dynasty, both in the military establishment and the civil service. So far as the army is concerned this division began with the national organisation which consisted of two distinct sets of officers and soldiers, organised on altogether different principles and possessing different privileges, namely the Eight Banners and the Tents of the Green Standard.
Before the Manchus commenced their struggle against the Ming Dynasty, as early as 1614, their forces were organised into eight divisions of approximately 7,500 men each led by a tut'ung. This was the nucleus of the Eight Banners under which all the Manchus eventually came to be enrolled.[1] Each division was subdivided into regiments of 1,500 men each, and these into battalions of 300 men.[2]
In the actual conquest of the land, however, the Manchus were aided both by Mongolian and Chinese troops, many of whom were assimilated into the Eight Banners after the country was pacified. At first these were enrolled with the Manchus, but as their numbers increased it was deemed wiser to arrange them into separate groups. Accordingly, in 1635 the Mongols were organised into Eight Banner divisions, their number totalling 16,840 men, and seven years later the Chinese who had participated in the conquest from the beginning were similarly enrolled in Eight Banners.[3] Of the latter there were 24,050 men. The total Banner force was therefore about a hundred thousand at the end of the conquest. Thence-
- ↑ The Eight Banners were divided into two divisions, superior and inferior:
The three superior Banners: Bordered yellow.
Plain yellow.
Plain white.The five inferior Banners: Bordered white.
Plain red.
Bordered red.
Plain blue.
Bordered blue. - ↑ Article in Journal North China Branch Royal Asiatic Society, new style, XXII, 3-5.
- ↑ Ibid.
