Halhaci

Overview

Harhaqi was a member of the Hulun Gioro clan, Plain Blue Banner, whose family had lived in Huifa for generations. The year of their submission to the Qing dynasty is unknown. The official Qing dynasty genealogy, *The General Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, Volume 18, records that he himself served as a military officer, his son Deming as an assistant secretary, his grandson Deqine as a secretary, Dehene as a secretary, Delun as a scribe, and his great-grandson Sexian as a clerk. A military officer was a junior officer in the Imperial Guard, responsible for guarding the emperor, accompanying him on campaigns, and thus, his position cannot be simply equated with that of an ordinary soldier. Assistant secretaries, secretaries, clerks, and scribes were all related to government administration, but their roles differed: secretaries oversaw clerks, assistant secretaries assisted with related tasks, clerks handled official documents, and scribes processed Manchu-Chinese documents and translated archives. The original genealogy does not specify which ministry these descendants served in; therefore, it cannot be assumed that the entire family held positions in the Ministry of War simply because their father was a military officer. The discrepancy between the time of the genealogy compilation for "former" Deqine and "current" Dehene does not provide the actual years of their appointments. Huifa only refers to their historical ancestral home; these official positions cannot be used to infer that Harhaci was born in Beijing or was fluent in Chinese.