Imperial Household Department
The Department was manned by "booi" (Manchu: "booi", ), or "bondservants", who were selected from the bondservants of the upper three banners. "Booi" was sometimes synonymous with "booi aha", which literally means "household person", but "aha" usually referred to the hereditary and legally servile people who worked in fields, whereas "booi" usually referred to household servants who performed domestic service. The "booi" who operated the Imperial Household Department can be divided into roughly four groups: (a) a small "booi" elite; b) the majority of the "booi"; c) indentured servants of the "booi"; d) the state bondservants (Manchu: "sinjeku", ).