Kaiqi

Overview

Kaiqi was a member of the Irgen Gioro clan, a bondservant of the Bordered Yellow Banner, in the early Qing Dynasty. His family had lived in Fola for generations and submitted to the Qing Dynasty at the beginning of the dynasty. He once served as a shepherd. The official genealogy of the Eight Banners Manchu Clans, Volume 14, compiled during the Qianlong reign, records that his great-grandson, Suhene, served as a First-Class Imperial Guard, a Gentleman of the Palace, and a Zuo Ling (military officer) at the time of its compilation, while Zhekune served as a treasurer. However, Kaiqi's shepherd status and his great-grandson's multiple positions belong to different generations and cannot be considered as a single individual record.

A shepherd was an administrative title within government offices, prefectures, or related pastoral organizations, related to cattle and horse herding, and cannot be interpreted as a general herdsman. The original entry did not specify an institution and did not directly designate the Imperial Stables or a particular prince's residence. Bondservants were a specific subordinate status and organization within the Eight Banners, and some held official positions; their members cannot be simply described as ordinary servants without administrative duties.

A First-Class Imperial Guard belonged to the Imperial Guard system, a Gentleman of the Palace was a professional official in a government office, a Zuo Ling managed the banner's register, and a treasurer was responsible for the treasury. The list of concurrent posts held by Suhene does not imply that Kaiqi himself also served as a bodyguard or a physician, and the treasury office of Zhekune is not recorded. The background of Fola can be understood from the early urban history of the Later Jin Dynasty, but the existing information is insufficient to determine his address; the affiliation of the bondservants, the position of the shepherd, the sequence of his multiple posts, and the original punctuation still need to be verified by the original engraving and archives.