Wu Tai

Overview

Wu Tai was a member of the Yehe Nara clan, a bondservant of the Bordered Yellow Banner, during the early Qing Dynasty. His family had lived in the Yehe region for generations. The official Qing Dynasty genealogy, *The Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, Volume 22, states that his people were conquered at the beginning of the dynasty, rather than that he voluntarily led his people to surrender. This original difference in wording should be preserved during the compilation. Bondservants were a specific social group within the Eight Banners, associated with the service, production, and management systems of the imperial family or princes. They cannot be simply translated as ordinary employees, nor can their bondservant status be used to determine any court position. The original genealogy records that his great-grandson, Han Chuha, served as a guard in the Imperial Stables, and Xinartu served as the head of the tea service. Dang Kai, a second-class guard, participated in the Jinzhou campaign, sustaining injuries to both hands. Later, he pursued fleeing people in Guihua City, and the court, recognizing his family's generations of service, bestowed upon him the title of Yunqiwei, which was inherited by his son, Gadahun. The Imperial Stables handled matters related to palace horses and animal husbandry, while the tea service belonged to the palace service system. The positions of guard and Yunqiwei should be understood separately. These appointments and military achievements belong to Wu Tai's descendants, and it is incorrect to use this to write Wu Tai himself as a guard of the Imperial Stables.