Wochehe Clan

Overview

The Wochehe clan is a Manchu surname listed in Volume 58 of the official genealogy of the Manchu clans of the Eight Banners, compiled during the Qianlong reign. They resided in Hada. The years of submission for the Yantai and Yong'an branches of the Plain Yellow Banner are unknown. Yantai's grandson, Heshou, served as a deputy captain in the infantry, while Yong'an's grandson, Hengge, served as a guard captain. These positions belonged to their respective descendants and cannot be combined to represent the individual careers of Yantai or Yong'an.

The infantry system was involved in the defense of the capital and patrol duties. The deputy captain was a military rank within this system; the guard captain managed their assigned guards, undertaking duties of guarding the capital and accompanying the troops on campaigns. The titles containing "deputy captain" and "captain" are not different spellings of the same position; their specific responsibilities must be determined by considering the location and period of the appointment.

Hada is the name of the ancestral home recorded in the genealogy; the Plain Yellow Banner refers to the Eight Banners system; and Wochehe is the clan name. These three indicate different social statuses. The genealogy records preserve the official positions of the two branches and their grandchildren, which can be used to trace the service records of the Manchu families, but it does not directly explain the common ancestor, migration route, or hereditary succession of positions. The fact that the two branches belong to the same banner does not mean that they came from the same zuoling (military command). The specific settlement of the Hada, the Manchu surname, the He Shou's post and the Hengge's term of office still need to be verified, and modern place names are not arbitrarily assigned based on phonetic similarities.