Hurha Clan

Overview

The Hurha clan is a Manchu clan recorded in Volume 48 of the *Comprehensive Genealogy of Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*. The book explicitly states in its general introduction to surnames that Hurha was originally a place name, later adopted as a surname, and its members were scattered throughout Hurha, Xindamo City, and other places. Therefore, this entry discusses the clan name; historical geographical or population names written as Hurha need to be distinguished according to context, and not all people from the Hurha area should be categorized under this surname.

Official genealogies list branches such as Nahantai of the Plain Red Banner, Kangkalai of the Bordered Blue Banner, and Zhuerku, clearly stating in their cross-reference notes that the three belong to the same clan. Nahantai lived in Hurha, Kangkalai in Xindamo City, and Zhuerku in Xibai; records of these three ancestral residences coexist with records of two different banner affiliations. The Eight Banners were a military and population management organization; clans were based on kinship and surname affiliation, and the two did not overlap; members of the same clan could belong to different banners. The backgrounds of each branch differ. Nahantai once managed a zuoling (military command), Kangkalai rose to the position of Minister of Works, and Zhuerku's grandson, Xing'an, served as Vice Minister of Works in Shengjing. This volume can be used to examine the distribution, affiliation, and official appointments of the branches, but it is not a complete genealogy for all generations. The locations of each branch, the common ancestors of each branch, and the original forms of Manchu surnames still need to be verified.