The House of Aisin Gioro is a Manchu clan that ruled the Later Jin dynasty (1616–1636), the Qing dynasty (1636–1912), and Manchukuo (1932–1945) in the history of China. Under the Ming dynasty, members of the Aisin Gioro clan served as chiefs of the Jianzhou Jurchens, one of the three major Jurchen tribes at this time. Qing bannermen passed through the gates of the Great Wall in 1644, and eventually conquered the short-lived Shun dynasty, Xi dynasty and Southern Ming dynasty. After gaining total control of China proper, the Qing dynasty later expanded into other adjacent regions, including Xinjiang, Tibet, Outer Mongolia, and Taiwan. The dynasty reached its zenith during the High Qing era and under the Qianlong Emperor, who reigned from 1735 to 1796. This reign was followed by a century of gradual decline.
The house lost power in 1912 following the Xinhai Revolution. Puyi, the last Aisin Gioro emperor, nominally maintained his imperial title in the Forbidden City until the Articles of Favourable Treatment were revoked by Feng Yuxiang in 1924. The Qing was China's last orthodox imperial dynasty.
Etymology
Aisin means 'gold', corresponding to Chinese . Gioro refers to the clan's ancestral home in today Yilan County, Heilongjiang. Following the fall of the Qing empire, most members of the clan have changed their surnames to Sino family names such as Jin, Zhao, Ai, Luo, Bai, Hai or Slavicized in Russia like Aysinev, Zolotov or Zolotaryov.
For example, one of the heads of the Aisin Gioro clan adopted the Chinese name Jin Youzhi.
Heads of the House The Aisin Gioro House had no system of automatic succession such as primogeniture or a law of succession. Instead, an emperor would name an heir in a secret edict. The edict would be read before senior members of the clan following the emperor's death.Woo, Tshung-zhu, "The Rule of Succession to the Throne in China", 9 Chinese Soc. & Pol. Sci. Rev. 626 (1925). An emperor could have numerous sons by women of various ranks. In 1912, the Qing dynasty was overthrown and China was declared a republic. Puyi, the last emperor, was granted the right to maintain his imperial title in the Forbidden City until 1924, when the Articles of Favorable Treatment were revoked. He went to Changchun in northeastern China to serve as chief executive (1932–1934) and later emperor (1934–1945) of Manchukuo, a puppet state of Japan.
Heads of the House of Aisin Gioro Reign Given name Era name NotesChieftains of the Jianzhou Jurchens 1571–1583 Taksi First head of the house.Ancestor of the clan, son of Giocangga, and father of Nurhaci 1583-1616 Nurhaci Son of Taksi. Unified the Jianzhou Jurchens in 1588.Khans of the Later Jin dynasty 1616–1626 Nurhaci Tianming Emperor Founder of dynasty 1626–1636 Hong Taiji Tiancong Emperor Eighth son of NurhaciEmperors of the Qing dynasty 1636–1643 Hong Taiji Chongde Emperor Proclaimed the "Great Qing Empire" in 1636 1644–1661 Fulin Shunzhi Emperor First to rule in Beijing. Ninth son of Hong Taiji 1661–1722 Xuanye Kangxi Emperor Longest reign. Third son of the Shunzhi Emperor. 1723–1735 Yinzhen Yongzheng Emperor Fourth son of the Kangxi Emperor 1736–1796 Hongli Qianlong Emperor Fourth son of the Yongzheng Emperor 1796–1820 Yongyan Jiaqing Emperor Fifteenth son of the Qianlong Emperor 1821–1850 Minning Daoguang Emperor Second son of the Jiaqing Emperor 1851–1861 Yizhu Xianfeng Emperor Fourth son of the Daoguang Emperor 1862–1875 Zaichun Tongzhi Emperor First son of the Xianfeng Emperor 1875–1908 Zaitian Guangxu Emperor Second son of Yixuan 1908–1912; 1917 Puyi Xuantong Emperor First son of ZaifengHeads of the House since 1912 1912–1967 Puyi Deposed as in 1912.Removed from the Forbidden City in 1924.Emperor of Manchukuo from 1934 to 1945. 