Slavery in seventeenth-century China
Encyclopedia
Booi Aha is a Manchu
word literally meaning "household person", referring to a hereditarily servile people in the 17th century China
. It is often directly translated as the "bondservant", although sometimes also rendered as "Nucai
" or "slave".
." The Manchu was establishing close personal and paternalist relationship between masters and their slaves, as Nurhachi said: "The Master (Chinese:主子) should love the slaves and eat the same food as him". Perdue further pointed out that booi aha "did not correspond exactly to the Chinese category of "bondservant-slave" (Chinese:奴僕); instead, it was a relationship of personal dependency on a master which in theory guaranteed close personal relationships and equal treatment, even though many western scholars would directly translate "booi" as "bondservant".
In the book A History of Chinese Civilization, Jacques Gernet pointed out that Chinese agricultural slaves were employed as early as the fifteenth century, and by the late sixteenth century it was observed that all the Manchu military commanders had both field and house servants. Between 1645 and 1647, Qing rulers enclosed (Chinese:圈地) large numbers of previously Chinese owned estates over vast areas all over North China, eastern Mongolia and neighborhood of Peking, and for land cultivation, they were using labor force consisting of bondservants which were previous land owners and prisoners of war. According to him, regardless of repeated calls from the tribal chief
Nurhachi "The Master should love the slaves", Manchu slave masters treated their slaves very harshly, arranged numerous corvees (Chinese:徭役, 强迫的劳役), and sold and bought their slaves as if they were animals.
Booi was sometimes regarded as synonymous with booi aha, but booi usually referred to household servants who performed domestic service, whereas aha usually referred to the servile people who worked in fields.
wrote in her book, Orphan Warriors, "The Mongol is the slave of his sovereign. He is never free. His sovereign is his benefactor; [the Mongol] does not serve him for money." This Mongolian traditional model of slave to owner was taken up by the Manchu during the development of Eight Banner Army."
Crossley gave the definition of Manchu: "A Manchu was, moreover, a man who used his skills exclusively to serve the sovereign....banners as institutions were derived from Turkic and Mongolian forms of military servitude, all enrolled under the banners considered themselves slaves of the emperor and called themselves so(aha, Chinese:奴才, pinyin:nucai) when addressing him...".
.
Upper Three Banners of Neiwufu,(Chinese:内務府上三旗) (Manchu:booi ilan gusa) was a unique military system of Manchu. Apart from providing the clothings, food, housing and transportation, the operating of daily functioning of the royal families, it also had a military function, which is to provide military protection for the inner royal court.
The Manchu Booi Aha(Home slaves) system was the origin of the Neiwufu(Chinese:內務府) organization, the personnel of which came from the booi of the Manchu Eight Banner's upper three banners: Border Yellow, Plain Yellow and Plain White.
The highest official's title was :Dorgi Baita Icihiyara Amban, a Manchu term,(Chinese:总管内务府大臣); that position mostly was occupied by Manchu princes.
In Qing
court, the number of eunuchs was reduced to less than 10% of that of Ming
court, because eunuchs were being replaced by booi, the Qing royal court's home servants.
Note: The original Chinese text is on the talk page.
With the establishment of the Qing Dynasty
and the maturity of its political system, booi were organized into Booi Gusa (Manchu:Slaves Banner) and being incorporated into both the Eight Banners Army
and the Imperial Household Department
. Booi had since become part of the Qing dynasty political hierarchy, with the emperor being the Master, and emperor's booi would be working for the Master and the imperial court simultaneously. When addressing the emperor, booi would refer to themselves as Nupu or Nucai
(Chinese:奴僕, or Chinese:奴才). But when booi were addressing others, even though they were Nucai
of the emperor (Chinese:皇帝的奴才), they would refer to themselves as Superior officials of the Han Chinese (Chinese:汉人的长官).
Note: Original Chinese text can be found on talk page.
