Gaojia Clan

Overview

The Gaojia clan is a Manchu surname listed in Volume 57 of the *Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, an official compilation from the Qianlong reign. Their ancestral home was in Gaizhou and Jilin Ula. The branch of the Bordered Blue Banner's Grintai clan resided in Gaizhou and submitted to the Qing dynasty at its beginning. Their son, Yisang'a, served as a defense commander; their grandsons, Song'ai, Nahai, Boji, and Samuha, served as infantry commanders; and their great-grandsons, Erlunte, Subai, and Fude, served as defense commanders, first-class guards, and second-class attendants.

Guards and attendants belonged to different systems: guards served in the household of princes and nobles, undertaking escort duties, while attendants served in the emperor's bodyguard and retinue. Subai's first-class guard cannot be uniformly changed to first-class attendant, nor can his official title be used to infer a specific princely household.

The branches of the Plain Yellow Banner's Badou and Plain White Banner's Mangse clans resided in Jilin Ula. Their year of submission is unknown, and the early Qing dynasty submission records of Grintai cannot be applied to them. The zuoling (ZuoLing) ​​was involved in grassroots banner administration, and the Bi Tie Shi (shi) handled official documents. The fact that the Infantry School and the Xiaoqi School (XiaoQiXiao) were in different military organizations indicates that the service areas of the descendants of Gelintai were not singular. The Manchu spelling of the surname, the bloodlines of each branch, and the specific ancestral home in Gaizhou still need to be verified; the origin of the modern Han surname cannot be inferred solely from the character "Gao" (Gao).