1967–1994 Prince PujiePujie's status as Puyi's heir was widely acknowledged:• Schmetzer, Uli, "Emperor-in-waiting recalls bygone age", Chicago Tribune, Oct. 25, 1992. "The heir to China`s throne [Pujie] lives in an old house with a courtyard in which the last chrysanthemums of fall sprout amid a heap of coal briquettes collected for the winter."• "Pu Jie, 87, Dies, Ending Dynasty of the Manchus", New York Times, March 2, 1994. "If Japan had won the war, Pu Jie could have become Emperor of China."• Song, Yuwu, Biographical Dictionary of the People’s Republic of China, 2014, McFarland and Co., p. 6. "The younger brother of Pu Yi (the Emperor Xuantong) Pu Jie was technically head of the Imperial Qing Dynasty from the death of his brother in 1967 until his own death in 1994." Brother of Puyi 1994–2015 Jin Youzhi Prince Puren, half brother of Puyi2015–present Jin Yuzhang Son of Puren
The more recent heads of the house are given according to a succession law approved by Puyi in 1937. This follows the practice of relevant news reports and reference works. The law provided for father-to-son succession. Brothers may succeed in the absence of male issue. As a full brother, Pujie had precedence over half brother Jin Youzhi.The Manchoukuo Year Book 1941, "Text of the Law Governing Succession to the Imperial Throne", March 1, 1937, p. 905, Tōa Keizai Chōsakyoku (Japan).• "The Imperial Throne of Manchoukuo shall be succeeded to by male descendants in the male line of His Majesty the Emperor for ages to come" (Article 1).• "In the absence of sons or descendants, the brothers of the reigning emperor, borne of the same mother, and their male-line descendants succeed according to age" (Article 5).• "Among the Imperial brothers and the remoter Imperial relations, precedence shall be given, in the same degree, to the descendants of full blood over those of half blood" (Article 8).
Family tree
Min-ning, the Daoguang Emperor (1782–1850) Yizhu, the Xianfeng Emperor (1831–1861) Zaichun, the Tongzhi Emperor (1856–1875) Yixuan, Prince Chun (1840–1891) Zaitian, the Guangxu Emperor (1871–1908) Zaifeng, Prince Chun (1883–1951) Puyi, (1906–1967) the Xuantong Emperor of China, emperor of Manchukuo Pujie, head of the House of Aisin Gioro (1907–1994) Puren (Jin Youzhi), head of the House of Aisin Gioro (1918–2015) Jin Yuzhang, head of the House of Aisin Gioro (born 1942) (1) Jin Yuquan (, born 1946)"Life of Last Chinese Emperor's Nephew", People Daily, Dec. 11, 2000. (2) Jin Yulan (, born 1948) Zaixun, Prince Rui (1885–1949) Pugong (1904–1969) (3) Huang Shixiang (b. 1941) Zaitao (1887–1970) Pujia (, 1908–1979) Jin Yuyin ( 1928–2022) Pu'an (, 1911–1944) (4) Jin Yucheng (, born 1944) Pushen (, 1915–1928) Puxi () (1924–1983) (5) Pushi () (born 1940) Yicong, Prince Dun (23 July 1831 – 18 February 1889) Zailian (; 1854–1917) Pucheng (1873-1932) Yuyan (17 May 1918 – 18 January 1999) Hengzhen (, Héngzhèn; 1944-27 August 2023) (6) Hengxing (, Héngxīng) (born in 1977) (7) Hengkai (; b. 1945) (8) Jin Qiqi (; b. 1980) (9) Hengjun (; b. 1966) (10) Jin Qitong (b. 1996)
Origins The Aisin Gioro traced its ancestry to Bukūri Yongšon, a legendary warrior of the thirteenth century. Emperor Hongtaiji claimed that Bukūri Yongšon was conceived from a virgin birth. According to the legend, three heavenly maidens, Enggulen, Jenggulen, and Fekulen, were bathing at a lake called Bulhūri Omo near the Changbai Mountains. A magpie dropped a piece of red fruit near Fekulen, who ate it. She then became pregnant with Bukūri Yongšon. However, this legend belongs to another Manchu clan, the Hurha (Hurka). The real ancestor of the Aisin Gioro clan was Möngke Temür, a chieftain of the Odoli tribe in the Mongolian Yuan Empire.
