The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-07-02
RIDE ON
COFF|NS To
BATTLE
Elsie Mccormick Tells Curious
Stories of UnmiIitary
Army in China.
BY ELSIE MCCORMICK.
written for Cosmopolitan News Service.

NEW YORK. July I'm spite OF
the fact that China's regular troops
number over a million, there IS no
danger that passion for war or
rage for military kultur will sweep
over the inhabitants Of the AsiaIlc
republic. AS soldier, the average
Chinese is good player OF the two
stringed oriental fiddle.
BY q strange paradox OF rate, tne
least warlike nation in the world mas
the largest standing army. TnaL -,
it is known technically as e standing
army, but 1t is practically always
sitting down. Dressed in graylsn
uniform that fits him like g tent,
fond Of canary birds and much gwen
to flirting small ebony fans, the Chi
nese soldier undoubtedly cuts q mill
tary figure-the figure in question
being zero.
II was q sad day for the Chinese
army when Gen. WI Pei-fu recently
issued orders forbidding his soldiers
to carry bird cages on the march.
Every Celestial soldier owns q trick
bird. and to leave his pet behind
when the annual summer argument
begins seems to him a cruel and uT1-
usual punishment. IF forced to
choose between the two, he would
prefer to part with his gun. Though
bird cages have vanished from some
of the divisions, none of the numer-
Gus generals have dared forbid their
soldiers to carry fans and umbrellas.
When they do, mutiny is assured.
SOCIAL STATUS Low.
The Chinese attitude toward the
skev $es ~ vi
esis OF the point OF view Of the
Japanese. In Nippon. the man In
uniform stands on the loftiest ped
estal in the empire; in China the
profession Of the soldier has long
been regarded as the lowest STRAIT
UNI OF organized society. China's
greatest hero is the man Of letters:
the bearer fof the sword has been
looked down upon as barbarian.
It is for this reason that officers
Of the Chinese army are often men
Of the kidnapping caliber and the
ordinary soldier person not much
good for anything else.
One reason why the Chinese SOL
der is so unmilitary is because his
race, being the most democratic
on earth, is not amenable to disci-
pline. Anyone who has ever heard
a ricksha coolie talk back to a
Chinese traffic cop can realize the
trials of an officer in the Celestial
army. The rigid, automatic and
unquestioning little soldier of ia
pan is a total stranger to China.
public every command is regarded
by the enlisted personnel not as
an order but as a resolution offered
to debating society.
ARE GREAT DEBATERS.
If the famous Light Brigade had
belonged to the Chinese army, it
would have stopped on the edge OF
the valley of death for a cup of
tea. q few peanuts, some exercise
for the canaries and little inquiry
into the question OF just who had
blundered.
Many harried traveller who is
offered group OF Chinese soldiers
for an escort finds that they are
about as much use to him rs
chest protector would be to cherub.
A missionary about to cross a
bandit-infested country was pre-
scented with guard Of infantry.
When the soldiers appeared without
rifles, the missionary demanded the
reason.
+ ooh. If we brought our guns, the
bandits might take them away from
u.s." an officer naively explained.
Another traveller, spending the
night at an abandoned inn in Sze-
chueYl province, was annoyed by
perpetual demands for candles made
by the officer in charge of his es-
cort. On asking the reason. the
traveller was informed that the sol.
diers were afraid to stay in the
dark.
Despite the fact that he always
calls the battle on account Of rain.
expects time off for tea during bonn.
bardments, and would rather avoid
| impolite combats If possible, the
Chinese soldier is not without a
certain bravery. When he finds that
| entry into battle is unavoidable, he
goes with a nnatter-of- fact calm that
| Is devoid of heroic or sentimental
| patriotism.
Fears Death Little.
He Is much more concerned
about the style Of his casket than
he is about the possibility of not
being among the survivors
Correspondents who followed the
troops during the last war between
WI Pei-fu and Chang Tso.lin re-
! ported that camel-drawn carts
piled high with coffins accompanied
the armies to the battle front. Sol
diers rode, happily smiling, on top
of the collins, tremendously cheered
by the thought that they would not
be among the homeless ghosts
doomed to wander through eternity
because they had no respectable
graveyard address
China has no illusions about "the
brave boys in gray" or any flair
whatever for miIitarism. Though
the nations ancestors may have
invented gunpowder, they have not
developed the art of war half as
competently az they have the art
Of carving ivory beads.