The Niohuru was a prominent Manchu clan during the Qing dynasty. The clan had inhabited the Changbai Mountains since as early as the Liao dynasty. The clan was well known during the Qing dynasty for producing a variety of consorts of all ranks for emperors, several of whom went on to become mothers to reigning emperors. Prominent people who belonged or trace heritage to the Niohuru clan including famed Manchu warrior Eidu, his son the high official Ebilun, the Empress Dowager Ci'an, the infamous corrupt official Heshen and the contemporary concert pianist Lang Lang.
Contents
Distribution
Written records of the Niohuru clan dates back to the Liao dynasty (907–1125), when it was known as the Dilie clan (敌烈氏) by Chinese transliteration. The current transliteration Niohuru came into being during the Ming dynasty. The Niohuru clan inhabited the Changbai mountains region of present-day Jilin province in northeast China (otherwise known as "Manchuria"), and also on the banks of the Songhua River and Mudan River.
According to members of the clan who attempted to re-trace their genealogy, the common primogenitor of the vast tribe date back to one Sohoji Bayan (honorific Su Gung), who was six generations removed from Eidu, the first eminent Niohuru clan member in recorded Qing history. The Niohuru were widely distributed throughout the territory of the Manchu empire, and each of the Eight Banners had some Niohurus among their ranks.
Towards the end of the Qing dynasty and particularly after the founding the Republic of China in 1912, many Manchus adopted single-character Chinese surnames based on their clan origin. The Niohuru were known to have adopted to two versions, "Niu" (钮), which could be found in the modern province of Jiangxi in addition to Manchuria; and "Lang" (郎). Lang sounded like "wolf" in Chinese (狼), roughly corresponding to the Manchu root word Niohe for Niohuru meaning "wolf".
Niu 钮 is on the Hundred Family Surnames poem.
Notable figures
Males
Eidu (1562–1621), Manchu noble, close associate of Nurhaci
Daqi (達啟/达启), Eidu's second son
Turgei (圖爾格/图尔格，pinyin:Tu'erge; 1594–1645), Eidu's eighth son; officer of Manchu armies during the reign of Hong Taiji
Ebilun (d. 1673), Eidu's 16th son by Mukushen; served as one of the Four Regents of the Kangxi Emperor
Necin (訥親/讷亲，pinyin: Neqin; d. 1749), Ebilun's grandson; Manchu overseer of the Board of War during the Qianlong era
Alingga (1670–1716), Ebilun's seventh son; official at the court of the Kangxi Emperor
Heshen (1750–1799), infamous official of the late Qianlong era
Fengšeninde (丰绅殷德; 1775–1810), Heshen's first son
Mukdembu (穆克登布; d. 1803), grandfather of Empress Xiaoquancheng
Yiling (頤齡/颐龄), served as a first rank military official (駐防將軍/驻防将军，pinyin:zhufangjiangjun) in Suzhou, and held the title of a third class duke (三等公)
Sihung Lung (1930–2002), Taiwan actor
Niu Maosheng (born 1939), Governor of Hebei
Larry Hsien Ping Lang (born 1956), Hong Kong economist
Doze Niu (born 1966), Taiwan director
Lang Lang (born 1982), internationally renowned concert pianist
Females
Imperial Consort
Empress
Empress Xiaozhaoren (1659–1678), the Kangxi Emperor's second empress
Empress Xiaoshengxian (1692–1777), the Yongzheng Emperor's noble consort, the mother of the Qianlong Emperor (1711–1799)
Empress Xiaoherui (1776–1850), the Jiaqing Emperor's second empress, the mother of seventh daughter (1793–1795), Miankai (1795–1838) and Mianxin (1805–1828)
Empress Xiaomucheng (1781–1808), the Daoguang Emperor's first primary consort
Empress Xiaoquancheng (1808–1840), the Daoguang Emperor's second empress, the mother of Princess Duanshun (1825–1835), Princess Shou'an (1826–1860) and the Xianfeng Emperor (1831–1861)
Empress Xiaozhenxian (1837–1881), the Xianfeng Emperor's empress
Imperial Noble Consort
Imperial Noble Consort Gongshun (1787–1860), the Jiaqing Emperor's consort, the mother of eighth daughter (1805–1806), Princess Huimin (1811–1815) and Mianyu (1814–1865)
Noble Consort
Noble Consort Wenxi (1661–1694), the Kangxi Emperor's noble consort, the mother of Yun'e (1683–1741) and 11th daughter (1685–1686)
Noble Consort Cheng (1813–1888), the Daoguang Emperor's noble lady
Consort
Consort Xiang (1808–1861), the Daoguang Emperor's noble lady, the mother of second daughter (1825), Princess Shouzang (1829–1856) and Yicong (1831–1889)