十六、十七世紀之交，滿洲從部落發展為國家，其用以維持政權運作、族人生活的方式，除漁獵、農耕、交換、採集和畜牧等經濟活動之外，又有掠奪的手段。在八旗制度的架構下，旗人無論是從事勞動生產或是參加掠奪戰爭，所得都由八家均分，統治者透過分配、賞賜的方式，滿足旗人的經濟需求。滿洲入關之後，雖然國家透過圈地政策來維持分配的形式，但是八旗王公的權力鬥爭，使均分的原則遭到破壞，「八分」在經濟上、政治上的意義也隨之消失。另一方面，朝廷沿用前朝的俸餉制度，以照養明朝降附官兵，而這項新措施旗人也一體適用。當旗人按職位定期向國家支領錢糧，等於是接受皇帝的恩養，影響所及，各旗內部的私屬關係亦為之瓦解。又國家為加強對地方的控制，派遣旗人至各地駐防，驅策他們成為專業的軍人，乃提供俸餉以為養贍。此舉非但取代八旗經濟自給自足的傳統，更因發放俸餉業務的制度化，戶部得以介入八旗戶籍資料的管理，則說明皇帝已視旗人為國家的編戶。因此，八旗俸餉制的建立，反映出皇權與八旗、皇帝與旗人的關係變化。

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Manchu had developed from a tribal government into a nation-state. In order to maintain political operations and manage people’s lives by mean of fishing, hunting, farming, exchange, crop collecting and animal husbandry, the Manchu did plunder as well. Under the structure of the Eight-Banner system, the gains of the bannermen, either from manual labor or predatory battles, had to be divided equally by the Eight Banners, and the rulers would try to meet the economic demand of people through distribution and bestowal of the acquisition. After ruling over China, although the Manchu government attempted to retain the allocation through enclosure, the power struggle among the nobility nonetheless destroyed the principle of equal division, and “ba fen” lost its economic and political significance. Besides, the imperial court applied the Ming dynasty’s salary system to the bannermen. As the bannermen regularly received stipends from the Manchu government, they were accepting the emperor’s bounties, and the private relationships in each banner were undermined and disintegrated. To large extent, the establishment of salary system of the Eight Banners reflected the change of relationships among the imperial power , the Eight Banners , and the bannermen.