Nucai

Petition from the Manchu officials Wenxiang and Ruichang to the Xianfeng Emperor in the 19th century, was signed "Nucai" on the bottom left-hand corner as a form of deprecatory self-address

Nucai (Chinese: 奴才; pinyin: Núcái; Manchu: ᠠᡥᠠ, Mölendroff: aha) is a Chinese term that can be translated as, 'lackey', 'yes-man', 'servant', 'slave', or a 'person of unquestioning obedience'. It originated in the tribes of northeastern China as a negative and derogatory term, often reserved for insult for someone perceived to be useless or incompetent. However, it was used most prominently in the Qing dynasty as a deprecatory first-person pronoun by Manchu or Bannermen officials at court when addressing the Emperor.[1] Ordinary Han Chinese officials were forbidden from using the term for self-address; they used "chen" (Chinese: 臣) instead. The Qianlong Emperor once directed all his officials to call themselves "chen", but for some reason the directive never took effect.[2]

  1. ^ Eltis, David (2011). The Cambridge World History of Slavery: Volume 3, AD 1420-AD 1804. p. 204.
  2. ^ Rhoads, Edward (2017). Manchus and Han: Ethnic Relations and Political Power in Late Qing and Early Republican China, 1861-1928. p. 63.