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This article is about the former administrative divisions of China. For other meanings of the term "banner", see banner (disambiguation).

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The Eight Banners (In Manchu: jakūn gūsa, In Chinese: 八旗 baqí) were administrative divisions into which all Manchu families were placed. They provided the basic framework for the Manchu military organization. The fundamental building block of the banners was the company (Manchu: niru, Chinese: 佐領 zuoling), some of which reflected pre-existing lineage or tribal connections in their membership, while others deliberately overrode such connections in an effort to create a more centralized military force. Each company was, in principle, required to furnish 300 troops to the larger banner army.

The banners were established by Nurhaci in the early seventeenth century (1615, according to noted historian, Peter C. Perdue) and grew to become the core elite of the Qing empire. Though initially military in nature, the Eight Banners came to assume other administrative duties, including disbursement of salaries, distribution of land, management of property, oversight of popular welfare, and administration of justice. A hierarchy obtained among the Eight Banners, with the so-called three upper banners (Plain Yellow, Bordered Yellow, Plain White) directly responsible to the emperor himself and five lower banners responsible to imperial princes; later, all the banners were placed under the direct control of the emperor.

The Eight Banners consisted of three ethnic components: the Manchu, the Han Chinese, and the Mongols. Beginning in the late 1620s, Nurhaci's successors incorporated allied and conquered Mongol tribes into the Eight Banner system. The first Chinese additions were merely sprinkled into existing banners as replacements. Eventually, the sheer numbers of Chinese soldiers caused Manchu leaders to form them into the "Old Han Army" (舊漢軍), mainly for infantry support. In 1631, a separate Chinese artillery corps was formed. Four Chinese banners were created in 1639 and finally the full eight were established in 1642.

From the time of the conquest of China (1644 – 1683), the banner soldiers became more professional and bureaucratised. Once the Manchus took over governing, they could no longer satisfy the material needs of soldiers by garnishing and distributing booty; instead, a salary system was instituted, ranks standardised, and the Eight Banners became a sort of hereditary military caste, though with a strong ethnic inflection. Banner soldiers took up permanent positions, either as defenders of the capital, Beijing, where roughly half of them lived with their families, or in the provinces, where some eighteen garrisons were established. The largest banner garrisons throughout most of the Qing dynasty were at Beijing, followed by Xi'an and Hangzhou. Sizable banner populations were also placed in Manchuria and at strategic points along the Great Wall, the Yangtze River and Grand Canal.

Over time, many Chinese banner companies in the provincial garrisons were reclassified as civilian or placed in the Green Standard Army. At the end of the Qing dynasty, all members of the Eight Banners, regardless of their original ethnicity, were considered by the Republic of China to be Manchu.

The banners had a hierarchical structure. The smallest unit was niru (or 佐領 zuoling in Chinese; 300 men). The next was jalan (or 參領 canling); 5 niru and 5 jalan consisted a gūsa (banner). Of course, these were ideal numbers and their actual sizes varied substantially.

niru	jalan	gūsa

English	Manchu	Mongol	Chinese	L/R	U/L	Image
Plain Yellow Banner	gulu suwayan i gūsa	Шүлүүн Шар Хошуу	正黃旗 zhenghuangqi	Right	Upper
Bordered Yellow Banner	kubuhe suwayan i gūsa	Хөвөөт Шар Хошуу	鑲黃旗 xianghuangqi	Left	Upper
Plain White Banner	gulu šanggiyan i gūsa	Шүлүүн Цагаан Хошуу	正白旗 zhengbaiqi	Left	Upper
Bordered White Banner	kubuhe šanggiyan i gūsa	Хөвөөт Цагаан Хошуу	鑲白旗 xiangbaiqi	Left	Lower
Plain Red Banner	gulu fulgiyan i gūsa	Шүлүүн Улаан Хошуу	正紅旗 zhenghongqi	Right	Lower
Bordered Red Banner	kubuhe fulgiyan i gūsa	Хөвөөт Улаан Хошуу	鑲紅旗 xianghongqi	Right	Lower
Plain Blue Banner	gulu lamun i gūsa	Шүлүүн Хөх Хошуу	正藍旗 zhenglanqi	Left	Lower
Bordered Blue Banner	kubuhe lamun i gūsa	Хөвөөт Хөх Хошуу	鑲藍旗 xianglanqi	Right	Lower

Although the banners were instrumental in the Qing Empire takeover of China proper in the 17th century from the Ming Empire, they began to atrophy in the 18th century, and were shown to be ineffective for modern warfare by the second half of the 19th century. The later banners proved unable to defeat Western powers, such as Britain, in the Opium Wars and were also seriously challenged by the Taiping Rebellion.

By the late 19th century, the Qing Dynasty began training and creating New Army units based on Western training, equipment and organization. Nevertheless, the banner system remained in existence until the fall of the Qing in 1911, and even beyond, with a rump organization continuing to function until the expulsion of Puyi (the former Xuantong emperor) from the Forbidden City in 1924.

• Banner (Inner Mongolia), as an organizational structure, were also used in Mongolia.