Merji Clan

Overview

The Merji clan is a Manchu surname recorded in Volume 61 of the *Comprehensive Genealogy of the Manchu Clans of the Eight Banners*, an official compilation from the Qianlong reign, and its ancestral home was Yehe. The year of Marse's submission is unknown; the genealogy records him as a bondservant of the Bordered White Banner, noting his transfer from the Bordered Blue Banner. His grandson, Aita, served as a high-ranking bondservant. The change in banner affiliation, bondservant status, and the grandson's official position are three distinct pieces of information provided in the original text.

Boatsership was a specific hierarchical system within the Eight Banners, and cannot be interpreted solely as a modern employment relationship. A high-ranking bondservant managed the corresponding bondservant organization and affairs, and was not a general term for all bondservant members. Aita's position indicates his organizational and managerial role, but it does not imply that he arbitrarily designated which prince's population he managed, or that he was an official of a fixed banner within the Imperial Household Department.

Marse is the starting point of the genealogy; Aita is his grandson, and it is impossible to transfer a grandson's position to his grandfather's name. The transfer from the Bordered Blue Banner to the Bordered White Banner does not necessarily mean he remained under the same banner; the original text does not specify the exact year or details of the change. The village site of Yehe, Manchu surnames, bondservant system, and official records are still pending verification; there is no sufficient evidence to combine similar-looking names such as Merji and Merdi, and their original records must be preserved.