Lifan Yuan
Although Sushun was born into nobility, the size of his family meant that he received little attention during childhood, and little expectation from the family. He was neither well versed in literature nor exceptionally able in martial arts. Sushun became a military general during the late years of the Daoguang Emperor's reign. Following the death of Wenqing, one of the Xianfeng Emperor's closest aides, Sushun was increasingly consulted by the emperor on many important policy matters. His first position in the court was as a member of the Imperial Guard and he subsequently served in a number of senior positions in the government, including a term as the president of the Lifan Yuan. During the Second Opium War, he was one of the chief architects of Qing foreign policy and he repudiated many of the treaties that were concluded in the late 1850s, in particular the territorial concessions in the Sino-Russian Treaty of Aigun. In 1859 Sushun instituted draconian monetary reforms.