Bambri

Overview

Banbuli was a member of the Tatara clan, a bondservant of the Plain Blue Banner, in the early Qing Dynasty. Volume 11 of the official clan genealogy compiled during the Qianlong reign, *The General Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, lists him as belonging to a family that had long resided in Zakumu and submitted to the Qing Dynasty, noting that he once served as a Zuo Ling (a military officer). Bondservants were a specific subordinate organization within the Eight Banners, and Zuo Ling referred both to the official rank and the official in charge of that rank. Bondservants also held administrative positions within the banner system; this record cannot be simplified to the status of a household servant without military or administrative functions.

His son, Sakecha, and grandson, Burtai, both served as Zuo Ling; his grandson, Hesiheli, was a Yunqiwei (a military officer rank); his great-grandsons, Feiyana and Huashan, were also listed as Yunqiwei; and others, including Bulanzhu, Feiyanggu, and Eheli, served as Dianyi (an official in charge of ceremonies), and Sachiku also served as Zuo Ling. Yunqiwei was a hereditary title for meritorious officials, Zuo Ling was an actual administrative position, and Dianyi was related to the ceremonial affairs of the prefecture; these three cannot be combined into a single, inheritable official position.

The records of the descendants who were Changbanzhu, Guanzhu, and Liuge are still found in the Yunqiwei records, while Dezhou is recorded as the current Hujunxiao. The original article did not explain the reasons for the initial conferment, division, and succession procedures of the various merit titles, so it can be introduced that the family held hereditary positions, but it cannot be arbitrarily determined that all members will inherit the same title. The specific prefectures and offices to which the bondservant belong and the direct paternal lineage of each generation are also not recorded, and further verification is needed from the archives.