Cigu Niru (

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...

: , ) was a type of military unit of

Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu people, Manchu-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin (1616–1636), La ...

. It was one of the Nirus of the Qing army. The Cigu Niru consisted of ethnic Han soldiers who joined the Qing army in the early stage of its rise to power. Cigu Niru was one of the three Nirus that is affiliated with the

Imperial Household Department The Imperial Household Department (; mnc, , v=dorgi baita be uheri kadalara yamun) was an institution of the Qing dynasty of China. Its primary purpose was to manage the internal affairs of the Qing imperial family and the activities of the inn ...

. Its members belonged to the rank of

Booi Aha Booi Aha (Manchu: (''booi niyalma'') for male, (''booi hehe'') for female; Chinese transliteration: 包衣阿哈) is a Manchu word literally meaning "household person", referring to hereditarily servile people in 17th-century Qing China. It ...

. This niru, just like all the other Nirus of the Imperial household, should not be confused with the banners of the

Eight Banners The Eight Banners (in Manchu language, Manchu: ''jakūn gūsa'', ) were administrative and military divisions under the Later Jin (1616–1636), Later Jin and Qing dynasty, Qing dynasties of China into which all Manchu people, Manchu households ...

system. Banners and Nirus may cooperate with each other in particular cases; however, they were administratively parallel. Ujen Coohai Gusa, the banners of Han soldiers in the Eight Banners system, was demographically identical with Cigu Niru although they were two different military units. Many ethnic Han Cigu Niru obtained their political status during the reign of Qing dynasty. For example, the Cao clan and Gao clan of Cigu Niru.

Cao Xueqin Cáo Xuěqín ( ; ); (4 April 1710 — 10 June 1765)Briggs, Asa (ed.) (1989) ''The Longman Encyclopedia'', Longman, was a Chinese writer during the Qing dynasty. He is best known as the author of ''Dream of the Red Chamber'', one of the Four G ...

, the author of "

Dream of Red Chamber ''Dream of the Red Chamber'' (''Honglou Meng'') or ''The Story of the Stone'' (''Shitou Ji'') is a novel composed by Cao Xueqin in the middle of the 18th century. One of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, it is known for ...

", was a member of Cigu Niru.

Gao E Gao E (, c. 1738c. 1815) was a Qing dynasty Chinese scholar, writer, and editor. He attained the degree of ''juren'' in 1788 and ''jinshi'' in 1795. A Han Chinese who belonged to the Bordered Yellow Banner, he became a Fellow of the Hanlin Acade ...

, the main editor of Cao's work, also came from Cigu Niru. In terms of civil service, members of Cigu Niru were treated like their ethnic

comrade-in-arms. However, in the

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

, members of this niru did not enjoy the privilege that Manchus and

Mongols The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...

had. The Manchu and Mongol members of niru had a better chance of passing the exam since they were separated from the large pool of Han participants of the exam. Essentially, when a Cigu Niru took the imperial examination, he was classified as a Han due to his ancestry although he has close ties to the Manchus. This racial inequality also existed in terms of military service. Exceptionally, members of Cigu Niru were treated equally in, and only in, the imperial household department where their promotions would not be influenced by their racial background. In total, there were 18 Cigu Nirus of the imperial household department. After the expulsion of Han banners in 1742, 10 Cigu Nirus remained in service.

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* * * * Military units and formations of the Qing dynasty {{china-mil-stub

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