Haitai

Overview

Volume 59 of the Qing Dynasty's *Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners* preserves clues about Haitai's banner affiliation and the official positions of his relatives. At this stage, the explicit content of the genealogy text serves as the boundary of fact. The genealogy places Haitai under the heading "Baiyinggeli Clan"; here, Haitai remains the main entry, and the surname heading only indicates the family arrangement in the genealogy and cannot replace the individual's name. According to the original entry, Haitai was a member of the Bordered Yellow Banner and came to serve during the Tiancong era. This entry does not specify his ancestral residence, so place names cannot be borrowed from adjacent entries with the same surname, given name, or from adjacent entries in the same volume. The title of "Front Vanguard Officer" was a basic military rank in the Eight Banners' Frontline Battalion, involved in the training and operations of the assigned frontline; official titles cannot replace personal combat achievements. The genealogy subsequently preserves the following chain of relatives and official positions: his fourth-generation descendant, Erbertu, is currently a Frontline Officer. The original entry only states "Bordered Yellow Banner member," without mentioning bondservants or Han soldiers. "Coming to serve during the Tiancong era" is limited to the period when Huang Taiji used the Tiancong reign title; the original entry does not specify a year and cannot be arbitrarily converted to a particular year.