Qi Wenkui

Overview

Qi Wenkui is a bondservant of the Plain Blue Banner, recorded in the Qi family entry of Volume 77 of the *the Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*. His family had lived in Jinzhou for generations. The original text states that the year of his submission is unknown, and does not provide his birth or death dates or his official positions. Among his descendants, his great-grandson Qi Jiazheng served as an Assistant Minister, and Qi Jialin served as a Treasury Officer; his "great-great-grandson" Caibao served as a Clerk, and Shuanzhu served as an eighth-rank official. "Great-great-great-grandson" here is a Qing dynasty term for a great-great-grandson and should be distinguished from "great-grandson" when reading.

Jinzhou was an important city in western Liaoning. The original text uses "Jinzhou area" to indicate the family's ancestral residence, without specifying the village. The Plain Blue Banner belonged to the Eight Banners system; "bondservant" indicates a subordinate status within the banner, not a specific official position. Therefore, Qi Wenkui's banner affiliation, ancestral residence, and official positions should be stated separately.

An Assistant Minister was an official who assisted a Minister in handling government affairs, but the original entry does not specify which department Qi Jiazheng belonged to. The title "Ku Shi" (Ku Shi) was related to the affairs of the government's treasury and could not be arbitrarily interchanged with titles such as "Si Ku" (treasury officer). The Manchu word "Bi Tie Shi" (bithesi (scribe)) is "bithesi" (Bithesi), with the root "bithe" meaning book or document; this was an official position in the Qing Dynasty's document and translation system. The title "Shuan Zhu" (Shu Zhu) only records an eighth-rank official; the eighth rank indicates the grade but not the actual duties, and is insufficient to determine whether it was a "Zheng Ba Pin" (Zheng Ba Pin) or "Cong Ba Pin" (Cong Ba Pin).