Shuowengke

Overview

Shuowengke was a member of the Wuzhaku clan of the Bordered Blue Banner during the early Qing Dynasty. The official Qing Dynasty genealogy, *The Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, Volume 34, records that he was from the Saharcha region. His second son, Daifuna, and third son, Haohada, both served as zuoling (military officers). His grandson, Zhuxing'a, also served as zuoling. His great-grandsons, Yimarsu and Yahuershan, served as Bitieshi (scribes) and Third-Class Guards, respectively. The appendix states that they submitted to the Qing Dynasty at the beginning of its rule. The order of the second and third sons cannot be changed to represent two generations of father and son.

The zuoling managed the basic household registration and military records of the Eight Banners. The Bitieshi was a clerical official, and the Third-Class Guards served in the princely mansion's guard system, distinct from the emperor's bodyguards. A family could simultaneously have banner officials, scribes, and government officials; the same zuoling title did not directly prove hereditary succession within the same organization.

Great-great-grandsons and descendants of four or five generations later held positions such as Langzhong (a high-ranking official), Xiaoqixiao (a military officer), Chengmenwei (a military officer in charge of city gates), Hujunxiao (a military officer in charge of guards), Bujunxiao (a military officer in charge of infantry), and Shengyuan (a student in the imperial academy). Langzhong was an administrative official, and Shengyuan was a student with official academic qualifications, not a current military officer; the numbers 71, etc., belong to personal names in the original text. The origins of Saharcha, the qualifications of Shengyuan Wenpu, the connections between generations, and the specific royal residences are yet to be verified. The ancestral home of the clan cannot be used to directly determine the origin of the modern ethnicity.