Dong Liuji

Overview

Dong Liuji was a bondservant of the Bordered Blue Banner in the early Qing Dynasty, whose family had lived in Shenyang for generations. The official genealogy of the Manchu clans of the Eight Banners, Volume 77, under the entry for the Dong family, records that he surrendered during the Tiancong era and served as a sixth-rank bondservant (Zhang Yi Da). His son, Dong Tianzuo, served as a garrison commander, and his grandson, Dong Qishiba, served as a ceremonial officer. Each of these three generations held different positions, and their appointments cannot be linked to a single, continuous rise in Dong Liuji's career.

Tiancong was the reign title used by Huang Taiji during the Later Jin period, beginning in 1627 and ending before the change of reign title to Chongde in 1636. This places Dong Liuji's surrender before the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, but the original entry does not specify the year or location of his surrender, so a particular year cannot be arbitrarily chosen based on the reign title.

The sixth-rank bondservant (Zhang Yi Da) was a rank-based administrative position within the bondservant system, distinct from the status of ordinary bondservants. The bondservant system had separate organizations within the imperial family and the princely system; bondservant members of the Bordered Blue Banner could not automatically be incorporated into the Upper Three Banners of the Imperial Household Department. The system concerning bondservants and their officials can explain the titles, but it cannot be used to create a new palace for the prince to whom they belong.