page_title: Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers
section_title: Origins and formal establishment
hierarchical_section_title: Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers / Origins and formal establishment
caption_attribution_description: 中文（简体）‎: 清 佚名 《清太宗崇德皇帝朝服像》English: Portrait of Hong Taiji (1592-1643)
context_page_description: The Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers, also known as the Council of Princes and High Officials and Assembly of Princes and High Officials, or simply as the Deliberative Council, was an advisory body for the emperors of the early Qing dynasty. Derived from informal deliberative groups created by Nurhaci in the 1610s and early 1620s, the Council was formally established by his son and successor Hong Taiji in 1626 and expanded in 1637. Staffed mainly by Manchu dignitaries, this aristocratic institution served as the chief source of advice on military matters for Hong Taiji and the Shunzhi and Kangxi emperors. It was particularly powerful during the regencies of Dorgon and Oboi, who used it to enhance their personal influence.
  After serving as the most influential policymaking body of the dynasty for more than a century, the Deliberative Council was displaced and then made obsolete by the more ethnically mixed Grand Council, which the Yongzheng Emperor created in the late 1720s to circumvent the influence of the deliberative princes and ministers. The Deliberative Council was formally abolished in 1792.
context_section_description: Historian Robert Oxnam has called the origin of the Council "a complicated and often confusing process." The Council originated in informal institutions created by Nurhaci (1559–1626) to promote collegial rule among his sons. In 1601, Nurhaci had organized Manchu society into four "Banners" that were doubled in number in 1615 to become the Eight Banners. In 1622, he gave eight of his sons (who were called "princes," or beile) control over one banner each and ordered them to meet to deliberate major policies, especially military matters. Nurhaci's eight sons were known collectively as the "princes who deliberate on government" (議政王 yìzhèng wáng; Manchu: doro jafaha beise).
  Another precursor to the Council was a group of "five high officials" and "ten judges" (jarguci), all Manchu, that Nurhaci put in charge of administrative and judicial tasks in 1615 or 1616. Robert Oxnam claims that this group was then referred to as "high officials who deliberate on government" (議政大臣 yìzhèng dàchén; Manchu: hebe-i amban) and assisted the princes in discussing policy. Franz Michael, however, claims that they were mere "technical advisors", a point of view supported by Silas Wu. In 1623, "eight high officials" were also made deliberative officials, but their functions were chiefly censorial and their primary role was to let Nurhaci know of conspiracies among the princes.
  Nurhaci was succeeded by his son Hong Taiji (r. 1626–1643), who, instead of following his father's wish for collegial rule, became a strong ruler who laid the institutional foundation of the Qing dynasty. In 1627 he placed the Eight Banners under the command of eight "high officials" (Ma.: gusai ejen; Ch.: dachen), who were also told to assist the princes in policy deliberations. Silas Wu identifies this reform as the bona fide origin of the Deliberative Council, which then became Hong Taiji's main policymaking structure and was consulted on foreign and military matters. In 1637, one year after he had declared himself emperor of the Qing dynasty, Hong Taiji officially excluded imperial princes from the Council. Instead, the Council was manned by eight lieutenant-generals (later called dutong 都統 in Chinese) with two deputies (fu dutong 副都統) each, who were put in charge of managing the Eight Manchu Banners. By limiting Council membership to Manchu military leaders from outside the imperial clan, Hung Taiji enhanced his personal power at the expense of the other princes. Nonetheless the Council remained a bastion of "collective aristocratic rule" within the Qing government.
caption: Hong Taiji, seen here in imperial regalia, formally established the Council of Deliberative Ministers in 1627.
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