Tongqi Clan

Overview

The Tongqi clan is a Manchu surname recorded in Volume 59 of the official genealogy of the Manchu clans of the Eight Banners, compiled during the Qianlong reign. They resided in Fola for generations. Luke Duli of the Plain Yellow Banner submitted to the Qing dynasty at the beginning of the reign. His son, Song Etu, served as a Qiduwei; his grandson, Arsai, served as an imperial censor; his great-grandson, Sentehe, served as a Qiduwei; and his great-great-grandson, Tong Zhang, served as a scribe.

The imperial censor belonged to the Censorate's supervisory system, responsible for investigating officials and related administrative affairs; the Qiduwei was a low-ranking military officer of the Eight Banners, involved in the training and management of banner soldiers; the scribe (bihesi) was a transliteration of the Manchu word for drafting and translating documents. The family's records include various positions such as supervisory, military, and clerical, and cannot all be attributed to cavalry officers.

Luke Duli is the starting point of this genealogy. His descendants held official positions across multiple generations, which is not attributed to his personal concurrent appointments or promotions. The original text does not provide details of each person's official post or record hereditary military achievements, therefore, it is impossible to establish a hereditary title based solely on the number of generations of official appointments. The appearance of the character "Tong" in the names of descendants is a factual finding, but it is insufficient to establish a common ancestor with other Tong surname clans. The specific location of Fola, the Manchu surname, the term of office of the Arsène Supervisor, and the complete genealogy still need to be verified.