Wan Bulu

Overview

Wan Bulu was a member of the Irgen Gioro clan of the Plain Red Banner during the early Qing Dynasty. His family had lived in Dayang Ertun for generations and submitted to the Qing Dynasty at the beginning of the dynasty. Volume 15 of the official clan genealogy compiled during the Qianlong reign, *The General Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, records that he once served as a Zuo Ling (zuoling (company captain)), and his grandson Yanbu once served as a Xiaoqi Xiao (xiaoqixiao), noting that they were converted from bondservants of the same banner. The entry beginning with the ordinary Plain Red Banner status and the explanation of the conversion from bondservants must be retained; different stages cannot be combined into a single, unchanging status.

A Zuo Ling was both a basic military and administrative unit of the Eight Banners and the official in charge of that unit, involved in banner registration, household registration, and military affairs. A Xiaoqi Xiao participated in the management of the banner soldiers under his command, with separate duties from those of a Zuo Ling; a grandson serving as a Xiaoqi Xiao did not equate to inheriting Wan Bulu's Zuo Ling position, and the original text does not specify a formal hereditary succession for the same vacancy.

Bondservants were an organization within the Eight Banners with specific subordinate relationships; they cannot be simply equated with ordinary servants, nor can a short sentence directly determine their affiliation to a prince's palace or the Emperor's Imperial Household Department. The timing, reasons, and applicable generational order of the change from bondservant status within this banner still need to be verified by the original inscription; the process of leaving the bondservant status cannot be fabricated. The modern location of Dayang Ertun, the name of Sun Yanbu's father, and official records still need to be supplemented; the original appointments only state that they were once held, without providing the exact dates.