baqi 八旗, the Eight Banners

The Eight Banners (baqi 八旗, Manchu jakūn gūsa; 旗 is occasionally written 旂) was the military and social structure of the Manchus 滿洲 after the foundation of their empire, the Later Jin dynasty 後金 (1616-1636). It remained valid through the whole Qing period 清 (1644-1911) and was only abolished after the demise of the Qing empire in 1912.

The origin of the Banners can be traced back to the hunting groups of the Jurchen 女真 that used larger family units for joint hunting. These structured hunting groups called niru (Chinese transcription niulu 牛錄, literally "arrow") were commanded by a designated leader (niru-i ejen, Chinese niulu ezhen 牛錄額真). They could also be used in case of military engagements. In 1583, the Jurchen leader Nurhaci (Chinese transcription Nu'erhachi 努邇哈赤) began his war against the garrisons of the Ming empire 明 (1368-1644) in the region of Liaodong 遼東, and at the same time managed to defeat other tribal leaders of the Jurchen. He gradually assembled a considerable manpower under his sword that he decided in 1591 to organise all warriors in divisions that were to be marked by banners with different colours. These were the first four banner units, in yellow, white, red, and blue.

In 1615, he created four new divisions, whose banners shared the same colours and, in addition, featured a decorative border. The former Banners were called the "Plain Banners (zhengqi 正旗), while the new Banners were called "Bordered Banners" (xiangqi 鑲旗, sometimes simplified to 廂旗). The fighting forces of the Jurchens were now grouped into the Plain Yellow Banner (zhenghuangqi 正黃旗), Bordered Yellow Banner (xianghuangqi 鑲黃旗), Plain White Banner (zhengbaiqi 正白旗), Bordered White Banner (xiangbaiqi 鑲白旗), and so on. The borders of the banners were red, and that of the red banner was white.

Nurhaci organised the whole population into Banners, with Banner households and families. 300 men built one company (niru), headed by a company commander (niru ejen). Five companies formed one regiment (jalan; Chinese transcription jiala 甲喇), headed by a regimental commander (jalan ejen). Five brigades were grouped into one Banner (gūsa, Chinese transcription gushan 固山), headed by a Banner commander (gūsa ejen, from 1660 on translated as Commander-in-chief (dutong 都統), and reverted into Manchu as janggin "Banner general" [Chinese rendering zhangjing 章京], from Chinese jiangjun 將軍 "general". The transliteration jiyanggiyūn has a more basic meaning of "general").

Banner commanders were assisted by Banner vice-commanders (meiren ejen Chinese transcription meile ejen 梅勒額真 or meiling ejen 美淩額真, from 1660 on translated as fudutong 副都統 and reverted into Manchu as meiren-i janggin). It is estimated that, at that time, there were 308 Manchu companies, 76 Mongol companies, and 16 Chinese companies among the Banners. The Mongol companies consisted of Mongol tribes that had submitted to Nurhaci, and the Chinese companies consisted of Chinese subjects living in the region conquered by Nurhaci and defectors from the Ming military. Because the size of the companies was not consistently adhered to, it is barely possible to estimate the size of the Banner army at that time.

From 1629 onward, the Mongol subjects of Nurhaci grew so numerous that separate Mongol Banners (Monggo gūsa) were created, numbering eight, with the same structure as those of the original Banners. A Chinese Banner had been in existence since 1631 or 1633. In 1637, a second Chinese Banner was created; in 1639, four; and in 1642, eight Chinese Banners (hanjun baqi 漢軍八旗, ujen cooha gūsa, literally "heavy troops"). There were effectively 24 Banners when the Manchus conquered Ming China, eight of them mainly staffed with Manchus, eight staffed with Mongols, and eight staffed with Chinese. This difference was not further adhered to during the Qing period, but Banners were simply called by the colour of their flag.

In 1650, the Shunzhi Emperor 順治 (r. 1643-1661), after having overcome the powerful regent Dorgon (Ch. Duo'ergun 多爾袞, 1612-1650), struggled for greater control of the Banner commanders by the Emperor. The Bordered Yellow Banner, the Plain Yellow Banner, and the Plain White Banner were directly put under the power of the ruler as the so-called "Three Upper Banners" (shangsanqi 上三旗 or neifu sanqi 內府三旗; Manchu booi ilan gūsa). At the same time, the other five "lower" banners (xiawuqi 下五旗) remained under the control of Manchu princes. The Upper Banners took over the protection of the Emperor and the imperial city, while the Lower Banners guarded the capital, Beijing, and the provinces.

