Qi Tushan

Overview

Qi Tushan was a member of the Yangjia clan. Volume 54 of the official *Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners* lists him as a figure under the Plain Red Banner. He lived in Hada and belonged to a group that submitted to the Qing dynasty at the beginning of the dynasty. The entry records that his great-grandson, Bian Taha, served as an infantry captain; his great-great-grandson, Chahali, served as a cavalry captain; and Saodase served as a guard captain, preserving clues about the same family's descendants serving in different military systems.

Although the titles of Infantry Captain, Qiduwei, and Guard Captain all contain the character "Xiao" (captain), they were not the same type of official. The Infantry system was related to the affairs of the capital's patrols and guards; the Qiduwei was a low-ranking military officer of the Eight Banners, responsible for the training and management of banner soldiers; and the Guard Captain commanded his subordinate guards, serving in the imperial guard and accompanying troops on campaigns. Specific duties should be interpreted according to the unit system and the era; it is inappropriate to collectively refer to all three descendants as cavalry captains.

Bian Taha was a great-grandson, while Chahali and Saodase were listed as great-grandsons. The genealogy does not detail their father-son relationships individually. The positions held by the three individuals are materials related to their descendants, not Qi Tushan's own official career. The "Hada" in this entry refers to the ancestral home region, not the name of an official post. The birth and death dates of Qi Tushan, the specific village he lived in, and the terms of office of his descendants still require further verification; therefore, close kinship with other Yangjia clan members in the same volume cannot be inferred based solely on their surnames.