A Case Study Of The Bachelors And Spinsters Rewarded With Silver For Weddings In Mukden Imperial Household Department During The Reign Of Emperor Qianlong

Booi of the three Bannersin the Mukden Imperial Household Department(shengjing neiwufu)were a special group under the Eight Banner system in the Qing Dynasty and their marriages were also controlled by the emperor.The Manchu documents in Heitu Archives provide a large number of historical records onconcretedetails of implementations of the marriage regulations of the Imperial Household Department(neiwufu)and marriage examples of bannermensin the early and middle Qing Dynasty,which could make up for shortcomings of official books.Through analysis and interpretation of Manchu documents related to acase of the Bachelors and Spinsters rewarded with silver for weddings in mukden Imperial Household Department,this paper shows that the bounty of silversystem reflected the Qing Court’s care ofthe livelihood of the bannermen.This paper also shows,as a rule,the Mukden Company Commander(zuoling)who was in charge of the affairs of the Imperial Household and official seals handed out the joyous occasion silver when the bannermen were ready to get married.In the Qianlong period,the Qing Court rewarded the bachelors and spinsters of the Eight banner and the Imperial Department just because of the drought,which has not been recorded in other dynasties.It could be seen as a special joyous occasion.In the case of processingrewardstothe Bachelors and Spinsters of the grain manor,the Mukden Company Commander(zuoling)who was in charge of the affairs of the Imperial Household and official seals,along with the subordinate organizations of The Treasury Department(hvigisi),The Storage Department(guwangcusi),and The Fishing And Hunting Department(duioisi)of Beijing Imperial Household Department each performed their own functions and had clear labor division in all aspects of register and submission,receiving and issuingbounty and settlement,which jointly promoted the successful completion of the process.The strictly implemented regulation that the manors must get married in the manor and the gardens must get married in the garden by Qing court,which did not allow the bannermen of the Imperial Household Department(neiwufu)to get free marriage,the influence of non-inter marriage between the bannermen and the people,and the system of girls selection(xuanxiunv)during the period of Shun Kang Qian resulted in a big increase in the number of the Bachelors and Spinstersin mukden Imperial Household Department(shengjingneiwufu)from the middle and late Period of Kangxi to the early period of Qianlong.In order to solve the marriage problem of these people,the Qing Court actively took effective measures,such as giving silver or buying women to those people who could not get married due to poverty.These measures took placed mainly because the Imperial Household Department(neiwufu)served the royal family.To ensure the needs of the royal family could be sent to the capital timely and quantitatively,the stability of the population was especially important.The stable growth of the population also has a certain impact on the development of productivity.In any case,the Qing Court was bounded to take measures to maintain or multiply population that would enable the bannermen of the Imperial Household Department(neiwufu)to serve his perpetual reign consistantly.Therefore,the Qing Court took advantage of the fact that the identity of these people in the Imperial Household Department(neiwufu)seldom changed from generation to generation,paid great attention toand valued their marriages.At the same time,it also showed the marriages of the people of the Imperial Household Department(neiwufu)are constrained.