CULTURAL ROOTS
The Aisin Gioro Arts & Cultural Heritage Society is rooted in a living cultural legacy—shaped by the ancestral memory of the Qing imperial family of China, the traditions of Manchu heritage, and the evolving identities of diaspora across generations.
Yet our mission is not to preserve the past for its own sake. We are committed to cultural continuity across time and place: from the palace life of ancestors in the Forbidden City to the kitchens of ordinary immigrant families, from ancestral rituals to contemporary art.
Our programs embrace the layered nature of cultural heritage—honouring the lineages we inherit while making space for new voices, hybrid forms, and cross-cultural dialogues that shape the present.
We believe that heritage is not a possession, but a responsibility—an ongoing relationship between memory and transformation.
Legacy in Practice
The Aisin Gioro family is the last imperial lineage of China, originally descended from the Jurchen peoples of Northeast Asia.
Before 1644, the family ruled as an independent regime in the northeast, under the Later Jin (1616–1636) and the Great Qing (1636–1644). In 1644, Qing forces entered China proper and established a new imperial dynasty that governed until 1912. Under Qing rule, the empire expanded to an unprecedented scale, incorporating Xinjiang, Tibet, Mongolia, and Taiwan into a unified imperial framework. This consolidation laid the foundation for the modern borders of what is recognized as China today.
After the fall of the empire in 1912, the family underwent a profound transformation—from royalty to ordinary citizens, and from political authority to cultural preservation. Rather than seeking restoration, they turned to education, art, and public service as ways to honour history without clinging to it. Across generations, descendants contributed to artistic life, scholarship, and civic engagement in both China and the global diaspora.
Over the past century, more than a hundred artists have emerged from the Aisin Gioro family. Some—such as Pu Ru, Pu Quan, Qi Gong, Yuzhan, and Qixiang—have been included in official Chinese art history. Many of the founder’s immediate relatives emigrated abroad, and their next generations were born outside China. Though the family name inevitably became globalized, the historical and cultural ties to China remain unbreakable.
Today, this legacy is not a claim to privilege, but a commitment to shared cultural memory. It forms one of the many roots from which our non-profit work grows.
Manchuria
Manchuria is a term used to describe a vast geographic region in Northeast Asia. Its borders vary by definition but generally include Northeast China, extending into parts of Russia, particularly an area often referred to as Outer Manchuria. Outer Manchuria refers to territories once claimed by the Qing Dynasty that are now part of Russia, while the region within China is often called Inner Manchuria, encompassing the three provinces of Northeast China: Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning.
Historically, Manchuria was home to several ethnic groups, including the Manchu, Xianbei, Korean, Khitan, and Jurchen peoples, who all established significant states throughout history. The Manchus, in particular, played a key role in shaping the region’s history. The Aisin-Gioro family, led by Nurhaci, unified the various ethnic groups in the area and founded the “Great Jin” kingdom. The Manchus had their own distinct language and culture, part of the Manchu-Tungusic branch of the Altaic language family, with close ties to the Turks and Mongols. Their written language used an alphabetic script derived from Mongolian.
Eight Banners
The Eight Banners system was established in 1615 by Nurhaci, the founding ancestor of the Aisin Gioro clan, as the military and social foundation of the Later Jin regime. He restructured the traditional tribal organization of the Jurchens into a color-coded banner system that governed both soldiers and their families, forming an integrated model of military and civil administration.
As the empire expanded, the Eight Banners gradually incorporated Mongols and Han Chinese into its ranks, becoming the core apparatus of Manchu multiethnic military rule. After the Qing forces entered China in 1644, the system was further institutionalized: the emperor directly commanded the two Yellow and two White Banners, while the two Red and two Blue Banners were entrusted to imperial princes. Bannermen were stationed in key locations throughout the empire and were subject to strict banner governance and military discipline.
In 1636, the Manchu Emperor Aisin-Gioro Huang Taiji began his conquest of China, clearly defining the boundaries of Manchuria and declaring the establishment of the Qing Dynasty. In 1644, the Qing Dynasty overthrew the Ming Dynasty and integrated its territory into the Qing Empire. However, the region of Manchuria, now Northeast China, remained under the strict control of the Eight Banners system, with no former Ming officials or civilians allowed to enter without permission, maintaining its distinct status under the Qing rule.
During the Qing dynasty, bannermen held a higher social status than the native Han civilian population. As a privileged class, they enjoyed hereditary stipends, land allocations, and official appointments, occupying a central position within the imperial system. To preserve ethnic and institutional boundaries, intermarriage between Manchus and Han Chinese was strictly prohibited by law until 1901, when the ban was lifted by Empress Dowager Cixi.
Although the Eight Banners system was abolished after the fall of the Qing, many descendants of bannermen—especially those of the Aisin Gioro lineage—continue to identify with their ancestral banners, surnames, and places of origin, preserving a living connection to their historical institutions and cultural identity.