The Yongzheng Emperor 雍正帝 (r. 1722-1735) further strengthened imperial power by depriving the princes of military command over a whole Banner. This happened by dividing the administration of the Five Lower Banners into Banner-company commanders (qifen zuoling 旗分佐領, or wai zuoling 外佐領 "outer company commander", zuoling being the Chinese translation of niru ejen) and garrison-company commanders (fushu zuoling 府屬佐領, or nei zuoling 內佐領 "inner company commanders"). The Banner-company commanders practically understood the command of the emperor, so that at least part of each Banner could directly be controlled by the central government.

The Three Upper Banners and the Plain Blue Banner formed the so-called left wing (zuoyi 左翼, dashūwan gala) of the whole Banner army, and the other Banners the right wing (youyi 右翼, jebele gala). When the Manchus entered the Shanhai Pass 山海關, in 1644, there were 309 complete and 18 incomplete Manchu companies, 117 full and 5 incomplete Mongol companies and 157 full and 5 incomplete Chinese companies, making a total of 583 complete and 28 incomplete companies. During the Kangxi reign-period 康熙 (1662-1722), there were already 669 Manchu companies, and a century later, during the Jiaqing reign-period 嘉慶 (1796-1820), 681 Manchu companies. The Mongol companies amounted to 204 during the Yongzheng reign-period (early 18th cent.). There were also 35 full and 2 incomplete Mongol companies among the Manchu Banners. At the same time 270 Chinese Banner companies were reduced to 266 in 1790, while surplus Chinese in the Banner garrisons had to give up Banner status. At the end of the Qing period, there were 6,680 Banner officers and 120,000 common troops.

Theoretically, all male persons in the Banners were professional soldiers and served in the army. Yet in fact, the number of posts in garrisons, either officers or common troops, was limited (ding'e 定額 "fixed numbers"), so that with the increase in the Banner population especially during the relatively peaceful and economically prosperous 18th century, more and more Bannermen were not given a post in the military and had to make a living otherwise than as a soldier. Before the Manchus conquered Beijing, it was assumed that the male Banner population worked the fields or engaged in any other business during peacetime and joined their military leaders in times of war. After the conquest of China the Banner population was transformed into a hereditary military "caste" whose members were professional soldiers and should not engage in any other business.

The reasons for this were twofold: first, the need for the Manchu conquest elite to maintain constant readiness for self-defence, as they were at risk of losing control of central power, especially during the early decades of the Qing empire; and second, the fact that the Manchus' decades-long war machine would not be easily dismantled in peacetime. The Banners became Qing China's professional soldier elite with hereditary status. Sons and younger brothers inherited their fathers' and older brothers' positions. Their salary and welfare system was maintained by the state. Banners served as elite troops used as crack units in warfare, while the purely Chinese Green Standard troops (lüyingbing 綠營兵, also called lüqi 綠旗 "Green Banners"; Manchu niowanggiyen terun) took on policing duties across the empire.

The most important part of the Banner troops was stationed in Beijing (zhujing baqi 駐京八旗, short jingqi 京旗 "Capital Banners") around the Imperial Palace, where several elite units were based, such as the Firearms Brigade (huoqiying 火器營), the Scouting Brigade (jianruiying 健銳營), or the Vanguard Brigade (qianfengying 前鋒營). There was a distinct separation between Banner quarters (what Western observers called the "Tartar city") and Chinese quarters (the "Chinese city"). A smaller segment of the Banner troops was located in enclosed "ghettos" within provincial capitals (zhufang baqi 駐防八旗 "Provincial Banners").

The Capital Banners assumed the responsibility of safeguarding the Imperial Palace and the imperial family. They established specialised brigades, such as the Imperial Bodyguard (shiwei qinjun 侍衛親軍), which was the Emperor's own elite unit, or the Imperial Procession Guard (luanyiwei 鑾儀衛) that protected the Emperor and the Empress during outings, as well as troops from the *Excellent Fighters Brigade (shanpuying 善撲營), which was used for demonstrating martial arts. These three units were known as *court guards (langwei 郎衛), while other units of the Capital were referred to as *military guards (bingwei 兵衛). Their primary role was to provide guard services.

The provincial Banners can be divided into three groups, namely those settled down in the environment of Beijing (jifu zhufang bing 畿輔駐防兵), like Baoding 保定, Zhangjiakou 張家口, Jehol (Rehe 熱河), Chaha'er 察哈爾 and the imperial summer resort in Mulan 木蘭, those in the Three Northeastern Provinces (dongsansheng zhufang bing 東三省駐防兵) and the provincial banners (zhisheng zhufang bing 直省駐防兵). At the end of the Qing period, there were 817 companies in the provinces. The troops in the larger provinces were commanded by a Banner general (jiangjun 將軍, Manchu transliteration janggin) who was assisted by a Vice commander-in-chief (fudutong). In smaller provinces, the Vice Commander had the highest position in the Banner structure.

