THE CHINESE ARMY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 33, 22 January 1912, Page 8

THE CHINESE ARMY.

Dr. Morrison, the Pekin correspondent of “The Times,” supplies some interesting particulars of the Chin- . ese Army. Assuming that its effective ,strength is the.paper strength and that no man is absent, tbo to tal strength amounts to 240,815 men Careful investigation, however, shows that these numbers arc far beyond the real numbers, and that the actual strength consists of 180,000 foreign drilled men, with 162 batteries of mountain and field artillery, each of six guns. Of this number 160,000 are combatants, who haye received a more or less efficient military training. Forcign-drilled troops ;ire quartered in varying strength in each of the three provinces of Manchuria, in each of the 18 provinces of China proper, and in the New Dominion, including Kuldja and Kashgaria, and preparations are now in progress for stationing in the future 2000 men.in Mongolia, barracks to accommodate this number being now under construction in Urga. It is worthy of note that of all the officers in the Chinese Army less than 3 per cent, are Manchus. There are so few available that nearly all the senior officers in I'the first division—the Manchu division—are Chinese, the commander being a Shantung man of the old school. In the Guards, which was founded primarily as ■ a Manchu division but is now open to all classes, most of the officers are Chinese, not Manchu. The Minister for War is a Manchu named Yin Chang, who was trained for some years in the German and Austrian armies, and has twice been Minister to Berlin. \ He accompanied the Regent, Prince Chun, on his expiatory mission to Germany. His sympathies arc naturally with the country in which he was educated. On the other hand, the sympathies of the bulk of the officers under his command, their instincts and training, are to a marked extent Japanese. More than 700 Chinese officers trained in Japan hold commands in the Chinese army, and there are still 80 in Japan completing their training. Japanese teachers in China itself are much reduced in number; There were 60: there arc at present seven only—namely, one in Canton, one in Wuchang, and five in Paotingfu. There are three or four German instructors, but no British. Practically all the teaching in the army and in the military schools is in the hands of Chinese, who have been trained in Japan. The army is modelled on that of Japan. Japanese influence is paramount. Chinese educated in Japan acquire to a surprising degree the Japanese characteristics, especially that of secretiveness. They continue in China the intimate relations formed among themselves when at school in Japan. They are well trained as a rule. It is becoming a saying that unless you are trained in Japan you have little prospect of promotion in the Chinese army. Appointments are now made from “foreign-educated” officers. The old practice of elevating men to high military commands who were Chinese scholars or Imperial favourites, destitute of military training, has been largely abandoned. About 30 of the officers have been educated in Germany, another 30 in France, one or two in Belgium, two at West Point (the brother of Dr. . Ch’on Chin-tan and the nephew of Wen Tsung-yao, the Assistant Resident in Tibet), but none in England.