Royal and noble ranks of the Qing dynasty


The Qing dynasty of China developed a complicated peerage system for royal and noble ranks.

Rule of inheritance

In principle, titles were downgraded one grade for each generation of inheritance.
Occasionally, a peer could be granted the privilege of shixi wangti, which allowed the title to be passed down without downgrading. Throughout the Qing dynasty, there were 12 imperial princely families who enjoyed this privilege. They were known as the "iron-cap princes".
The noble titles were inherited through a system of loose primogeniture: The eldest son from the peer's first wife was usually the heir apparent, but inheritance by a younger son, a son of a concubine, or brother of the peer was not uncommon. According to their birth and their father's rank, non-heir sons of imperial princes were also entitled to petition for a lower title than the one they would have received had they been the heir. Non-heir sons of other peers were also occasionally granted a lower title.
Whether imperial or not, the inheritance or bestowement was never automatic, and had to be approved either by the Emperor, the Ministry of Personnel, or the Imperial Clan Court. Imperial princes, upon reaching adulthood at the age of 20, had to pass tests in horse-riding, archery and the Manchu language before they were eligible for titles. Imperial princesses, other than the Emperor's daughters, were usually granted titles upon marriage, regardless of age. Princesses' titles were also usually fixed after they were granted, and were not affected by changes in their fathers' nobility ranks.

Grading system

Yunjiwei was originally a military rank created in the Sui dynasty, but it was later turned into a military honour in the Tang dynasty as part of the xun guan system. The Qing dynasty abolished the separate military honour system and merged it into the nobility rank system, using yunjiwei as the lowest grantable rank of nobility, and the basic unit of rank progression.
For example, a yunjiwei who received another grant of yunjiwei became a jiduwei. A first-class duke plus yunjiwei was the equivalent of 23 grants of yunjiwei.

Official rank (''pin'')

The Qing dynasty, much like previous dynasties, used an "official rank" system. This system had nine numbered ranks, each subdivided into upper and lower levels, in addition to the lowest "unranked" rank: from upper first pin, to lower ninth pin, to the unranked, for a total of 19 ranks. All government personnel, from the highest chancellors to the lowest clerk, held an official rank ex officio, which determined their salary, uniform, privileges and order of precedence.
This pin system existed in parallel to the noble ranks detailed in this article. Many higher noble titles ranked above this system. And while some titles corresponded to a pin, they were considered equivalents of convenience rather than actual official ranks.

Titular names

Historically, Chinese noble titles were usually created with a shiyi each, even though the fief may only be nominal. The Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty enfeoffed cadet branch princes and other nobles in different regions of China. The Qing dynasty ended this tradition; with only a few exceptions, no fief was ever named. No Qing prince was enfeoffed with territory. Instead, noble titles were created without a name, or were bestowed a meihao. These names were usually descriptive of the peer's merit, virtue, or the circumstances leading to his ennoblement. The Dukes Yansheng kept their traditional fief in Shandong under Qing rule.
Titular names were unique for imperial princes, while non-imperial peers' titular names may overlap. Following Ming dynasty tradition, single-character names were reserved for qinwangs, while junwangs used two-character names. All other peers normally had two-character names, but may receive up to four characters.
Since noble titles were primarily awarded for military service, the titular names predominantly described martial virtues, e.g., zhongyong gong. However, a particularly common titular name was cheng'en gong, which was frequently granted to the Empress's family members.

Imperial clan

Eight Privileges

At the top of the imperial hierarchy, the highest six ranks enjoyed the "Eight Privileges". These privileges were red carriage wheels, purple horse reins, heated carriages, purple cushions, gemstone mandarin hat crests, two-eyed peacock feathers on mandarin hats, use of leather whips to clear the path, and employment of eunuchs.
Peacock feathers, however, were prohibited for princes above the rank of beizi and direct imperial clansmen. The "Eight Privileges" entitled the prince to participate in state councils and share the spoils of war. However, the prince was also bound to reside in the capital and render service to the imperial court.