Each Banner was headed by a Commander-in-Chief (dutong 都統), assisted by two Vice Commanders. In 1723, General Headquarters (dutong yamen) was created whose members were the 24 Commanders-in-chief and their lieutenants. They had to care for command, training, household registers (important for the recruitment of troops), military education, and ennoblement, as well as civilian matters like marriage, funerals, selection of males and their appointment to positions in the garrisons, care for the tombyards, selection of girls for service in the Imperial Palace, justice, field allotment, purchase of real estate, organisation of the slaves (aha) and bondservants (booi, Chinese transliteration baoyi 包衣) attached to the households, and so on.

Of course, many Manchus still lived in their homelands in "Manchuria" in the northeast. Officer ranks, salary and rights of the Banner troops were different from those of the Green Standard troops, as was their fighting power. In many wars of the 18th century, Banner troops took over decisive roles in subduing the enemy, so that Green Standard troops were often despised as whimps and cowards by the Bannermen. Salaries across different types of troops within the Banners also varied. Imperial guards, vanguard troops, artillery units, guard units, heavy cavalry (majia 馬甲), heavy infantry (pijia 披甲) and infantry (bubing 步兵) and trainees (yangyubing 養育兵) were granted different salaries.

The Banner system included the possibility of ennoblement. During the early years of the Manchu empire, the only noble rank was that of Prince (beile 貝勒, no Chinese counterpart. Still, Hong Taiji created nine, then ten ranks of hereditary nobility that could be bestowed upon members of the imperial family. Another sequence of nine hereditary ranks could also bestowed upon other members of the Banners (for a list of these ranks, see the article Titles of Nobility). In the late 19th century, even non-members of the Banners could be granted such titles. Manchus, Mongols and Chinese Banner members could be ennobled. Common members of the Banners were registered in households. These registers were refreshed every three years. Banner members were entitled to go to Banner schools. Yet, only members of the higher ranks in fact visited these schools, especially family members of the dynasty that visited the Aisin Gioro school (Chinese Aixin Jueluo xue 愛新覺羅學). Intermarriage between Manchus and Chinese was, in theory, forbidden, but the ordinary Banner people did not observe this prohibition. Even many secondary wives of emperors hailed from the Chinese Banners.

The early Banner system was created as a means of quick recruitment of troops in case of war. In peacetime, members of the Banners were simple peasants (chu ze wei bing, ru ze wei min 出則為兵，入則為民). Yet after the conquest of China, the Banner troops ceased being peacetime peasants and became professional soldiers. Male members of the Banners that did not occupy a post in a garrison were free to engage in any business. The soldiers were paid a regular salary regardless of whether they went to war or not. This salary consisted of money and rice rations that sufficed to nourish a family. During campaigning, they were given additional allowances and rewards in the event of victory. Troops living around the capital were allotted tracts of land (quandi 圈地) in the initial phase of conquest (see Banner land). The last allotment was undertaken in 1685. Initially, only barren, ownerless land was confiscated, as well as areas belonging to Ming princes and the Ming aristocracy, or to the wealthier among the court eunuchs.

At a time when ever more Bannermen arrived in the Beijing area and more tracts of land were confiscated without compensation to the former owners. In some northern provinces, the Banners confiscated land, too, but on a much smaller scale. Officially, it was forbidden to sell this land, but many Bannermen preferred to cash in by selling their tracts of land to the Chinese.

Unlike other state officials who dealt with the local population, the Bannermen had no opportunity to engage in commercial activities or other professions; over time, the purchasing power of their salaries declined. Indebtedness became a common phenomenon among Manchus. In the late 18th century, the Qianlong Emperor 乾隆帝 (1736-1795) permitted Bannermen to leave the Banners, thereby excluding them from garrison service. In this way it would be possible to reduce the population pressure in the Banner "ghettos". At the same time, he decreed that all Chinese Bannermen lost their status and were expelled from the Banners. The dynasty at that time faced the problem that its own people belonged to economically less successful social groups, and that the Manchus gradually not only lost their fighting spirit but also their cultural heritage in the Chinese environment.

The Banners more and more lost their military significance, especially after the two Opium Wars (see First Opium War), when the Hunan Army （Xiangjun 湘軍) was created, and in the late 19th century, when the New Armies (Xinjun 新軍) were brought to live. Still, the whole system remained intact until the end of the dynasty in 1912.