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...
word literally meaning "household person", referring to a hereditarily servile people in the 17th century China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. It is often directly translated as the "bondservant", although sometimes also rendered as "Nucai
Nucai
Nucai is a Chinese term that can be translated as flunkey, lackey, yes-man, servant, slave, or a person of unquestioning obedience. It originated in the nomadic tribes of northern China as a negative and derogatory term, often reserved for insult for someone perceived to be useless or incompetent...
" or "slave".
Usage
In his book China Marches West, Peter C. Perdue stated:"In 1624 (after Nurhachi's invasion of Liaodong) "In 1624 Chinese households who had 5 to 7 Manchu sin of grain (800 to 1,000 kg) were given land and houses, while those with less were made into slavesNucai
Nucai is a Chinese term that can be translated as flunkey, lackey, yes-man, servant, slave, or a person of unquestioning obedience. It originated in the nomadic tribes of northern China as a negative and derogatory term, often reserved for insult for someone perceived to be useless or incompetent...
." The Manchu was establishing close personal and paternalist relationship between masters and their slaves, as Nurhachi said: "The Master (Chinese:主子) should love the slaves and eat the same food as him". Perdue further pointed out that booi aha "did not correspond exactly to the Chinese category of "bondservant-slave" (Chinese:奴僕); instead, it was a relationship of personal dependency on a master which in theory guaranteed close personal relationships and equal treatment, even though many western scholars would directly translate "booi" as "bondservant".
In the book A History of Chinese Civilization, Jacques Gernet pointed out that Chinese agricultural slaves were employed as early as the fifteenth century, and by the late sixteenth century it was observed that all the Manchu military commanders had both field and house servants. Between 1645 and 1647, Qing rulers enclosed (Chinese:圈地) large numbers of previously Chinese owned estates over vast areas all over North China, eastern Mongolia and neighborhood of Peking, and for land cultivation, they were using labor force consisting of bondservants which were previous land owners and prisoners of war. According to him, regardless of repeated calls from the tribal chief
Tribal chief
A tribal chief is the leader of a tribal society or chiefdom. Tribal societies with social stratification under a single leader emerged in the Neolithic period out of earlier tribal structures with little stratification, and they remained prevalent throughout the Iron Age.In the case of ...
Nurhachi "The Master should love the slaves", Manchu slave masters treated their slaves very harshly, arranged numerous corvees (Chinese:徭役, 强迫的劳役), and sold and bought their slaves as if they were animals.
Booi was sometimes regarded as synonymous with booi aha, but booi usually referred to household servants who performed domestic service, whereas aha usually referred to the servile people who worked in fields.
Booi Aha and the Liaodong Han Chinese
The number of booi aha of the Imperial Household Department seems to have risen mainly during the Nurhachi's conquest of the eastern fringes of the Liao River basin in the 1610s and 1620s, resulting in the massive increase of the numbers of captives. In 1618, Nurhachi increased the Jurcaen state's population by 300,000 by taking of Fu-shun. This large increase of its population changed the policy on booi aha. During the first year of conquest(to 1624), the captured Chinese were generally enslaved, and bore obligations to private persons, while later (in 1624-1625) they were often enrolled in the ranks of the semi-dependent agriculture class, jusen, who bore obligations to the state.Booi Aha and the Eight Banners
Pamela Kyle CrossleyPamela Kyle Crossley
Pamela Kyle Crossley is an historian of modern China, northern Asia, and global history. She is author of The Wobbling Pivot: China since 1800: An Interpretive History , as well as influential studies of the Qing dynasty and leading textbooks in global history...
wrote in her book, Orphan Warriors, "The Mongol is the slave of his sovereign. He is never free. His sovereign is his benefactor; [the Mongol] does not serve him for money." This Mongolian traditional model of slave to owner was taken up by the Manchu during the development of Eight Banner Army."
