–1861. The Origins of the Tsungli Yamen (= Harvard East Asian Series. Vol 15, ISSN 0073-0491 ). Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1964.