TheNiohuru (Manchu:ᠨᡳᠣᡥᡠᡵᡠ;Chinese:鈕祜祿;pinyin:Niǔhùlù;Wade–Giles:Niu3-hu4-lu4;lit. 'wolf' inManchu) were a prominentManchu clan during theQing dynasty. The clan had inhabited theChangbai 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 warriorEidu, his son the high officialEbilun, theEmpress Dowager Ci'an, the infamous corrupt officialHeshen, the contemporary concert pianistLang Lang and Lang Tsuyun (Ann Lang), Taiwanese TV, movie and stage actress, singer and producer.
Written records of the Niohuru clan dates back to theLiao dynasty (907–1125), when it was known as theDilie clan (敌烈氏) by Chinese transliteration. The current transliteration Niohuru came into being during theMing dynasty. The Niohuru clan inhabited theChangbai mountains region of present-day Jilin province innortheast China (otherwise known as "Manchuria"), and also on the banks of theSonghua River andMudan 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 (honorificSu Gung), who was six generations removed fromEidu, the first eminent Niohuru clan member in recorded Qing history.[1] The Niohuru were widely distributed throughout the territory of the Manchu empire, and each of theEight 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[2] in addition to Manchuria; and "Lang" (朗). Lang sounded like "wolf" in Chinese (狼), roughly corresponding to the Manchu root wordNiohe for Niohuru meaning "wolf".[3]
Niu 钮 is on theHundred Family Surnames poem.
| Date | Prince Consort | Background | Princess |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1608 | Daqi | Nurhaci's fifth daughter (1597–1613) by mistress (Giyamuhut Gioro Zhenge) | |
| Eidu | Nurhaci's fourth daughter (Mukushen; 1595–1659) by mistress (Giyamuhut Gioro Zhenge) | ||
| 1621 | Turgei | ||
| 1790 | Fengšeninde | Princess Hexiao (1775–1823), theQianlong Emperor's tenth daughter byConsort Dun (Wang) | |
| 1863 | Jalafungga (扎拉豐阿; d. 1898) | Princess Shouxi (1842–1866), theDaoguang Emperor's eighth daughter byNoble Consort Tong (Šumuru) |
Imperial Consort
Princess Consort
When they were young, Alechi saved Nurhaci's life by killing a wild hyena.
and when the ancient and politically prominent Manchu lineage of Niohuru adopted the Han-style surname Lang, he ridiculed them for having "forgotten their roots." (The Niohuru, whose name was derived from niohe, Manchu for wolf," had chosen Lang as their surname because it was a homophone for the Chinese word for "wolf.")