Imperial Household Department

The Imperial Household Department (simplified Chinese: 内务府; traditional Chinese: 內務府; pinyin: Nèiwùfǔ; Manchu: Dorgi baita be uheri kadalara yamun) was an institution of the Qing dynasty of China. Its primary purpose was to manage the internal affairs of the Qing imperial family and the activities of the inner palace (in which tasks it largely replaced eunuchs), but it also played an important role in Qing relations with Tibet and Mongolia, engaged in trading activities (jade, ginseng, salt, furs, etc.), managed textile factories in the Jiangnan region, and even published books.

The Department was established before the Manchu-led Qing dynasty defeated the Ming dynasty in 1644, but it became mature only after 1661, following the death of the Shunzhi Emperor and the accession of his son, who reigned as the Kangxi Emperor.

The Department was manned by booi (Chinese: baoyi 包衣), or "bondservants", who were selected from the bondservants of the upper three banners.Booi was sometimes synonymous with booi aha, which literally means "household person", but aha usually referred to the servile people who worked in fields, whereas booi usually referred to household servants who performed domestic service. The booi who operated the Imperial Household Department can be divided into roughly four groups: (a) a small booi elite; b) the majority of the booi; c) indentured servants of the booi; d) the state bondservants (Manchu: sinjeku Chinese:辛之庫).

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