Undoubtedly, the fiasco of the Ch'ing government in the Sino-Japanese war between 1894 and 1 895 is one of the most important and profound events in late 19th century Chinese history Its effect is no less than the Division Crisis and the Boxers' Rebellion One of its reasons is from psychological impact-China is defeated by a small and poor country which has long been inside the sphere of the Tribute System, a system China being the center and supreme hegemony Once defeated by such a country, its psychological impact is far much more than that by western countries. But the more important factor is that the most crucial players in East Asia, China, Russia and Japan, struggling for the entangled geopolitical interests in the Korean peninsula-serving as the buffer zone among China, Russia and Japan Accordingly, it is not surprised to find that much of the research on the Sino-Japanese war like to adopt the approaches such as East Asia international relations or Chinese diplomatic history. Nonetheless, the internal factors which greatly affected the outcome of the war are neglected or treated without much due attention for a long time. "Faction Factor" is one of the crucial causes to the result. Observing from this approach, it might be said, not exaggeratedly, that the internal power struggle in the Ch'ing government is no less fierce than the war with Japanese. By and large, after 1885 there are two different confrontational groups in the government-the Emperor faction vs. the Empress Dowager faction and Wong v. s. Lee. The tension in power transition and question on legitimacy between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager and their courtiers come into being when the Emperor begins his reign in 1885 Wong and Lee are the two most powerful faction leaders in the Han bureaucracy The Southern Faction, led by Wong, and the Huwei Northern Faction, led by Lee are waging the power struggle under the patronage of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager. Wong and Lee are regarded as standing at the two extremes of political spectrum. Wong and Lee is the supporter of the Emperor and the Empress Dowager individually. So the struggle between Wong and Lee is easily painted as "the Emperor's and the Empress' Dowager agent war." Pragmatically speaking, the confrontation between the Emperor and the Empress Dowager is led by the Wong-Lee confrontation. The convergence of these two struggle leads to the ultimate tragic result of the Sino-Japanese war. In fact, starting from 1860 down to the end of the Ch'ing dynasty, the changes of power structure between Manchu nobility and the Han bureaucrats give rise to factions' power struggles in decision-makings in terms of any vital diplomatic issues. As a result, the normal decision-making processes in regard of international relations are distorted by internal factors. Even the decision-making itself is the product of conflict, compromise and power manoeuvre. If one fails to look into these internal factors, one's understanding on modern Chinese history may not be complete. This article would like to cite the pre-war decision-making process in 1894-1895 as an example to illustrate some different perspectives for reference.