Qing Eight Banners

The Eight Banners (In Manchu: jakūn gūsa, In Chinese: 八旗 baqí) were administrative divisions into which all Manchu families were placed. They provided the basic framework for the Manchu military organization. The fundamental building block of the banners was the company (Manchu: niru, Chinese: 佐領 zuoling), some of which reflected pre-existing lineage or tribal connections in their membership, while others deliberately overrode such connections in an effort to create a more centralized military force. Each company was, in principle, required to furnish 300 troops to the larger banner army.

Establishment

The banners were established by Nurhaci in the early seventeenth century (1615, according to noted historian, Peter C. Perdue) and grew to become the core elite of the Qing empire. Though initially military in nature, the Eight Banners came to assume other administrative duties, including disbursement of salaries, distribution of land, management of property, oversight of popular welfare, and administration of justice. A hierarchy obtained among the Eight Banners, with the so-called three upper banners (Plain Yellow, Bordered Yellow, Plain White) directly responsible to the emperor himself and five lower banners responsible to imperial princes; later, all the banners were placed under the direct control of the emperor.

Ethnic components

The Eight Banners consisted of three ethnic components: the Manchu, the Han Chinese, and the Mongols. Beginning in the late 1620s, Nurhaci's successors incorporated allied and conquered Mongol tribes into the Eight Banner system. The first Chinese additions were merely sprinkled into existing banners as replacements. Eventually, the sheer numbers of Chinese soldiers caused Manchu leaders to form them into the "Old Han Army" (舊漢軍), mainly for infantry support. In 1631, a separate Chinese artillery corps was formed. Four Chinese banners were created in 1639 and finally the full eight were established in 1642.

Banner soldiers

From the time of the conquest of China (1644 – 1683), the banner soldiers became more professional and bureaucratised. Once the Manchus took over governing, they could no longer satisfy the material needs of soldiers by garnishing and distributing booty; instead, a salary system was instituted, ranks standardised, and the Eight Banners became a sort of hereditary military caste, though with a strong ethnic inflection. Banner soldiers took up permanent positions, either as defenders of the capital, Beijing, where roughly half of them lived with their families, or in the provinces, where some eighteen garrisons were established. The largest banner garrisons throughout most of the Qing dynasty were at Beijing, followed by Xi'an and Hangzhou. Sizable banner populations were also placed in Manchuria and at strategic points along the Great Wall, the Yangtze River and Grand Canal.

Green Standard Army

Over time, many Chinese banner companies in the provincial garrisons were reclassified as civilian or placed in the Green Standard Army. At the end of the Qing dynasty, all members of the Eight Banners, regardless of their original ethnicity, were considered by the Republic of China to be Manchu.

Eight Banners