Function
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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. [11] 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 [d] in the southeast part of the Inner City, later also known as the Russian hostel [e] due to the predominance of Russian visitors there. It was also called the South Pavilion [f] to distinguish it from the North Pavilion [g] where the Albazinians lived. From the Treaty of Kyakhta this residence became permanent.
There was also a Russian-Language Institute, [h] 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 [i] or Bureau of Buddhist and Tibetan Affairs, instituted by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty for administering affairs in Tibet. [12] 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 Qing used the Board of Rites to deal with its tributary states to the south and east like the Joseon dynasty of Korea, the Nguyen dynasty of Vietnam, the Ryukyu Kingdom, and the Westerners who came by sea like the Dutch and the English. The Lifan Yuan was established during the reign of Huang Taiji to deal with the empire's Mongol subjects. It later continued to be a separate institution for handling the affairs of the empire's Inner Asian territories and its foreign relations with the Russians.
