Abstract:

“Jušen” was a subordinate class of the Manchus in the Qing Dynasty. They had a masterservant relationship within the hierarchical social structure, but jušen status had broad and narrow senses. In the broad sense, jušen included bondservant, banner-men and normal banner-men under the banner-based company. While jušen in the narrow sense only referred to banner-men under the bannerbased company. Many of them were “both servants and masters” as well as “exploiters.” In the past, the scholars have used the narrow sense of jušen as the exploited class in the Manchu society prior to 1644 and concluded that the society was “feudal”. This conclusion is not only biased, but also contradictory. When facing the emperor, Eight Banner officials as jušen were self-proclaimed “servants”. In the Manchu language, the term is Aha, which is the same word used with bondservant and family servant. But jušen were not “servants” as family slaves, because they were the majority of banner officials. Their “servant” status was only inferior to the emperor. Many jušen were in the high-level social class. Eight banner enfeoffment system continued to be implemented in the lower five banners after 1644. Only later did Emperor Daoguang limit the number of the banner-based companies of the lower five banner princes. In addition, the officials who possessed the higher rank needed to dismiss their servant relationship with their masters. However, some remained in the status until the end of Qing Dynasty.