Sanguni

Overview

Sangguni was a member of the Irgen Gioro clan of the Plain White Banner during the early Qing Dynasty. His family had lived in the Yarhu area for generations and submitted to the Qing Dynasty at the beginning of the dynasty. The official clan genealogy of the Qianlong era, *The General Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, Volume 13, does not record his official appointments, but it does record that his great-grandson, Kamin, participated in the battle of Xincheng County, Shandong Province, and was the second to scale the city walls during the siege, earning the title of Yunqiwei (a military rank). Later, he was granted an additional hereditary title by imperial decree. The order of second scaling the walls should be preserved; it cannot be changed to first scaling the walls.

Kamin had no heir, so his elder brother's son, Ashitan, inherited the title. Ashitan also had no heir and initially did not inherit the title. In the first year of Qianlong's reign, by imperial decree, Kamin's grandson, Wuershan, succeeded him as Yunqiwei. Succession indicates the arrangement of lineage inheritance; a grandson cannot be written as Kamin's biological grandson. Yunqiwei was a hereditary title for meritorious officials, while a leisurely life was a state of bannerman status. Inheritance and succession are two related but distinct institutional matters.

Descendants also held positions such as Tea House Supervisor, Ceremonial Officer, Pastor, and Clerk, and cannot all be categorized as military officers. The textual differences between the Ceremonial Officer and the Imperial Guard Ceremonial Officer in the *Draft History of the Qing Dynasty* (which records Qing history and institutions) need to be verified against the original text. The name "Mongol" in the genealogy should not be directly used as a label of ethnic identity. The historical value of the Sanggunni entry lies in preserving different family branches and succession arrangements; the modern location of Yarhu, the year of the imperial examination, and the intermediate paternal lineage still require further verification.