Chenjia Clan

Overview

The Chenjia clan is a Manchu surname recorded in Volume 61 of the *Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, an official compilation from the Qianlong era. Their ancestral home was Zhangdang. The year of Chen Guozhu's submission is unknown, but the genealogy records him as a bondservant of the Bordered White Banner, noting his transfer from the Plain White Banner. His son, Qiketeng, served as an Assistant Minister; Samuha as a Bondservant Commander; and his grandson, Zhaoge, as a Cavalry Commander.

Boatservants were a specific subordinate status and organizational form within the Eight Banners. Bondservant Commanders managed related personnel; Assistant Ministers were civil officials; and Cavalry Commanders participated in the basic military management of the banner troops. These three positions belonged to his son and grandson respectively, and cannot be attributed to Chen Guozhu himself. It is also inappropriate to simply state that the entire family engaged in the same type of miscellaneous service based solely on the bondservant label.

The Plain White and Bordered White Banners belonged to two different banners; information about the transfer of affiliation must be retained and cannot be omitted simply because both contain the character "white." While the genealogy lists Chenjia as a Manchu surname, Chen Guozhu's Han Chinese name alone is insufficient to explain his ancestral origins or his relationship with all modern Chen families. The details of Zhang's local rank, specific bondservant system, date of reassignment, the yamen where Qiketeng served, and his Manchu surname still need to be verified by the original printed edition and archives. The catalog classification will not replace the lineage verification of each branch.