This article focuses on the development of the financial system of the exchequer of the imperial household, or Neiku, during the Ming dynasty, arguing that the Neiku financial system of underwent significant transformation, tending to becoming a special reserve for the imperial household. In the early period of the Ming Dynasty into the early fifteenth century, Neiku was a revenue source for both the government's public spending and that of the imperial household, while the former played a more important role. Over time the share of revenue that the Neiku allocated for the imperial household consistently increased, and from the mid-sixteenth century onward, revenue that totaled more than one million taels annually was mainly reserved for the emperor. In the early seventeenth century, Neiku's revenues, which were collected in kind, evolved mainly to cover the expenditures of the imperial household. Thus Neiku as a whole evolved from a revenue source for both public and imperial household expenditures to a source mainly serving the financial needs of the imperial household. This remained the case during the last imperial reigns until the fall of the Ming. The major reason for this evolution was the continuing decrease of the financial revenues of the central government. The second reason lay in the reallocation of revenues, on the central government level, among the imperial household, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Works. Another reason was the professionalism and consummation of various ministries' treasury management system.