Garzalguchi

Overview

The term "Gaga Zhalguqi" appears in historical records concerning the creation of the Manchu script in the early Qing Dynasty. Volume Thirteen of the *Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, an official genealogy compiled during the Qianlong reign, states that the Zhalguqi belonged to the Irgen Gioro clan of the Bordered Red Banner, originally from Hunehe. They submitted to the Qing Dynasty at the beginning of the dynasty and were granted the title of Zhalguqi. They were also commissioned by Nurhaci to jointly create the Manchu script with Erdeni. Zhalguqi was an early title used by the Later Jin Dynasty for handling litigation and governance, and should be distinguished from the personal name "Gagai," not treated as a meaningless suffix to the entire name. The *Draft History of the Qing Dynasty*, which records Qing Dynasty history and institutions, also mentions the joint creation of the national script in the biographies of Erdeni and Gagai, indicating that the script was formed by combining Mongolian letters with the local language. However, it states that Gagai later belonged to the Bordered Yellow Banner, which differs from the banner affiliation mentioned at the beginning of the *Comprehensive Genealogy*. These two accounts should be clearly distinguished and not arbitrarily unified. The National Palace Museum's *Manchu Original Archives* differentiates between the unpunctuated script of early 1599 and the punctuated script improved by Dahaijia in 1632; both periods cannot be attributed to Gagai. The ministerial positions and military achievements of the eldest son, Wushan, and the third son, Bushan, are part of their later resumes; Bushan's cavalry captaincy and subsequent succession cannot be transferred to him personally. The *Draft History of the Qing Dynasty* also records that Gagai was convicted and executed in the Hada incident; a complete biography requires comparison with early original documents and the original printing. The differences in names and scripts between the two books, the differences in banner affiliation between the two books, the geographical location of Hunehe, and the specific division of labor in production still need to be verified.