This originated from a thread I've just posted about famous Manchu celebrities (actor/actress) in the chinese entertainment circle.

See
http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=25594

Most of the Manchu today look no different from han-chinese. In fact, it is hard to tell their ethnicity simply from their looks, since they look alike just like any han-chinese. This is even more difficult when most of them are using han surname.

Alright, I do know that most of the Manchu-chinese had already been 'hanized' (i.e. assimilated to be like han-chinese) and most of the Manchu chinese no longer speak manchu language today. Instead, they speak the han-language (chinese) just like any other ordinary han-chinese.

Other than the 'assimilation reason', I'm just curious what are the historical reason that caused them to change their surname to han-surname.

There are two reasons that I can think of:

1. Many of the Manchu could have changed their surname to Han surname during Xinhai Revolution led by Sun Yat Sen in the early of 20th century. They did so to avoid being 'hunted down' or "prosecuted" by the han-chinese. In order to "survive", they adopted han surname.

2. Another reason could be that during the early ROC period, the chinese regime only allowed "han surname". This could be due to an han-assimilation policy. I'm not too sure whether this is true historically. But in ROC (Taiwan) for instance, the Taiwanese aborigines had to adopt han surname as part of the "legal" procedure in order to become official citizen of ROC in the past. It was only until recent years that Taiwan allowed the Taiwanese aborigines to adopt their own native ethnic surnames as part of the policy to restore the local Taiwanese culture. The adoption of han surnames was probably a common practice during early ROC period for various ethnic minorities group living in a region where the han-chinese were the majority.

I'm not too sure if my reasoning is correct.

Hope you guys can comment on whether they are correct .

What are the historical reasons for Manchu adopting Han surname?

In anthropological terminology, it's more accurate to say they have been heavily acculturated by 'Han' culture, because assimilation implies a loss of ethnic identity. Many Manchus today have lost the use of the Manchu language, but still have Manchu ethnicity because this ethnicity is recognized by the state.



This could be true for many Manchu families, but an edict issued by the Qianlong emperor shows that in the 18th century, some Manchus were already switching to 'Han' surnames:

“八旗满洲、蒙古有姓氏，乃历年既久，多有弃置本姓沿汉习者。即如牛呼纽氏，或变称为郎姓，即使指上一字为称，亦当曰牛，岂可直呼为郎，同于汉姓乎?姓氏者，乃满洲之根本，所关甚为紧要。今若不整饬，因循之久，必将各本姓遗忘，不复有知者。”

"The Manchus and Mongols of the Eight Banners have had their surnames for many years, but many of them have been abandoning their original surnames and following the Han practice. For example, the Niohe (Niuhuniu) change their surname to Lang - even if they were to abbreviate their surname to the first character, it should be Niu. How can you directly call it Lang, just like a Han surname? Surnames are the roots of the Manchus and are of critical importance. If we do not know rectify the situation and it carries on for much longer, we shall surely forget our various original surnames and no one will know anything about them."

The Niohe (Niuhuniu) surname here is also written as Niukulu 纽祜禄, and means 'wolf' in Manchu. That's why Manchus with this surname changed it to Lang 郎, which sounds like 'wolf' 狼 in the Han language. Lang is now regarded as one of the eight most prestigious Manchu surnames, prestigious because they were members of the Qing aristocracy. The seven others are:

1. Tong 佟, which was originally Tongjia 佟佳, the name of a river in Manchuria.
2. Guan 関/关, which was originally Gua'erjia 瓜尔佳. It was shortened to Guan in the 18th century.
3. Ma 馬, shortened from Majia 马佳 in the 18th century.
4. Suo 索, shortened from Suochuoluo 索绰罗 probably in the 19th century.
5. He 赫, shortened from Hesheli 赫舍里 probably in the 19th century.
6. Fu 富, shortened from Fucha 富察 around the 1840s.
7. Na 那, originally Nala 纳拉, the name of a river in Manchuria. Shortened in the 18th century.

Unlike Lang, these seven surnames were created by simpling shortening a Manchu surname, rather than by translating its meaning. I think He, Fu, and Na are uniquely Manchu surnames, and Tong is a very rare surname among the Han, so they should not be called Han surnames at all. There are some other shortened single-character surnames that are also unique to Manchus: Zhao 肇、Tu 图、De 德、Da 大、Bao 暴、Hu 呼、A 阿、Xi 西、and Bu 布.

Source for the information above: http://zhidao.baidu.com/question/9982834.html?fr=qrl

So I don't think the priority for the Manchus who adopted these surnames was to blend in with the Han population. If so, they could have chosen very common Han surnames like Li, Zhang, and Wang. It was probably more that as they became more comfortable speaking the Han language than speaking the Manchu language, they began to see single-character surnames are more elegant and fashionable. You can see a similar situation in a much earlier period, when the Tuoba Xianbi aristocracy changed their Xianbi-language surnames to shorter surnames of one or two characters/syllables. Many of these were surnames that were either rare or had never existed among the 'Han'. The Tuoba surname itself was changed to Yuan 元 , a word that had never previously been used as a surname.

A freind of mine has the surname "Quan" and he sais that it was a Manchu surname.
There are also a taijiquan expert called Quanyu of Wu taijiquan (Jianquan).

I can tell the difference between various Han Chinese subgroups, so it's hard to say which one they look like. I don't think they're indistinguishable... I think some notable traits stick out if they are unmixed.

Hi

I just chanced upon this useful website while searching for my roots. I was told my ancestors are manchurian and some who avoided some sort of execution escaped to singapore but alas the ones who could tell me more are 6feet under.
Any idea where is the best place or websites to read about history in english? i followed the link in our of CHF threads to a baidu site but its all in horrible chinese, pain in the a** to read

Eileen

Interesting, you're the 2nd Chinese Singaporean I heard whose ancestry can be traced back to Manchurian. Quite a portion of chinese in Singapore who has manchurian roots were largely assimilated to be han-chinese, such that it's hard to recognise them. There's a likelihood that your ancestors tended to be called "Qi Ren 旗人" (bannerman), but they tended to avoid it, esp. during ROC Chinese Revolution period when Manchu were being targeted.



If you have problem with chinese, I suggest you to read Wikipedia's English page on chinese at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_history

We also hold regular gatherings in Singapore for those who are interested in chinese history/culture. So keep a lookout for our news and announcement.