Qing Imperial Household Department

Timeline

1. 1644–1660Shengjing · LiaoningBefore the conquest of China proper, the Qing court used the Neifu to manage imperial household affairs and the bondservants of the banners. The Shunzhi reign followed Ming precedent in establishing a prototype of the Imperial Household Department, but the agencies were sprawling and their functions overlapping, and a unified inner-court management system had not yet taken shape.
2. 1661–1670Forbidden City · BeijingAfter the Kangxi emperor personally took charge of government, he cut redundant Neifu staff and established the Imperial Household Department as the emperor's private household agency, appointing a chief minister and placing under it seven bureaus and three offices, exclusively handling palace diet, imperial furnishings, construction and repairs, and the affairs of the Upper Three Banners, with its authority growing ever more clearly defined.
3. 1669–1700Inner City of Beijing · BeijingWorkshops under the Imperial Household Department, such as the Zaobanchu (Workshops Office) and the Duyu Si, produced porcelain, lacquerware, gold and silver ware, and textiles and embroidery for the palace, and conducted imperial merchant trade to supplement the inner treasury, forming a vast inner-court economic system that reached its greatest scale under the Qianlong reign.