Hešeri

Hešeri (Chinese: 赫舍里; Pinyin: Hesheli; Manchu: ᡥᡝᠰᡝᡵᡳ Hešeri), is a Manchu clan with Jianzhou Jurchens roots, originally hailing from the area which is now the modern Chinese provinces of Jilin and Liaoning. It was once one of the most important and powerful families in the early Qing dynasty in China, second only to the royal House of Aisin Gioro, to whom they were closely related by marriage. The power of the family reached its zenith in the period of Marquess Hešeri Sonin and his second son Duke Hešeri Songgotu (from approximately 1650 to 1705). Although its influence declined following Songgotu's death, clan Hešeri continued to play a role in Chinese politics until the demise of the Qing dynasty in early 1912.

History

Origins

The name Hešeri was first recorded in the Thirty Common Surnames of Jurchen during the later Tang dynasty (c. 800-850), and is said to be derived from the name of an ancestral river (šeri loosely translating to water-spring in the Manchu language). Alternatively, some have suggested that the name may stem from that of an ancient tribe. During the Tang dynasty, the Hešeri lived on the northern outskirts of the empire, co-existing to some degree with the then extant Khitan and the Liao dynasty they founded (which dynasty the Jurchen ultimately conquered and destroyed in 1125); while the bulk of the clan maintained their ancestral residencies, the (second) ascendancy of the Jurchen (renamed by this time to Manchu) during the Qing dynasty and the administrative and military appointments clan Hešeri enjoyed as a result saw moderate diffusion of Hešeri throughout the more interior northern and central provinces.