Ma Xing'a

Overview

Ma Xing'a is a member of the Irgen Gioro clan recorded in Volume 15 of the *General Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*. The verifiable information provided in the original entry includes his status as a bondservant of the Bordered Blue Banner, his ancestral home in Ningguta, and his category of submission at the beginning of the dynasty. His status as a bondservant of the Bordered Blue Banner indicates the banner organizational structure as seen at the time of compilation; the term "bondservant" refers to a subordinate status within the Eight Banners and the Imperial Household Department system, and cannot be simply equated with a modern-day household servant, nor can it be inferred that his personal legal status remained unchanged. The genealogy records his resume as follows: his son, Mahara, was originally a Zuo Ling (a military officer); his great-grandsons, Ma Wenlong and Ma Zhaolong, were both Sheng Yuan (students). The kinship hierarchy and statuses such as "former" and "current" are retained as in the original entry; at this stage, Ma Xing'a's official position, rank, or birth and death are not inferred from the official positions of his descendants. The relevant institutional terms should be understood according to the Qing Dynasty context: Zuo Ling was both the name of a basic unit of the Eight Banners and the title of an official in charge of the household registration, corvée labor, and military affairs of the bannermen in that unit; Sheng Yuan was a school status obtained through local examinations, not an actual official position. "Ningguta" retains the historical place name spelling in genealogical records; there may be different places with the same name, different spellings, and changes in jurisdiction, so it cannot be directly equated to a specific administrative region today.