Qu Hongji was born in 1850 in a small town called Shanhua in the Changsha city area of Hunan Province. He passed the highest level of the Imperial Examinations ("jinshi") in 1871 and went to the Hanlin Academy. During 1875 he took first place in the Daijiang Bachelor Examinations. He was promoted to Neige Bachelor in 1897, and organized Town Examinations of Fujian Province and Guangxi Province. He also supervised local government as Provincial Education Commissioner of Henan Province, Zhejiang Province and Sichuan Province. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Qu carried the Four Troops Assaults plan to the emperor. Then he followed the emperor's royal family when it went hunting in the west, and was raised to the position of the Minister of Work Department. Later when he returned to Beijing, he became Minister of the Military and Minister of Government Affairs. He changed the Imperial Examinations into discourses on politics, and added economy examinations. He simplified the Headquarters of All Countries Business Department into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and became the first Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was also a member of the Grand Council. He followed the Dowager Empress Cixi’s imperial edict, and among other things proposed peace plans, was honoured by the Emperor with a gold jacket, and tutored the crown prince.