Orphan Warriors

Many natives of the Northeast----particularly some of the Manchu ancestors ,the Jurchens-----had moved the other way ,into the towns along the Ming frontier ;others moved between them as traders of horses, ginsheng, pine seeds, pelts and other desired Northeastern products. Nurgaci's Later Jin state, ignoring the geneological ties of the urbanized Jurchens with peoples settled in tribal villages under their rule, classed the latter together with the "Chinese martial", people of often indeterminable Chinese, Jurchen or Korean desent who inhabited the Ming pale of Liaodong. They were brought into the Jurchen camp in the early seventeenth century either by their own will or by being kidnapped by Jurchen raider. After 1601, when the Eight Banners began to be formed, those incorporated were classed as Manchu, Mongol or Chinese-martial on the basis of their cultural affinities, with little reference to ancestors.