 Lifan Yuan was exclusively staffed with members from the Eight Banners.Lifan Yuan was the closest administrative office that the Qing dynasty had that would have been comparable with a foreign policy department, although the Qing dynasty cared little about relations with countries that did not border its domain.Guests of the Lifan Yuan were housed in the Bureau of Interpreters () in the southeast part of the Tatar City, later also known as the Russian hostel () due to the predominance of Russian visitors there.