The times., 1898-08-18
THE CHINESE SOLDIER.
He Is Said to Re Woefuiiy Deficient
in Real Ceurnpe

IN htai
(Frem Journal Of the United Service InStituticn.)
Much Of the inefficiency of Chinas army
is explained by the native saying: DO
not use good steel to make nail nor
take good man TO make a soldier"
which is most thoroughly acted up 70
The absence of nerves and the animal
ferocity of the Chinaman admirably
adapt him for the deliberate extermina-
ton which characterizes the suppression
OF a revolt but in real courage, the abne-
cation of self under danger. he is woefully
deficient; he Will do much for pay, he will
fight when his rage aroused. but his pas
sion, violent as typhoon. as quickly passes
away On almost every occasion
in 1S9i-95 the Chinese troops refused n
stand up to the despised japanese. Small
as wqpae ns Shgn eicS OF m 5he n hqndEedS l Of thou
with foreign weapons, not one in $1,000
has been taught their proper use. Mus
kerry and artillery practice is limited gen.
orally 10 handling the weapons, and in
struction in the use of rifles and field
guns is not thought necessary; nay. il is
opposed. In January. 1896. several thou
sands OF men had been collected at Shan
nai-kuan, under Gen. Wu-ta-cheng 10
re-enforce the army in Mauchuria; rev
rifles and field guns had been served cut
and the force was TO move early in Feb
ruary. yet on January 20, the men fired
their rifles for the first time and barely
l per cent of hits on a target 2e9 yards
distant ensued; as for the guns not a soul
knew how TO load them or set a fuse,
and when at last one was fired with the
aid of the fAreio~1erS he q
milton was so defective that although
the gun was laid for 1900 yards the shell
only travelled $50. Yet these men We're
sent north 10 fight at Tien-chuaug-tai
without further training. Instruction by
a foreigner having been haughtily re-
fused.
To be a soldier is to lose caste in China.
TO imbibe foreign notions is worse still
and incurs the hatred and suspicion of
the civilians. who in reality govern the
army and navy. so much SO that to be
graduate of the foreign schools is an al
most certain bar to promotion; in the
military and other schools established by
Sir Robert Hart and the viceroys at
Pekin and elsewhere the students have to
be bribed TO attend. so as TO compensate
them for the social disadvantages of for
eign education. If we add TO this the nat
ural contempt for foreigners iugrained
III IfIt Suiilt@t nature, We nave potent
causes for the willful laziness and ignor-
ance of officers, which is truly appalling:
alas. that they should add cowardice as
we'll
The commander-in-chief at Shan-hai-
<uan told me he did not believe In mus
kerry instruction for all; II was quite suf-
ficient to have ten good shots in each
ying," TO pick off the Japanese officers.
His other theory was that the troops were
defeated because they fought hungry, in
which he was partially right. His rem
edy was to draw up his men in five lines
the first would fight for two hours. and
then retire to dinner. the second line, hav-
ing meanwhile dined. would take its place.
and so on; thus he woulc get ten hours
fighting, and everyone would be fed.
A general near there, being ordered to
1 keep a sharp lookout for the Japanese
whose landing was hourly expected, did
so by asking the railway station master
| to send two coolies to the coast to look
| for the enemy His was the plan for arm
| ing his men with bags of pepper to be
thrown in the faces of the Japanese, who,
while engaged in sneezsnS, would ali be
! slain by the Chinese spearmen,
! 1t seems a libel on the human race to
say that out of the manhood of 300, ,000, 600
of Chinese a body of good soldiers cam
not be made, and with the example of
the army which has been evolved from
the Egyptian fellaheen, it may be prema-
ture to call it impossible. But China her
self cannot do it; the very best human
material and the most elaborate instruc-
ton would be wasted under the existing
native official, who steadily resists all
reform in his maladministration. Never
theless, the docile soldiers and sailors of
China have never yet had a chance of
showing under proper management what
are their real capabilities; should they
under European tutelage ever prove
themselves in any numbers TO be of real
military value, the yellow Terror may
not be mere fgment OF the superheated
! brain.