Bukūri Yongšon Explained

Bukūri Yongšon
Birth Place:Bulhūri Omo, lake northeast of Golmin Šanggiyan Alin
Mother:Fekulen
House:Aisin Gioro
Full Name:Aisin Gioro Bukūri Yongšon
(愛新覺羅·布庫里雍順)
Temple Name:Shizu (始祖)

Bukūri Yongšon (; ? – ?) was a legendary ancestor of the future emperors of the Qing dynasty.[1]

Legend

Bukūri Yongšon was claimed the progenitor of the Aisin Gioro clan by Hong Taiji,[2] which would be the imperial family of China in the future. According to the legend, three heavenly maidens, namely Enggulen ([3] [4] 恩古倫), Jenggulen (正古倫) and Fekulen (佛庫倫), were bathing at a lake called Bulhūri Omo near the Changbai Mountains. A magpie dropped a piece of red fruit near Fekulen, who ate it. She then became pregnant with Bukūri Yongšon.[5]

However, another older version of the story by the Hurha (Hurka) tribe member Muksike recorded in 1635 contradicts Hong Taiji's version on location, claiming that it was in Heilongjiang province, close to the Amur river, where Bulhuri lake was located, and where the "heavenly maidens" took their bath. This was recorded in the Jiu Manzhou Dang and is much shorter and simpler in addition to being older. This is believed to be the original version and Hongtaiji changed it to Changbai mountain. It shows that the Aisin Gioro clan originated in the Amur area and the Heje (Hezhen) and other Amur valley Jurchen tribes had an oral version of the same tale. It also fits with Jurchen history since some ancestors of the Manchus originated north before the 14th-15th centuries in the Amur and only later moved south.[6]

Legacy

After the Qing dynasty was established, he was given the temple name "Shizu" (始祖).[7]

Notes

  1. Manchu Veritable Records Vol. 1
  2. Book: Pamela Kyle Crossley. A Translucent Mirror: History and Identity in Qing Imperial Ideology. 15 February 2000. University of California Press. 978-0-520-92884-8. 198–.
  3. 官修史料.清實錄.中華書局,2008
  4. 滿洲實錄·上函(卷一) 遼寧省檔案館, 遼寧教育出版社, 2012
  5. Manchu Veritable Records Vol.1
  6. Huang . Pei . New Light on The Origins of The Manchus . Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies . 1990 . 50 . 1 . 239–282 . 10.2307/2719229 . 2719229 .
  7. 官修史料.清實錄.中華書局,2008