Sihabaksh

Overview

Xihabakeshi was a member of the Majia clan of the Plain White Banner of the Manchus during the early Qing Dynasty. His family had lived in Suifen for generations, and he submitted to the Qing Dynasty at the beginning of its rule. After the establishment of Zuoling (military units), he was placed under their administration. Volume Seven of the official clan genealogy, *The General Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, compiled during the Qianlong reign, records that his son, Budan, served as Qixinlang. Due to three years of performance evaluation, he was awarded the title of Cavalry Captain, and upon entering the Central Plains, he was promoted to Yunqiwei. He was further promoted to Third-Class Light Cavalry Captain due to his satisfactory performance in an evaluation, and later served as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works.

The Zuoling managed the basic banner-registered military households. Qixinlang was a title for a ministerial official in the early Qing Dynasty and should be understood in the context of the administrative system at the time. The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works was the deputy head of a ministry in charge of engineering and other affairs. Budan's supervision of the construction of the Altar of the God of Earth and Grain and the Fengxian Hall earned him additional honors. Civilian appointments, performance evaluations, and service in engineering projects could all influence hereditary titles; therefore, the entire passage should not be simply rewritten as battlefield military merit.

The title "Bakshi" appears in the early Qing dynasty and is used by those proficient in writing and translation. The biographies of Dahai and Erdeni in the *Draft History of the Qing Dynasty* can be used as contextual references, but since this entry does not list Xiha's personal translations, it is inappropriate to fabricate works based on the title. Sun Geerbei inherited the title and achieved military merits in Jiangxi, Guangdong, and Yunnan, reaching the rank of Second-Class Baron, but was later stripped of his title. His collateral branch, Fuka, also held an independent hereditary position. The details of the Suifen settlement, the original title, and the Qixinlang's office are pending verification; the duties of the father and son, and the collateral branch, are retained separately.