Crossley gave the definition of Manchu: "A Manchu was, moreover, a man who used his skills exclusively to serve the sovereign....banners as institutions were derived from Turkic and Mongolian forms of military servitude, all enrolled under the banners considered themselves slaves of the emperor and called themselves so(aha, Chinese:奴才, pinyin:nucai) when addressing him...".
Upper Three Banners of Neiwufu
Neiwufu(Chinese:内務府) is the Chinese term for Imperial Household DepartmentImperial Household Department
The Imperial Household Department was an institution of Qing-dynasty China...
.
Upper Three Banners of Neiwufu,(Chinese:内務府上三旗) (Manchu:booi ilan gusa) was a unique military system of Manchu. Apart from providing the clothings, food, housing and transportation, the operating of daily functioning of the royal families, it also had a military function, which is to provide military protection for the inner royal court.
The Manchu Booi Aha(Home slaves) system was the origin of the Neiwufu(Chinese:內務府) organization, the personnel of which came from the booi of the Manchu Eight Banner's upper three banners: Border Yellow, Plain Yellow and Plain White.
The highest official's title was :Dorgi Baita Icihiyara Amban, a Manchu term,(Chinese:总管内务府大臣); that position mostly was occupied by Manchu princes.
In Qing
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
court, the number of eunuchs was reduced to less than 10% of that of Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
court, because eunuchs were being replaced by booi, the Qing royal court's home servants.
Various classes of Booi
- booi niru a Manchu word (Chinese:包衣佐領), meaning Neiwufu Upper Three Banner's platoon leader of about 300 men.
- Booi guanlin a Manchu word (Chinese:包衣管領), meaning the manager of booi doing all the domestic duties of Neiwufu.
- Booi amban is also a Manchu word, meaning high official, (Chinese:包衣大臣).
- Estate bannerman (Chinese:庄头旗人) are those renegade Chinese who joined the Jurchen, or original civilian-soldiers working in the fields. These people were all turned into booi aha, or field slaves.
Note: The original Chinese text is on the talk page.
Han Chinese historians on booi aha
- Chinese scholar Mo Dongyin (Chinese:莫东寅) in his Essays on Manchu History (Chinese:《满族史论丛》), booi has dual meaning: (1) Household servants, and (2) slaves. But in a Manchu society, booi (Chinese:包衣) occupied a special class, in which they serve their masters by doing all kinds of manual work, at the same time, with the permission granted from the master (Chinese:主子), booi can enslave other booi, thus becoming masters themselves.
With the establishment of the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
and the maturity of its political system, booi were organized into Booi Gusa (Manchu:Slaves Banner) and being incorporated into both the Eight Banners Army
Eight Banners
The Eight Banners were administrative divisions into which all Manchu families were placed. They provided the basic framework for the Manchu military organization...
and the Imperial Household Department
Imperial Household Department
The Imperial Household Department was an institution of Qing-dynasty China...
. Booi had since become part of the Qing dynasty political hierarchy, with the emperor being the Master, and emperor's booi would be working for the Master and the imperial court simultaneously. When addressing the emperor, booi would refer to themselves as Nupu or Nucai
Nucai
Nucai is a Chinese term that can be translated as flunkey, lackey, yes-man, servant, slave, or a person of unquestioning obedience. It originated in the nomadic tribes of northern China as a negative and derogatory term, often reserved for insult for someone perceived to be useless or incompetent...
(Chinese:奴僕, or Chinese:奴才). But when booi were addressing others, even though they were Nucai
Nucai
Nucai is a Chinese term that can be translated as flunkey, lackey, yes-man, servant, slave, or a person of unquestioning obedience. It originated in the nomadic tribes of northern China as a negative and derogatory term, often reserved for insult for someone perceived to be useless or incompetent...
of the emperor (Chinese:皇帝的奴才), they would refer to themselves as Superior officials of the Han Chinese (Chinese:汉人的长官).
Note: Original Chinese text can be found on talk page.