Eight Banners

The Eight Banners were groups that organized people and soldiers under the Later Jin and Qing dynasties of China. Every Manchu household was placed into one of them. The name is written in several languages, including Manchu, Chinese, pinyin, Wade–Giles, and Mongolian.

During wartime, the Eight Banners worked as armies. The banner system was also the main way that Manchu society was organized. Nurhaci started the banner armies in the early 1600s. They helped bring together the Jurchen people, who were later called the "Manchu" under Nurhaci's son Hong Taiji. The banner armies also helped the Qing dynasty conquer the Ming dynasty.

As Mongol and Han soldiers joined the growing Qing army, the Mongol Eight Banners and Han Eight Banners were formed alongside the original Manchu banners. The banner armies were seen as the best forces in the Qing military. Other imperial soldiers became part of the large Green Standard Army. Membership in the banners was passed down through families, and banner members received land and income.

The Qing emperors continued to rely on the Eight Banners after the Ming dynasty was defeated. However, the banner armies became weaker after the Ten Great Campaigns in the mid-1700s. They were not able to stop the Taiping Rebellion in the mid-1800s, which hurt their reputation. By the late 1800s, regional armies, such as the Xiang Army, had mostly taken over the job of protecting the empire.

Over time, the Eight Banners became closely connected to Manchu identity, even as their military strength faded.

History

Main articles: Later Jin invasion of Joseon and Qing invasion of Joseon

In 1601, Nurhaci grouped his growing forces into companies of 300 households. These grew into the Eight Banners. At first there were four banners. In 1615, four more were added, called "bordered" banners. Over time, the Jurchens also added allied and conquered Mongol tribes to the system. In 1635, Hong Taiji changed his people's name from Jurchen to Manchu. Under Hong Taiji, the banner armies invaded Joseon in 1627 and again in 1636. Han soldiers were later added too. In 1644, Dorgon and Wu Sangui, a former Ming general, defeated Li Zicheng at the Battle of Shanhai Pass. This helped the Qing take Beijing. Bannermen received pay, land, grain, and homes in garrison quarters. Being in a banner also gave people important legal and social rights in the Qing Dynasty. By the 1700s, many bannermen were no longer good soldiers. In the 1800s, the cost of their pay became a heavy load on the government's money.

Han soldiers became a large part of the banners. By 1648, Manchus were only a small part of the banner population. The Eight Banners became like twenty-four armies, with eight each for the Manchu, Mongol, and Han groups. In the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, the Green Standard Army did much of the fighting for the Qing. The banners also took part in the Ten Great Campaigns under the Qianlong Emperor. In the 1800s, the banners could not win against the Taiping Rebellion and the Nian Rebellion on their own. So new armies were formed from ordinary people. During the Boxer Rebellion, European powers trained 10,000 Bannermen. Later in the Qing period, the government began building a New Army. The banner system lasted until the Qing fell in 1912. A smaller version continued until 1924.

Organization

The eight banners were grouped in two main ways. The three "upper" banners, which were the two Yellow Banners and the Plain White Banner, were under the emperor's direct command. The other five "lower" banners were led by others. The banners were also split into a "left wing" and a "right wing," based on how they lined up in battle. In Beijing, the left wing lived in the eastern banner neighborhoods and the right wing lived in the western ones. The smallest unit was the company, or niru (Chinese: 佐領; pinyin: zuǒlǐng, Mongolian: Сум). A company was supposed to have 300 soldiers and their families. Fifteen companies, or 4,500 men, made up one jalan (Chinese: 參領; pinyin: cānlǐng; Mongolian: Залан). Four jalan made up one gūsa (banner, Chinese: 旗; pinyin: qí, Mongolian: Хошуу), which had 60 companies, or 18,000 men. In reality, the sizes often differed a lot from these numbers. The word niru means "arrow" in Manchu. It first named a hunting group that used bows and arrows.

Main article: Identity in the Eight Banners

At first, the banner armies were mostly made up of people from the various Manchu tribes. As new people joined the empire, the armies grew to include soldiers from other groups. The three main groups were the Manchus, the Han, and the Mongols. There were also smaller groups, such as the Xibe, the Daur, and the Evenks. Many Manchu clans were made up of unrelated people who took a place name as their clan name. Some families, such as the Tohoro clan of Duanfang, said they had Han Chinese origins. Families could also move from Han banners or Booi Aha (bondservant) status into Manchu banners. This process was called Taiqi (抬旗). It often happened when relatives of an emperor's mother were involved. For example, the Han Bannerwoman Empress Xiaoyichun and her whole family were moved into the Manchu banners. In 1740, under the Qianlong emperor, some Han bannermen from the Tai Nikan and Fusi Nikan families were also moved into Manchu banners. By then, Han sons adopted into Manchu families were very common. They made up 800 of the 1,600 soldiers in the Mongol Banners and Manchu banners of Hangzhou, which is close to half.

Banner soldiers

After the Qing dynasty ruled China, banner soldiers became more organized and professional. The Manchus could no longer reward soldiers by sharing out war loot, so a salary system was set up and ranks were made the same across the army. The Eight Banners became a military group that was passed down through families and had a strong ethnic identity. Banner soldiers had permanent jobs. Some defended the capital, Beijing, where about half of them lived with their families. Others served in the provinces, where about eighteen garrisons were set up.

For most of the Qing dynasty, the largest banner garrisons were in Beijing, Xi'an, and Hangzhou. Large groups of banner people were also placed in Manchuria and at important points along the Great Wall, the Yangtze River, and the Grand Canal. Some well-known bannermen were Agui, who took part in the Sino-Burmese War and in ending unrest among the Jinchuan hill peoples, and Fuheng, who led troops in the Sino-Burmese War. Fuheng's son, Fuk'anggan, led troops in the Sino-Nepalese War. Several former Ming dynasty leaders also joined the banners after they submitted to the Qing, including Geng Zhongming, Li Yongfang, and Zu Dashou. Shi Lang was another bannerman. Zheng Keshuang, a grandson of Koxinga, joined the Chinese Plain Red Banner after he surrendered. Zhu Zhiliang, a descendant of the Ming dynasty Imperial Family, was given the title Marquis of Extended Grace and joined the Chinese Plain White Banner.