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The banners were established by Nurhaci in the early seventeenth century and grew to become the core elite of the Qing empire. Though initially military in nature, the Eight Banners came to assume other administrative duties. It originally consisted of three upper banners directly responsible to the emperor himself and five lower banners responsible to imperial princes; later, all the banners were placed under the direct control of the emperor.
The Eight Banners consisted of three ethnic components: the Manchu, the Han Chinese, and the Mongols. Beginning in the late 1620s Nurhaci's successors incorporated allied and conquered Mongol tribes into the Eight Banner system. The first Chinese additions were merely sprinkled into existing banner as replacements. Eventually the sheer numbers of Chinese soldiers caused Manchu leaders to form them into the "Old Han Army" (舊漢軍), mainly for infantry support. In 1631 a separate Chinese artillery corps was formed. Four Chinese banners were created in 1639 and finally the full eight were established in 1642.
From the time of the conquest of China (1644-1683) the banner soldiers became more professional and bureaucratised. Non-banner Chinese were appointed to oversee daily administrative affairs. All booty was distributed by the Emperor and his agents, with 30 percent retained by him for imperial affairs. Eventually, after the conquest of China, all bannermen received a set salary. The largest banner garrisons throughout most of the Qing dynasty were at Beijing, followed by Xi'an and Hangzhou. Sizeable banner populations were also placed in Manchuria, in parts of Yunnan and at strategic points along the Yangzi River and Grand CanalThe Grand Canal of China (known as Jinghang Canal or Jinghang Grand Canal, , or ; pinyin: jing hang da yun he or da yun he), is the largest ancient artificial river in the world. In the year of 604, Emperor Yang Guang of Sui Dynasty left Chang'an (in Xi'a.
Over time many Chinese and Mongol banner units were reclassified as civilian or placed in the Green Standard ArmyGreen Standard Army is the name of a category of military units under the control of the Qing Dynasty in China. It was made up mostly of ethnic Han soldiers and operated concurrently with the Manchu- Mongol- Chinese Eight Banner armies. The original Green. At the end of the Qing dynasty, all members of the Eight Banners, regardless of their original ethnicity, were considered by the Republic of ChinaThe Republic of China ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: ; Wade-Giles: Chung-hua Min-kuo, Tongyong Pinyin: JhongHua MinGuo, Hanyu Pinyin: Zhonghua Minguo) is a de facto sovereign state that currently administers the island groups of Taiwan, Peng to be Manchu.
The banners had a hierarchical structure. The smallest unit was niru (or 佐領 zuoling in Chinese; 300 men). The next was jalan (or 參領 canling; 5 niru) and 5 jalan consisted a gusa (banner). Of course, these were ideal numbers and their actual sizes varied substantially.
| English | Manchu | Chinese | L/R | U/L |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain Yellow Banner | gulu suwayan i gusa | 正黃旗 zhenghuangqi | Right | Upper |
| Bordered Yellow Banner | kubuhe suwayan i gusa | 鑲黃旗 xianghuangqi | Left | Upper |
| Plain White Banner | gulu šanggiyan i gusa | 正白旗 zhengbaiqi | Left | Upper |
| Bordered White Banner | kubuhe šanggiyan i gusa | 鑲白旗 xiangbaiqi | Left | Lower |
| Plain Red Banner | gulu fulgiyan i gusa | 正紅旗 zhenghongqi | Right | Lower |
| Bordered Red Banner | kubuhe fulgiyan i gusa | 鑲紅旗 xianghongqi | Right | Lower |
| Plain Blue Banner | gulu lamun i gusa | 正藍旗 zhenglanqi | Left | Lower |
| Bordered Blue Banner | kubuhe lamun i gusa | 鑲藍旗 xianglanqi | Right | Lower |
Although the banners were instrumental in the Qing Empire takeover of ChinaThis article is on the geographic and cultural entity. For other meanings, see China (disambiguation). China ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Zhongguo, Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo) is a country in continental East Asia with some oute in the 17th century from the Ming Empire, they began to atrophy in the 18th century, and were shown to be ineffective for modern warfare by the 19th century. The banners proved unable to defeat Western powers such as Britain in the Opium Wars and were also seriously challenged by the Taiping RebellionRebellion The Taiping Rebellion ( 1851 1864) was one of the bloodiest conflicts in history, a clash between the forces of Imperial China and those inspired by a Hakka self-proclaimed mystic named Hong Xiuquan, who was also a Christian convert. Most accura.
By the late 19th century, the Qing Dynasty began training and creating New Army units based on Western training, equipment, and organization. Nevertheless, the banner system remained in existence until the fall of the Qing in 1911.
Banners, as an organizational structure, were also used in Mongolia. See Banner (Inner Mongolia).