Yi Daming

Overview

Yi Daming was a bondservant under the Plain White Banner during the Qing Dynasty. His family had lived in Liaoyang for generations, and the year of their submission is unknown. The official genealogy of the Manchu clans of the Eight Banners, Volume 78, under the entry for the Yi family, records that he served as a military officer (Can Jiang). A military officer belonged to the Qing Dynasty's military rank system, and in the "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty," under the official records of the Green Standard Army, he was listed as a third-rank official. The original entry did not specify Yi Daming's battalion, term of office, or military achievements, so it cannot be interpreted as a general military system but rather a specific military career.

His son, Yi Yongshou, served as a scribe (bithesi (scribe)); his grandson, Sangge, served as a stable master, and Naqin was appointed as a military commander (guard-unit captain); his great-grandson, Qishiliu, also served as a scribe. The original text does not specify whether Yi Yongshou was a "former" or "current" scribe; this article only states that he served as a scribe, without specifying his official position. "Qishishiu" is a name, not an age.

The term "scribe" (bithesi (scribe)) is a transliteration of the Manchu word "bithesi," which can be interpreted as an official responsible for handling documents. "Bithe" means book or document; "bithei" is the form with the genitive marker "i," and the two should be distinguished from the full official title "bithesi." In the Qing Dynasty, scribes handled copying, registration, organization, and Manchu-Chinese language affairs, playing a role in multilingual administration and not merely being ordinary copyists. The specific departments of Yi Yongshou and the Seventy-Sixth are not recorded, so their translated documents or the scope of their language proficiency cannot be fabricated based on their official titles.

The stable master was related to horse management, while the military commander participated in the organization and management of the military. The Plain White Banner bondservant were linked to the Three Banners system of the Imperial Household Department, and their military positions should not be uniformly assigned the ranks of ordinary Eight Banner officials with the same names. These three categories of positions involve clerkship, horse administration, and military service, and should be described separately according to personnel and institutions.