Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-07-25
CHINA'S SITUATION
Viewed From a Military Standpoint
by General Corbin.
RELATIVE STRENGTH OF FORCES
The Limit Of the Theater of Opera
tons Underlined.
HARD CAMPAIGN LIKELY

HARD CAMPAIGN LIKELY
Gen II. c. Corbn in Golfers Weekly.
AS events now occurring in China are en-
crossing the attention of the civilized world,
some account of the Chinese army, of the
forces the powers can bring against them
and of the operations likely to take place
will be of interest Telegraphic reports
from China have been so meager and so
confusing that, before proceeding further,
it will not perhaps. be out Of place to give
a brief synopsis of what has occurred up to
date.
The beginning of the Tre0lsls.
On May 81 there were at Taku seven Rus
sian, one French, two British and one
Italian warships, all of which landed de-
| tachments of sailors and marines: other
ships afterward arrived, and on June the
number of ships had been increased to
twenty-three, two of which were American.
Meanwhile, attachments of various ma
tlonaiities had been sent into Pekin to
guard the legations. The troops. when
landed, proceeded to take possession of and
repair the railroad. June 10 a force of
| about 1900 men, under Admiral Seymour.
left Tien Tsin for Pekin. Arriving about
that the railroad had been destroyed, and
that further progress would have to be
made by marching. For some time nothing
was heard from this column On June IL
the Taku forts. at the mouth of the Peiho
river were attacked and captured. On June
81 an attack on Tien Tsn began, and it was
necessary to send force to its relief The
hrst detachment, consisting of about 400
Russians and $50 American marines, under
Major Waller met with serious resistance
and were in great danger until reinforced
by about LOCO British troops The rest of
the relieving force arriving, an entrance
into Tien Tsin, which had been held by
about 5000 men, principally Russians, was
effected on June % 1t was then learned
that Seymours column not only had been
unable to do anything for the relief of
Pekin, after hard fighting against greatly
superior forces, had been compelled to
withdraw and had intrenched near Tien
Tsin. June %, 1000 men went from Ten
Tsin to Seymours relief. The arsenal was
destroyed and the whole force returned to
lien Tsin. In the early part of the troubles
the Boxers had been opposed by Chinese
troops, but afterward the latter Joined the
Boxers, and in the recent fighting their
forces have been combined. Prince Tuau
thoroughly opposed to all foreigners is re-
ported to have poisoned the emperor to
have put himself at the head of the anti
foreign movement and to be actively direct
Ing the troops. While the news of the as
sassination of the German minister and of
the massacre of all foreigners in Pekin is
agltatlng the civilized word, the COM
at Tien Tsin and Taku, and liable with
their present strength to make ! forward
movement. The steps taken by ] powers
to increase their strength in China will he
referred to hereafter.
The Chinese Army
The total strength of the Chinese army
cannot be accurately given, and if it could,
the statement would have but little value,
as many OF the men who are carried on the
rolls are neither armed equipped and
large number are following civil vocations
and performing no military duty whatever
THESE troops niZpd aicrbt hap
ners OF from ten to twelve army corps each.
The Banners XII are distinguished by the
colors designated here and are further di-
VIded into two classes as follows:
No. Banner
!. Yellow with red border Tho Three
J. F Piaia white ysiis" Superior Banners.
J. !: T Maiae r wi'h red border The Five
9. Red with blue border ,.,
s. Blue with With red border
These eight banners nominally contain
about 30O,0 600 men, but the number main
tanned on d war footing is very much less,
men being taken from the bannermen to
form other corps. The nationalities compris-
ing the banner force are three in number,
viz: Manchu, Monaghan and Chinese, the
latter being descendants of those natives of
| northern China who Joined the Manchu III
vaders during the period Of their contest
with the Ming dynasty in the early part of
the seventeenth century. The soldiers are
their nationality Thus, there being three
nationalities, each banner is subdivided into
three parts (ku-SaD. There are, therefore,
twenty-four ku-sai-three in each XII. The
ku-sai more administrative than tacti-
cal units.
Under one or other of these divisions all
living Manchus, and all descendants of the
Monaghan and Chinese soldiery of the con-
| quest. enrolled. The banners consti-
| tute, in fact, the population of Pekin, with
offshoots in various provincial garrisons,
and a certain number of the adult males of
the force receive pay as members of one
or the other military corps into which they
have from time to time been organized, in
addition to the pttance they receive as SOL
diers of the banner.
The various corps are divided into COM
panies Oyanza), numbering go men each in
the infantry and $50 in the cavalry.
According to the latest reliable authori-
ties about all the organized and drilled Chi
nese troops to be counted upon in the pres
ent operations are as follows:
Approximate
Strength.
Gen. SuDg's corps. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. 10000
Soon Cing's corps. .............. 1000