Suwayan

Overview

Suwayan is a member of the Irgen Gioro clan of the Bordered Blue Banner, listed in Volume 13 of the official genealogy of the Eight Banners Manchu Clans compiled during the Qianlong reign. He lived in the Yarhu area, and the year of his submission is unknown. He once served as a Principal. His son, Sangge, served as a scribe, and his grandson, Huase, also served as a scribe. The mother's name is preserved according to the original entry and cannot be merged with other clans based on similar pronunciations. Individual matching is based on the clan, banner affiliation, and generational order of this entry. A Principal was an official in the Qing dynasty's ministries and departments responsible for handling documents or specific duties; a scribe handled copying, translation, and administrative documents. Principals and scribes had distinct responsibilities and were not two translations of the same position. The original entry did not specify the ministry to which Suwayan belonged, nor did it mention the start and end dates of each father and son's positions. Therefore, it cannot be concluded that three generations of a family were involved in document administration and that the position was hereditary within the same institution. Manchu dictionaries use "bithesi" to correspond to scribes or clerical staff, with "bithe" meaning book or written document, which helps in understanding the literary background of this official title; however, it does not prove that Sangge or Huase translated any book or mastered a specific language. This entry confirms that three generations of the family served as officials, but the individual's achievements, birth and death dates, years of submission, and exact village of Yarhu are still not recorded and require further verification from other original sources.