Nurgaci created the Aisin Gioro clan as part of a reorganization of Jurchen society he initiated in 1601. His supporters were enrolled into the banner system and the population militarized. The Gioro clan was partitioned. Those descended from Taksi, Nurgaci's father, were designated Aisin (gold), while other Gioros adopted different clan names, such as Irgen Gioro, Šušu Gioro, Sirin Gioro, Tunggiyan Gioro, Ayan Gioro, Hūlun Gioro, Aha Gioro, and Cara Gioro.
When the Jurchens were reorganized by Nurhaci into the Eight Banners, many clans were created as a group of unrelated people (mukun) using a geographic origin name such as a toponym for their hala (clan name).
The Manchu have an equally artificial origin. Although the people ruled by Aisin Gioro were ethnically mixed, the entire population was designated as "Manchu" in 1635.
Expansion under Nurhaci and Hong Taiji
Under Nurhaci and his son Hong Taiji, the Aisin Gioro clan of the Jianzhou tribe won hegemony among the rival Jurchen tribes of the northeast, then through warfare and alliances extended its control into Inner Mongolia. Nurhachi created large, permanent civil-military units called "banners" to replace the small hunting groups used in his early campaigns. A banner was composed of smaller companies; it included some 7,500 warriors and their households, including slaves, under the command of a chieftain. Each banner was identified by a coloured flag that was yellow, white, blue, or red, either plain or with a border design. Originally there were four, then eight, Manchu banners; new banners were created as the Manchu conquered new regions, and eventually there were Manchu, Mongol, and Chinese banners, eight for each ethnic group. By 1648, less than one-sixth of the bannermen were actually of Manchu ancestry. The Qing conquest of the Ming dynasty was thus achieved with a multiethnic army led by Manchu nobles and Han Chinese generals. Han Chinese soldiers were organised into the Army of the Green Standard, which became a sort of imperial constabulary force posted throughout China and on the frontiers.
The change of the name from Jurchen to Manchu was made to hide the fact that the ancestors of the Manchus, the Jianzhou Jurchens, were ruled by the Chinese. The Qing dynasty carefully hid the 2 original editions of the books of "Qing Taizu Wu Huangdi Shilu" and the "Manzhou Shilu Tu" (Taizu Shilu Tu) in the Qing palace, forbidden from public view because they showed that the Manchu Aisin Gioro family had been ruled by the Ming dynasty. In the Ming period, the Koreans of Joseon referred to the Jurchen inhabited lands north of the Korean peninsula, above the rivers Yalu and Tumen to be part of Ming China, as the "superior country" which they called Ming China. The Qing deliberately excluded references and information that showed the Jurchens (Manchus) as subservient to the Ming dynasty, from the History of Ming to hide their former subservient relationship to the Ming. The Veritable Records of the Ming were not used to source content on Jurchens during Ming rule in the History of Ming because of this. This historical revisionism helped remove the accusation of rebellion from the Qing ruling family refusing to mention in the Mingshi the fact that the Qing founders were Ming China's subjects. The Qing Yongzheng Emperor attempted to rewrite the historical record and claim that the Aisin Gioro were never subjects of past dynasties and empires trying to cast Nurhaci's acceptance of Ming titles like Dragon Tiger General (longhu jiangjun ) by claiming he accepted to "please Heaven".
Intermarriage and political alliances The Qing emperors arranged marriages between Aisin Gioro noblewomen and outsiders to create political marriage alliances. During the Manchu conquest of the Ming Empire, the Manchu rulers offered to marry their princesses to Han Chinese military officers who served the Ming Empire as a means of inducing these officers into surrendering or defecting to their side. Aisin Gioro princesses were also married to Mongol princes, for the purpose of forming alliances between the Manchus and Mongol tribes.