Bordered Blue Banner

The Bordered Blue Banner (Chinese: 鑲藍旗) was one of the Eight Banners of Manchu military and society during the Later Jin and Qing dynasty of China. It was one of the lower five banners. According to the general annals of the Eight Banners, the Bordered Blue Banner was one of the banners located on the south right wing (Blue banners are located southward, the Plain Blue Banner being on the south left wing).^[1]

Bordered Blue Banner
Flag of the Bordered Blue Banner
Active	1615–1912
Country	Later Jin Qing dynasty
Type	Cavalry Musketeers
Part of	Eight Banners
Commander	Amin The Emperor

Bordered Blue Banner
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	鑲藍旗
Simplified Chinese	镶蓝旗
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin xiānglánqí
Mongolian name
Mongolian Cyrillic	Хөвөөт хөх хошуу
Manchu name
Manchu script	ᡴᡠᠪᡠᡥᡝ ᠯᠠᠮᡠᠨ ᡤᡡᠰᠠ
Romanization	kubuhe lamun gūsa

This banner was first commanded by Amin (2nd rank of the Four Senior Beiles), the eldest son of Šurhaci and then transferred to his younger brother Jirgalang. After Amin lost favor with Hong Taiji, the Bordered Blue Banner was assigned to Jirgalang. By the blood of its commanders the Bordered Blue Banner was the remotest banner out of the Eight Banners; as all the other banners were led by descendants of Nurhaci.^[2] Due to its genealogical status, this banner was usually seen as the last banner of the Eight Banners although there were no concrete laws to officially acknowledge this status.

Some parts of Haixi Jurchens were incorporated into this banner after the defeat of the Haixi Jurchens by Jianzhou Jurchens.^[3]

Notable members

• Anfiyanggū (Founding Manchu officer and a member of the Giorca clan)
• Amin (Manchu noble, son of Šurhaci)
• Jirgalang (Manchu noble, son of Šurhaci)
• Empress Dowager Cixi
• Empress Nara
• Sushun of Aisin-Gioro
• Shang Kexi
• Duanhua
• Gu Taiqing
• Šarhūda
• Imperial Noble Consort Xianzhe
• Noble Consort Yu
• Consort Chang
• Imperial Noble Consort Dunhui
• Noble Consort Xun (Consort to the Qianlong Emperor)

Notable clans

• Irgen Gioro
• Sirin Gioro
• Šušu Gioro
• Hešeri
• Nara clan
• Gogiya
• Keliyete
• Shang
• Giorca

References

1. General annals of the Eight Banners.vol 30
2. Meng, Sen (2011). Notes on the history of the Ming and qing dynasties. 商务印书馆. ISBN 9787100074650.
3. General annals of the Eight Banners.vol 16

Bibliography

• Elliott, Mark C. (2001), The Manchu Way: The Eight Banners and Ethnic Identity in Late Imperial China, Stanford University Press, ISBN 9780804746847

• Wakeman Jr., Frederic (1985), The Great Enterprise: The Manchu Reconstruction of Imperial Order in Seventeenth-century China, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0520048040

Further reading

• Dennerline, Jerry (2002), "The Shun-Chih Reign", in Peterson, Willard J.; Twitchett, Denis Crispin; Fairbank, John King (eds.), The Cambridge History of China: Volume 9, Part 1, The Ch'ing Empire to 1800, The Cambridge History of China, vol. 9, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9780521243346

• Rawski, Evelyn S. (1998), The Last Emperors: A Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions, University of California Press, ISBN 9780520926790