Dang Chu

Overview

Dang Chu was a member of the Namudulu clan of the Bordered Red Banner during the early Qing Dynasty. His family had lived in Suifen for generations and submitted to the Qing Dynasty at the beginning of the dynasty. The official Qing Dynasty genealogy, *The Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, Volume 21, records that his son, Shitu, served as a Xiaoqi Xiao, and his grandson, Yaqi, served as a Hujun Xiao at the time of the book's compilation. The Xiaoqi Xiao was a low-ranking military officer in the Eight Banners' Xiaoqi Battalion, responsible for the military affairs and training of the soldiers under his command; the Hujun Xiao belonged to the Hujun Battalion, whose duties included guarding, surveillance, and military service. These two positions belonged to different battalion systems and cannot be considered two different ways of writing the same official title, nor can they be assumed to have inherited the same position simply because father and son were both officers. In the Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners served both as a military organization and a means of population management. The Bordered Red Banner indicates Dang Chu's family's banner affiliation, while Namudulu indicates clan affiliation. The original genealogy's "ancestral residence" records the ancestral home, which is not the same information as the place where descendants served in office. This entry does not specify whether Dang Chu himself held a military post or participated in battles; the only confirmed descendants who held such posts are his son Shitu and grandson Yaqi.