Tuyaqi

Overview

Tuyaqi was a member of the Manchu Xitala clan, belonging to the Plain White Banner. His family had lived in the Changbai Mountain area 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 43, lists him as an ancestor of this branch, primarily recording the death in battle of his grandson Bustai and the subsequent inheritance of hereditary titles. Here, Changbai Mountain refers to the ancestral homeland and should not be directly interpreted as a specific mountain peak or administrative village today.

Busitai served as a defender in the campaign against Zhejiang, dying in battle at Zhoushan. He was posthumously awarded the title of Yunqiwei (LongWei). Defense was a military officer title in the Eight Banners, responsible for the military affairs of their assigned unit; Yunqiwei was a hereditary title for meritorious officials. The original text uses "died in battle" and "posthumously awarded" together, indicating that the honor was bestowed posthumously, and cannot be written as Bustai being appointed Yunqiwei before going to Zhoushan.

This hereditary title was first inherited by Bustai's son, Bulang'a, and after Bulang'a's death, it was inherited by his son, Baolin. Starting with Tuyaqi, Bustai, Bulanga, and Baolin belong to a continuous line of descendants, and their succession should be separated from that of their ancestor Tuyaqi himself. The book also records that Tulanga, Tuyaqi's great-grandson, once served as a Langzhong, an administrative official within a ministry, which differed from the hereditary Yunqiwei position. The exact year of the Zhoushan battle, Tuyaqi's personal position, and the location of his ancestral village remain to be verified.