Mu Yijin

Overview

Mu Yijin is a figure recorded in Volume 73 of the *the Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*. Existing materials are insufficient to automatically merge him with other individuals of the same name found in other historical records. The genealogy lists Mu Yijin under the heading "Hong Clan," but the main subject of the entry remains Mu Yijin himself; the surname heading indicates the arrangement and cannot replace the name. According to the original entry, Mu Yijin was a member of the Plain White Banner, his original place of origin is unknown, and he came to the Manchus at the beginning of the dynasty. The genealogy subsequently preserves the following chain of relatives and positions: formerly a First-Class Imperial Guard; his son, Shushu, formerly a scribe. The original entry only states "Plain White Banner member," without mentioning bondservants or Han soldiers. Volume 73 is placed in the section "Appendix: Korean Surnames within the Manchu Banners"; this is the historical arrangement category of the genealogy and should not be directly rewritten as a modern nationality or ethnic identification. "Coming to the Manchus at the beginning of the dynasty" is a general time marker; existing materials are insufficient to determine the Gregorian calendar year and the process of his submission. "Original place of origin unknown" is a gap clearly left in the documents, and cannot be moved to the ancestral home from entries with the same surname, given name, or adjacent entries. The general description of the surname title also mentions that the surname is scattered or ancestral in places such as Namdaemun, Dezhou, Yizhou, and Kaesong Prefecture; this is ancestral residence information at the surname level, not the same as the birthplace of the subject, nor can historical place names be directly identified as modern administrative regions with the same name. The term "bithesi (scribe)" (bǐtiēshì) usually refers to a scribe who transcribed, registered, translated, or handled official documents; "bithe" refers to a book or document, and "bithei" is a genitive form and cannot replace a complete official title. The "Tou Dan Shi Wei" (tóudāngshìwèi) was a higher rank in the imperial guard system, responsible for palace guard duties and accompanying the emperor; the original text does not include individual ranks or specific deeds.