Wen Shitong

Overview

Wen Shitong: Wen Shitong is a member of the Bordered Blue Banner bondservant family, listed in the Wen family entry of Volume 77 of the *Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*. His family had lived in Shenyang for generations and submitted to the Qing dynasty during the Tiancong era. Tiancong was the reign title used by Huang Taiji during the Later Jin dynasty, generally corresponding to 1627-1636. Therefore, this record places his family's submission before the Qing dynasty entered the Central Plains, but does not specify the year or Wen Shitong's birth year.

The Bordered Blue Banner was one of the Eight Banners, and bondservant (baoyi) were a specific social group within the banner with a particular affiliation. Shenyang, later known as Shengjing, was the political center of the Later Jin and early Qing dynasties. The original text's phrase "lived in Shenyang for generations" indicates the family's original residence area, and cannot be used to infer their residential location or migration route.

The original entry records that Wen Shitong's sons, Wen Jingrong and Wen Jingxing, both served as sixth-rank bondservant officials, and his grandson, Wen Xi, served as a treasurer. "Bonder official" was the title for managing bondservant affairs, and "sixth rank" is the rank explicitly stated in the entry, not the age of the two sons or the family's social standing. The position of treasurer is related to the management of treasury, involving matters such as receipt, disbursement, and accounting. However, the specific treasury office where Wen Xi served is not recorded. The identities of the father, son, and grandson need to be recorded separately, and the positions of the latter two generations cannot be attributed to Wen Shitong.