A Case Study Of A Toksoi Da's Adopted Son In Jinzhou During The Reign Of Emperor Yongzheng As Revealed In Manchu Heitu Archives

Zhuangtou(Manchu: tokso da/toksoi da)was a special bannerman group under the Eight Banner manor system in the Qing Dynasty.The Manchu documents in Heitu Archives provide a large number of historical records on the concrete operation procedures of the zhuangtou system of the Imperial Household Department(neiwufu)and the judicial examples of the manor bannermen in the middle and early Qing Dynasty,which could make up for the shortcomings of the official books and oral historical materials containing records that were too brief and written in the late Qing period.Through the translation and interpretation of Manchu documents related to a case of a zhuangtou's adopted son of the Gao Family in Jinzhou,we can see that the manor bannermen in the Yongzheng period were applicable to the law of “being exempted from exile and penal servitude”,and were different from those manor bannermen who gradually lost the qualification of changing penalties after the mid-Qianlong period.The Judicial Department(shenxingsi)of the Shengjing Imperial Household Department convicted and sentenced the manor bannermen on the basis of the Great Qing Code,and then changed their sentence according to their bannermen identity,executing the actual penalty in the light of the Manchu Law.This legal practice reflected the integration between the Great Qing Code and the Manchu Law.The reason why the manor bannermen could change their sentences was not that they had judicial privileges,but that their legal status was determined by their functions of agricultural production in the Eight Banner system.In the trial process of the Adopted Son Case,the Shengjing Company Commander(zuoling)who was in charge of the affairs of the Imperial Household and official seals,along with the subordinate organizations of the Shengjing Imperial Household Department and Shengjing Five Boards each performed their own functions and had clear labor division in all aspects of trial,conviction,sentence and execution of penalties,which jointly promoted the successful completion of the trial process.As the succession system of zhuangtou was not fixed,the financial ability of the successor decided whether he could replace the predecessor,which led to the frequent lawsuits within the zhuangtou family.Besides,zhuangtou often bullied and oppressed their subordinates,zhuangding,no matter whether they were relatives or not,and there were quite a lot of conflicts of interest.In order to solve the conflicts between zhuangtou and zhuangding,the local government tended to adopt the method of reassigning zhuangding to other manors to settle the disputes between them.This measure was mainly to avoid the loss of labor population in banner lands and ensure the agricultural production and the collection of money and grains in the Eight Banner Manor.With the intention of paying taxes on farm lands and maintaining livelihood,the zhuangtou in Jinzhou broadened the sources of income by reclaiming wasteland,which promoted the agricultural production in banner lands.In addition to exempting zhuangtou from duties and taxes,the central and local governments also allocated rations to zhuangtou and their subordinates.The timely and effective relief measures reduced the loss of life and property of the manor bannermen and maintained the zhuangtou system of the Imperial Household Department.