Dong Dengwen

Overview

Dong Dengwen appears in Volume 77 of the *the Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, under the entry for the Dong family. He was a bondservant under the Bordered Yellow Banner, and his family had lived in Yizhou for generations, though the year of their submission is unknown.

The original text explicitly records that he himself served as a pastoral head, but does not list the positions held by his descendants.

This differs from family entries that only record the official positions of children and grandchildren. While the title of pastoral head could be included in Dong Dengwen's personal history, the specific year of his appointment and the location of his pasture are still not recorded.

The Bordered Yellow Banner was one of the Eight Banners, and the entry under the bondservant under the banner indicates the population organization and affiliation.

"Under the banner" does not mean that Dong Dengwen himself held the position of banner; it should be understood separately from his later personal position of "pastoral head."

A pastoral head was a managerial position within a livestock herding organization.

Volume 165 of the *Imperially Commissioned Statutes and Regulations of the Great Qing Dynasty* records that the Qingfeng Division had pastoral heads for its cattle herds, along with supervisors and herders, indicating that this title cannot be simply interpreted as a horse farm manager.

This book is a Qing Dynasty institutional document and can be used to explain the institutional background of professional titles, but it cannot prove that Dong Dengwen was in charge of the cattle herd there; the actual ownership of his herd and the types of livestock still need to be verified by finding another person who was in charge.