Kantai

Overview

Kantai was a bondservant of the Xilin Gioro clan, residing in Wangqin, as recorded in Volume 17 of the Qing Dynasty official clan genealogy, *The General Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*. His family is listed as bondservant of the Bordered White Banner, with a note indicating a change of affiliation from the Plain White Banner. The year of his submission is unknown and cannot be supplemented based on the early Qing Dynasty submissions of other figures on the same page. Bondservant was a specific banner-based status; individuals within the same banner could still hold positions in different government offices and princely residences, and not all bondservant could be considered employees of the same organization. Kantai's son, Wuli, served as a third-class guard, and his grandsons, Yicheng'e and Heidase, served as bondservant leaders. Guards were related to the security organization of princely residences; "third-class" indicates their rank and cannot be changed to "third-class palace guard." "Boatser leader" was an official title managing the lower-level organizations of bondservants and must be understood within the specific system of the banner and residence to which they belonged; the original entry did not specify which princely residence it referred to, therefore the residence name is not provided. The transfer from Plain White Banner to Bordered White Banner indicates a change in the organization of this branch, and the original banner affiliation information should not be deleted based on this. Kantai's personal position, birth and death dates, and the date of his transfer are still not specified in the entry.