Lü Clan

Overview

The Lü family is recorded in Volume 78 of the *Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, under the name of Lü Yaomin, and is listed as a Nikan surname within the Manchu banner system. Lü Yaomin was a bondservant under the Plain Yellow Banner, residing in Shangyang Fort for generations; the year of his submission is unknown. His grandson, Zhaoqi, once served as an inner steward, and his great-great-grandson, Heise, served as a military officer during the compilation of the genealogy. The original text usually refers to a great-great-grandson, and Heise and Zhaoqi cannot be written as father and son.

Shangyang Fort is a historical place name in Northeast China during the early Qing Dynasty. *A Brief Account of the Willow Border* records it as being forty li east of Kaiyuan County, and notes that it began to house exiled criminals in the seventh year of the Tiancong reign (1628), though the location and methods of resettlement later changed. This book is a document recording the geography, institutions, and customs of Northeast China in the early Qing Dynasty, and this record provides a contemporary clue to understanding the historical location and purpose of Shangyang Fort.

The inner steward was responsible for the supply and resources of his subordinates, while the military officer was responsible for the basic management, training, and guard duties of the military guards; the two were separate positions. The fact that Shangyangbao has a history of exile does not prove that every family that has lived there for generations was an exile; this entry does not record that Lü Yaomin was exiled for a crime. His ancestral home can be described first according to its historical location east of Kaiyuan. The precise correspondence of modern sites, the family's migration process, and the individual appointments are pending verification. The exile experience will not be added here.