The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-11-30 00:00:00

A CHINESE REVIEW.

A correspondent of the Shanghai Courier gives an
amusing account of a grand review of Chinese troops which
he witnessed, and for which great preparations had been
made. Four men blew themselves more or less to pieces
with gunpowder in the excitement attending the prepara-
tions. The scene is described as having been a very pretty
one :
" The entire body of men were drawn up in line
two-deep, every tenth man holding a bright scarlet
flag. From a short distance it looked as though there
were as many flags as men, and the effect was
admirable. Flags of scarlet, scarlet - and- white,
and here and there one or two of blue, waved
incessantly in the breeze, while at the back were
grouped the banners of the Viceroy's guard,
gaily striped with green, red, yellow, pale blue,
white and black. The red and blue uniforms of the
soldiers were wonderfully effective, and the general
coup d'ccil, aided by a brilliant sun, was charming.
Slowly the fluttering phalanx advanced, the rear-
rank men running forward in alternate order,
and firing their rifles. Onward and still onward it
moved, the men taking their time from a sergeant
who stood in the middle distance brandishing a huge
crimson standard. Then a horn was blown, the sound
of which can only be compared to the hum of a
gigantic bee transmitted through the microphone;
and the movements changed. Firing ceased, and the
battalion prepared to receive cavalry. Fortunately,
however, for the battalion, there was no a:tual cavalry
to receive, otherwise the forces of his Imperial Ma-
jesty would have been diminished by some hundreds
of valiant soldiery. The method adopted was strange
in the extreme. Out popped a person brandishing a
pike, which he poked at an imaginary assailant, then,
uttering a shriek like an owl, he flourished his
shield, turned a somersault, and trippingly retired
to the ranks. Throwing somersaults is apparently
a very important accomplishment in Chinese war-
fare, and to be a good soldier a Chinaman should
be, before everything, a clever acrobat. After
this imposing evolution was completed, and everybody
in the ranks had duly popped out, poked the air,
shrieked, and turned head over heels, the drone of the
humble bee was once more heard, and fresh wonders
burst upon our gaze. A company was separated from
the ranks, and drawn nn in an open square in front
of the Viceroy's pavilion. The intensest interest pre-
vailed. The people crowded round, approaching
as near as the soldiers on guard would permit.
Here was something exceptionally fine—something
got up for the special delectation of the Viceroy.
The drums were beat, the trumpets blared. At hat
the performance began. A person suddenly danced
gravely but energetically forward, throwing out his
right log with a graceful jerk; then, bounding back-
wards, he again danced forward, this time throwing
out his left. Then he danced promiscuously; ye
gods, how he did dances Donato would have died
with envy. He jumped, he waltzed, he capered, he
pranced, he turned head over heels, rolled himself
well in the dust (which rose in clouds), stood on the
back of his neck while he flourished his legs in the air,
recovered himself, grasped wildly with his arms at
nothing in particular, made a grotesque curtsey to the
Viceroy, and retired upon his laurels. Then
another gentleman came forward, and went through
similar exertions • then two appeared, and pretended
to fight a duel, though, like Mr. Mantalini, they took
good care to be well out of each other's reach; then
another couple, and so on, till the arena was occupied
by about a dozen men, running and dancing, and
hopping and howling like so many drunken dervishes.
The Viceroy sat sat behind his table of green and red,
surrounded by all the mandarindom of Nanking,
sipping his tea, and gravely looking on at the
preposterous scene before him; while the Fan-t'ai
and the Taoutai, and all the other officers gazed
with an expression of the most comnlete complacency,
A grosser farce it would be impossible to conceive. It
differed in nothing from the fightee-pidgin ' familiar
to foreigners who look in occasionally at a Chinese
theatre. The raise-en-scene, with the forest of waving
scarlet, the gay dresses of the troops, and the pretty
natural surroundings, might be tolerated at the Canter-
bury Hall; but the performance, considered in the
light of a burlesque, would be hissed off the stage at a
penny gaff. Such, however, is a grand review held in
the presence of one of the highest officers in the empire,
and rehearsed for weeks before."