Hart presided over the customs administration of the late Qing Dynasty for half a century. He also created China's modern postal system.

Hurd clearly realizes that he is a Chinese employee. "In a sense," he is a "comatriot" of the Chinese people and a foreign employee used by the Chinese government to deal with foreign businessmen. Therefore, when he was appointed minister to China by the British government in June 1885, he refused to decline.

However, from today's perspective, foreigners' control of customs is undoubtedly a violation of China's sovereignty. (Especially the water diversion rights of Chinese ports) Hurd has lived in Beijing for a long time and is good at "amateur diplomacy" behind the scenes. He is a "trustworthy adviser" to the Prime Minister's Office, "not only on taxation and business issues, but also on diplomacy and domestic affairs." All have their influence that cannot be ignored. Even the personnel appointments of feudal officials were sometimes consulted for his opinion. Prince Gong Yi? said: "Although Hart is a foreigner, looking at his temperament, he is still docile and his language is very polite."

In 1862, China's first new school - Jingshi Tongwen School Established, the funds come from customs taxation, and the person in charge is also recommended by the General Taxation Department.

From 1865 to 1868, he and the British Minister William Wytoma proposed many suggestions to the Qing court to transform the country into a powerful country. However, it was not until 30 years later that these suggestions aroused the outcry of the Chinese reformists. He wrote: "If the policy changes, China can become the leader of all countries; if the policy does not change, it will become the slave of all countries."

When Hart returned to China to get married in 1866, he persuaded the Qing government The first time we sent personnel to study abroad.

In 1879, Hart assisted the Qing Empire in purchasing 8 warships. This became the origin of China's Beiyang Navy.

In 1887, in order to solve the smuggling problem, China and Portugal were persuaded to sign the draft agreement of the Lisbon Conference, whereby Portugal would "permanently occupy" Macau in exchange for the Macao and Portuguese authorities assisting customs in collecting opium taxes.

Hurd also participated in the signing of the "Yantai Treaty", the 1885 "Sino-French New Treaty", the 1890 "Sino-British Conference Treaty on Tibet and India" and the 1901 "Xinchou Treaty"; in addition, he They also used the mortgage guarantee of tariffs to directly participate in China's foreign debt borrowing activities.