Status of The Booi Aha
Chinese scholar Mo Dongyin (Chinese:莫东寅) in his Essays on Manchu History (Chinese:《满族史论丛》) wrote that booi has a dual meaning: (1) Household servants, and (2) slaves. But in Manchu society, booi (Chinese:包衣) occupied a special class, in which they serve their masters by doing all kinds of manual work and at the same time, with the permission from the master (Chinese:主子), can enslave other booi, thus becoming masters themselves. With the establishment of the Qing Dynasty and the maturity of its political system, booi were organized into Booi Gusa (Manchu: Slave Banner) and incorporated into both the Eight Banners Army and the Imperial Household Department. Booi had since become part of the Qing dynasty political hierarchy, with the emperor being the Master, and emperor's booi working for the Master and the imperial court simultaneously. When addressing the emperor, booi would refer to themselves as Nupu or Nucai (Chinese:奴僕, or Chinese:奴才). But when booi were addressing others, even though they were Nucai of the emperor (Chinese:皇帝的奴才), they would refer to themselves as Superior officials of the Han Chinese (Chinese:汉人的长官).
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