China consisted of multiple ethnic groups, of which the Han, Mongols and Manchus participated in the banner system.
[citation needed] Identity, however, was defined much more by culture, language and participation in the military (the Eight Banners) until the Qianlong Emperor resurrected the ethnic classifications.
The banner armies gradually evolved over time to include members from non-Jurchen/Manchu ethnic groups such as the Mongols and Han Chinese.
Beginning in the late 1620s, the Jurchens started incorporating Mongol tribes, which they either conquered or were allied with, into the Eight Banners system.
The Han Chinese and Jurchens in Liaodong (part of present-day Liaoning Province) started mixing their cultures.
During the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), bannermen and civilians were categorised into ethnic groups based on language, culture, behaviour and way of life.
Han Chinese who deserted the Ming Empire and moved to Nurgan (in present-day Jilin Province) before 1618 and assimilated with the Jurchens were known as transfrontiermen.
On the other hand, those who lived in the west and spoke the Han language were regarded as nikan, even though some of them had Jurchen or Korean ancestry.
Han Chinese in Ming-ruled Liaodong who defected to the Jurchens after they conquered Liaoding were called "frontiersmen" since they had lived on the frontiers of Ming territory.
[9][10][11][12] The Manchu Dahai was described with his origin from the Liao valley and his ethnicity as Han Chinese in the Korean book "Nanjung chamnok; Sok chamnok" (亂中雜錄 / [趙慶南撰) by Cho Kyŏng-nam (趙慶南) (1570–1641) a Korean official and scholar, contradicting Qing texts which says his clan is Giolca.
[14] Huangtaiji appropriated the term "Hanjun" from the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty (1115–1234)'s miŋgan moumukə (猛安謀克; Jurchen: [15] military system and used it as the name for the Han banners.
[21][22] The creation of the separate Manchu, Mongol and Han banners was rooted in fluctuating categories defined by the Qing government.
It has been suggested that the Han banners were not familiar with the exact meaning of "Hanjun", as the Qing government constantly changed its definition.
[24] After defeats inflicted by Ming general Yuan Chonghuan upon the Manchus with artillery such as at the Battle of Ningyuan, Huangtaiji recruited Han prisoners-of-war who were trained in firearms into the Manchu army.
[27][28][29][30] The Manchus' willingness to accept assimilated strangers allowed Han Chinese to integrate into Manchu society.
Women from the Aisin Gioro clan also married other Han officials, such as the sons of Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming, who defected to the Qing dynasty after their conquest of China.
[36][2] Some Han bannermen and their lineages became successful members of Qing nobility and their descendants continued to be awarded noble titles, such as Li Yongfang, who was ennobled by Nurhaci as a third class viscount and enrolled in the Plain Blue Banner and whose descendants remained as nobles.
[37] The Manchus not only gave extensive titles and honours to pre-1644 Han defectors, but also arranged for marriages between them and Manchu noblewomen.
However, the emperors were distressed to find that the women followed Han civilian customs in clothing and jewellery when they were drafted for palace service.
Daughters of Manchu and Mongol bannerman had to submit to the draft where they could be selected to serve in the imperial palace as maids or consorts.
For example, Empress Xiaoyichun, who bore the Jiaqing Emperor, had her maiden family name converted from Wei (魏) to Weigiya (魏佳).
Manchu banners had two main divisions between the higher ranking "Old Manchus" formed of the main Jurchen tribes such as the Jianzhou and the lower ranking "New Manchus" (伊車滿洲/衣車滿洲; i'ce manju; or 新滿洲) made out of other Tungusic and Mongolic tribes such as the Daur, Oroqen, Solon, Nanai, Kiakar (Kuyula) and Sibe from the northeast who were incorporated into the Manchu banners by the Shunzhi and Kangxi Emperors after 1644.
Moreover, the removal of Bannermen was primarily due to the growing costs of supporting the expanding Banner population, rather than ethnic discrimination.
Han Bannermen posted to the Imperial Household Department, to some specialist units such as naval forces, or high-ranking official positions were also not dismissed.
[58] Owen Lattimore reported that during his January 1930 visit to Manchuria, he studied a community in Jilin Province, where both Manchu and Chinese bannermen were settled at a town called Wulakai and could not be distinguished from Manchus.
[59] In Xi'an during the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, impoverished Han soldiers took young Manchu women as wives after seizing the banner garrison.
[61] After 1616, the aha (enslaved Jurchens, Koreans, Han and Mongols), became part of the booi (bondservants) and were attached to Manchu banners.
After 1644, the Manchu banners incorporated other Tungusic peoples (such as the Sibe, Evenki, Oroqen and Nanai), who became the new Manchus.
The concept of the Manchu ethnic group "Manzu" (滿族) existed during the late Qing dynasty and early Republican period.
The "New Manchu" Daur, Sibe, Evenki, Oroqen and Nanai were allowed to form separate ethnic groups from the Manchus.