Niohuru

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Heshen, a powerful official of the Qianlong era in the Qing dynasty, was of the Niohuru clan Hesen.jpg
Heshen, a powerful official of the Qianlong era in the Qing dynasty, was of the Niohuru clan

The Niohuru (Manchu: ᠨᡳᠣᡥᡠᡵᡠ ; Chinese :鈕祜祿; pinyin :Niǔhùlù; Wade–Giles :Niu3-hu4-lu4; lit.'wolf' in Manchu) were a prominent Manchu clan during the Qing dynasty. The clan had inhabited the Changbai Mountains since as early as the Liao dynasty. The clan was well known during the Qing dynasty for producing a variety of consorts of all ranks for emperors, several of whom went on to become mothers to reigning emperors. Prominent people who belonged or trace heritage to the Niohuru clan including famed Manchu warrior Eidu, his son the high official Ebilun, the Empress Dowager Ci'an, the infamous corrupt official Heshen, the contemporary concert pianist Lang Lang and Lang Tsuyun (Ann Lang), Taiwanese TV, movie and stage actress, singer and producer.

Contents

Distribution

Written records of the Niohuru clan dates back to the Liao dynasty (907–1125), when it was known as the Dilie clan (敌烈氏) by Chinese transliteration. The current transliteration Niohuru came into being during the Ming dynasty. The Niohuru clan inhabited the Changbai mountains region of present-day Jilin province in northeast China (otherwise known as "Manchuria"), and also on the banks of the Songhua River and Mudan River.

According to members of the clan who attempted to re-trace their genealogy, the common primogenitor of the vast tribe date back to one Sohoji Bayan (honorific Su Gung), who was six generations removed from Eidu, the first eminent Niohuru clan member in recorded Qing history. [1] The Niohuru were widely distributed throughout the territory of the Manchu empire, and each of the Eight Banners had some Niohurus among their ranks.

Towards the end of the Qing dynasty and particularly after the founding the Republic of China in 1912, many Manchus adopted single-character Chinese surnames based on their clan origin. The Niohuru were known to have adopted to two versions, "Niu" (钮), which could be found in the modern province of Jiangxi [2] in addition to Manchuria; and "Lang" (朗). Lang sounded like "wolf" in Chinese (狼), roughly corresponding to the Manchu root word Niohe for Niohuru meaning "wolf". [3]

Niu 钮 is on the Hundred Family Surnames poem.

Notable figures

Males

Prince Consort
DatePrince ConsortBackgroundPrincess
1608Daqi Nurhaci's fifth daughter (1597–1613) by mistress (Giyamuhut Gioro Zhenge)
Eidu Nurhaci's fourth daughter (Mukushen; 1595–1659) by mistress (Giyamuhut Gioro Zhenge)
1621Turgei
1790Fengšeninde Princess Hexiao (1775–1823), the Qianlong Emperor's tenth daughter by Consort Dun (Wang)
1863Jalafungga (扎拉豐阿; d. 1898)Princess Shouxi (1842–1866), the Daoguang Emperor's eighth daughter by Noble Consort Tong (Šumuru)

Females

Imperial Consort

Princess Consort

See also

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References

  1. Hoong Teik Toh (2005). Materials for a Genealogy of the Niohuru Clan: With Introductory Remarks on Manchu Onomastics. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. pp. 4–. ISBN   978-3-447-05196-5.
  2. Pamela Crossley (2002). Manchus: People of Asia (reprint, illustrated ed.). Blackwell Publishers. p. 55. ISBN   0631235914. When they were young, Alechi saved Nurhaci's life by killing a wild hyena.
  3. Edward J. M. Rhoads (2001). Manchus & Han: ethnic relations and political power in late Qing and early republican China, 1861-1928 (reprint, illustrated ed.). University of Washington Press. p. 56. ISBN   9780295804125 . Retrieved March 2, 2012. and when the ancient and politically prominent Manchu lineage of Niohuru adopted the Han-style surname Lang, he ridiculed them for having "forgotten their roots." (The Niohuru, whose name was derived from niohe, Manchu for wolf," had chosen Lang as their surname because it was a homophone for the Chinese word for "wolf.")