Gu Er Ji Clan

Overview

The clan of Tuguerji is a Manchu surname listed in Volume 51 of the officially compiled *Comprehensive Genealogy of Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, electronically referred to as "Mongol Erji," with ancestral home in Yehe. Although the name contains the characters "Mongol," the book explicitly lists it as a Manchu surname, and its ethnicity cannot be simply changed to the Mongol Eight Banners based on the literal Chinese characters.

The Shuose branch of the Plain Yellow Banner submitted to the Qing dynasty at the beginning of the dynasty. Its grandson, Heerto, served as an acting military officer and participated in campaigns, fighting against Li Dingguo's forces at Shuanghekou in Guizhou, where he was awarded the rank of Yunqiwei (a military rank). Later, he participated in the battle against Wang Fuchen in Pingliang, Shaanxi, and was promoted to Qiduwei (a hereditary merit rank). Heerto had no heir, so his brother Bale inherited the title, becoming a deputy commander, which was later passed to his son, Feiyanggu.

The appendix also records the Yixibu of the Plain Red Banner, who also resided in Yehe and submitted to the Qing dynasty at the beginning of the dynasty. Their descendants, Antai and Shuangding, served as military officers. This indicates that the same surname did not belong to only one banner. The Deputy Commander-in-Chief was a high-ranking military officer of the Eight Banners. The Guards Officer and the Infantry Officer belonged to different systems of lower-level military positions, while the Qiduwei was a hereditary military title. The three should not be confused. The kinship between the two branches and the Manchu spelling of their surnames still need to be verified by the original engraving and Manchu materials. The original name of the mother branch should be preserved and not changed without authorization.