Male members

The four ranks above were granted solely to direct male-line descendants of the Emperor. These titles below were granted to cadet lines of the imperial clan.
The above six ranks are titles that enjoy the "Eight Privileges". The titles below do not enjoy the "Eight Privileges" and have no imperial duties.
All of the above titles are chaopin, outranking official ranks. The ranks below are ranked first to fourth pin respectively. The first three jiangjun ranks are each further subdivided into four classes: first class plus yunjiwei, first class, second class, and third class.
Regardless of title and rank, an imperial prince was addressed as "A-ge", which means "lord" or "commander" in Manchu.

Female members

The following titles were granted to female members of the imperial clan:
Efu, also known Fuma, translated as "Prince Consort". Its original meaning was "emperor's charioteer". It was usually granted to the spouse of a princess above the rank of zongnü. The efus were separated into seven ranks corresponding to the rank of the princesses the efu married. Efus who married gulun gongzhus and heshuo gongzhus held ranks equivalent to the beizis and dukes respectively. The remaining efus had equivalent official rank from the first to fifth pin.
An efu retained his title and privileges as long as the princess remained his primary spouse – even after her death. However, if an efu remarried or promoted a consort to be his primary spouse, he lost all rights obtained from his marriage to the princess.

Others

At the beginning of the Qing dynasty, prior to the formalisation of the rank system, there were also non-standard titles used, such as:

Standard non-imperial titles

The following are the nine ranks of the peerage awarded for valour, achievement, distinction, other imperial favour, and to imperial consort clans.
The above three ranks are chaopin, outranking official ranks. The four following ranks were all evolved from leadership ranks in the Manchu banner army, originally called ejen and later janggin.
All of the above ranks are sub-divided into four classes; in order: first class plus yunjiwei, first class, second class, and third class.
At the beginning of the Qing dynasty, during Nurhaci's and Huangtaiji's reigns, the noble ranks were not yet standardised. There were several titles created that did not fit into the above system, mostly for defectors from the Ming dynasty. These titles were similar to the titles used in the Ming dynasty, and lack the Manchu nomenclature and the noble rank system introduced later.
Additionally, there were banner offices that later evolved into hereditary noble titles. Despite being used as noble titles, these offices continued to exist and function in the banner hierarchy. To distinguish the noble titles from the offices, they were sometimes called "hereditary office" or "hereditary rank".
With a few exceptions, the above titles were, in principle, created for only military merits. There were also titles for civil officials.
While there were a few Manchu civil titles, the most important civil titles followed the Han Chinese Confucian tradition, derived from high bureaucratic offices or imperial household offices that evolved into honorary sinecures. These were sometimes granted as special privileges, but also often as a practical means of conferring official rank promotion without giving specific responsibilities. Examples of such titles were taibao, shaoshi, taizi taifu, and daifu. These titles were non-heritable.
In addition, there were also honorary and hereditary titles granted to religious and cultural leaders, such as:
The Qing imperial court also granted titles to princes of its protectorates and tributary states, mainly in Mongolia, Xinjiang and Tibet. The vassal titles were generally inherited in perpetuity without downgrading.
The ranks roughly mirrored those of the imperial clan, with a few differences:
The taiji and tabunang are equal in rank, and both subdivided into five classes: jasagh, first class, second class, third class, and fourth class. Jasagh is chaopin, above official ranks, while the rest were equivalent to the first to fourth pin.
Under the tusi system, the Qing Empire also recognised various local tribal chieftainships of ethnic minority tribes. This was mainly applied in the mountain regions of Yunnan, but also in western and northern borderlands. They were the Chiefdom of Bathang, Chiefdom of Chuchen, Chiefdom of Lijiang, Chiefdom of Lithang, Chiefdom of Mangshi, Chiefdom of Tsanlha, Chiefdom of Yao'an, Chiefdom of Yongning, Mu'ege Chiefdom of Muli and Chiefdom of Langqu.
The Qing Empire had two vassals in Xinjiang, the Kumul Khanate and the Turfan Khanate.

Other honours and privileges

In addition to systematised rank titles listed above, there were also other honorific titles and privileges, mostly non-heritable:
Robes from the Qing emperors are also preserved there. The Jurchens in the Jin dynasty and Mongols in the Yuan dynasty continued to patronize and support the Confucian Duke Yansheng.

Etymology of Manchu titles

With a few exception, most Manchu titles ultimately derived from Han Chinese roots.