Deqine

Overview

Deqine was a member of the Huifa Nara clan of the Bordered Red Banner, whose ancestral home was Huifa. The year he submitted to the Qing dynasty is unknown. The official Qing dynasty genealogy, *the Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, Volume 24, records that he served as a seventh-rank official, his son Qise served as a military officer, and his grandson Jintai served as an infantry officer at the time of compilation. It also states that he was related to Qinuhun of the Nimacha region of the Plain Yellow Banner and Nalin of the Nimacha region of the Plain Red Banner. The term "seventh-rank official" only indicates the rank of the official; it does not specify a particular position or distinction between principal and subordinate officials, and cannot be supplemented as a seventh-rank clerk or a ceremonial officer in a prince's palace. A military officer was a lower-level official in the military guard, while an infantry officer belonged to the infantry management system, respectively involved in training, guarding, or patrolling their subordinates; they are not different ways of writing the same official title. The original genealogy's annotation regarding clan affiliation spans three banners and two ancestral residences, indicating that clan affiliation can be separated from banner affiliation and place of residence; clan affiliation does not necessarily mean three brothers of the same generation or belonging to the same banner. The records of Deqine himself as a seventh-rank official and the military positions of his descendants should be attributed separately, and it cannot be presumed that Jin Tai inherited Qi Se's position as a military officer. The specific location, kinship ties, and terms of office of each individual in Nimacha still require supplementation from the original engraving and other genealogical materials.