Zhu Nai

Overview

Zhu Nai was a member of the Irgen Gioro clan of the Plain Red Banner during the early Qing Dynasty. His family had lived in the Changbai Mountains for generations and submitted to the Qing Dynasty at its inception. The official clan genealogy compiled during the Qianlong reign, *The General Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, Volume 15, does not record his official position. It lists his great-grandson Ahada as having served as an infantry officer, Hong'e as a cavalry officer, his great-great-grandson Huase as a scribe, and Zhu Cheng'e as a defense officer. It is inappropriate to assign his name Zhu Nai to the Zhu clan simply because the first character resembles a Han surname; his family affiliation should be based on the clan title in this chapter.

The infantry officer was involved in the basic management of the infantry organization; the cavalry officer was involved in the affairs of the banner troops; defense officer was a military rank; and scribe was responsible for official documents, copying, and translation. These positions were of different natures, and without the specific post, it is impossible to place all four in the same military unit, nor can their official positions be attributed to Zhu Nai himself.

The original entry only lists the great-grandsons and great-great-grandsons, without specifying their fathers, making it impossible to establish a continuous father-son chain or presume hereditary succession of official positions. The historical scope of Changbai Mountain cannot be directly narrowed down to the present-day main peak scenic area; the location data of southeastern Jilin Province in modern times is only a geographical background; the specific village where this branch resided, the year of their surrender, their military rank and original name still need to be verified by the original inscriptions, local chronicles and archives.