The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-05-04
The Chinese Array and Navy.
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Some Of the Russian newspaperS ip
view Of the contingency of war with
China give some particulars Of the mill
taEy and naval forces Of that, c6antry.
The ehisf portion Of the Chinese army
consists of athe First Array Corps" COM
posed of eight Mantehen. eight Tartar
and eight Chinese corps and the garrison
of Pekin. The soldiers Of "the First
Army Corps" are seldom drilled. and are
mostly armed with old swords, bows,
spears and other antiqaated weapons.
Being badly paid they earn their living
by working at an sorts of trades, and are
of but little use as soldiers. 10 oo1Ar9
Their total strength, exclusive Of off,
GERS, is aBoat le5,900 men. The garrison
of Pekin, also badly armed, consists Of
~, 500 men. Besides these there are two
corps I6, 500 strong, which form the En-
peror's body-guard, and division Of in
fantFy Of 80, COO men, whose duty ID is
to keep order in the capital and its sub
tnrbs. There is also third army which
during the present century has been al
most exclusively employed in time of
war. This ID the sorealled "Green-ban-
insr Army" which. is composed f sigh-
teen army corps, in correspondence with.
ithe, eighteen provinces of the Empire.
Each army corps has five, divisions, and
each division five camps.
A Generah commands each division,
and the Civil Governors are, the, Conn
,manders-in-Chief Of the troops, stationed
in their respective districts. The total
strength of the Screen Banner. Armyn on
paper is about 651 900 men, with 1000.
lotHcers; but it is probable that not more
lthan, one-half of this force, could, be-
ibraught into the field. Barely 50,0O0,oft
them are armed with European weapons
and drilled according to the principles
of European tactics; the remainder stiA
carry spears, matchbox and short,
swords. Finally, there il o. kind, of irregr
ular volunteer corps, which. is called in
when the regular army, mas proved inca
pable of suppressing an insurrectlon, or,
putting, down brigalidage. q y.
This corps is. even worse armed than
the. Others, possesses but, little training,
and, is,hardly amenable to discipline. As.
for the Chinese Navy, its ships, are for
the most part, badly constructed and in
sufficiently manned. There are, a,few
European officers, but the majority Of
the naval. officers are Chinese, who are,
very, ignorant and efficient. The feet,is
divided, into three groups, those of Can
ton, Fukien, and Kiang-su.. The Canton
division consists Of twelve vessels, three
Of which are screw junks, two, English
gunboats and seven steamers, also pur-
chased in England, and commanded by
foreign officers.
The, ships of the Fukien feet were
built at the docks of Foo-choo, under
the. direction ,ot French Lieutenant of
the Navy in the Chinese service. These
ships. are provided, with good engines
and are armed with French naval guns;
among them are a corvette with thir-
teen guns, six gunboats ard eight trans
port ships. The Kiang-su division con-
sists of two frigates, nine gunbOats, and
a, few transports, badly built, and
manned. IT. is said that the Chinese
Government is. new preparing to reor-
ganize its army and navy, and some
Chinese officers have been attached to
Hrussian regiment with this object.