THE CHINESE ARMY AND ITS TRAINING.

Hot Lakes Chronicle, Issue 116, 20 February 1895, Page 4

THE CHINESE ARMY AND ITS TRAINING.

Ono reason why tiio Chinese should bo so thoroughly boaton every time tlioy faco the invaders is found in a recent description of their Army by v Russian traveller. He describes tho armament of the soldiers as in the highest degree varied. Ono has a riilo, a second n sword, a third both riflo and sword, a fourth a spear ; in fact, so diverse is their armament that it is impossible to describe tho numorons variations. The non-com-missioned offi( ers possess revolvers and swords, but the officers aro entirely unarmed. The great number of Chinese officers receive no spatial training in the knowledge of their duties, and scarcely a tenth part of them oven know bow to shoot. Shooting with the bow, on horseback and on foot, fonting, and skill in carrying and hurling weights—such is the syllabus of the present imperial examination for the highost grades, that is. for Doctors, and Military Science. As regards the lower grades, they are recruited from the servants of the commanders of Army Corps, from grooms, and from men condom tied to military service by the civil mandarins, and are still loss adapted for their position than are the higher grades. Furthermore, persons rarely attain tho higher military offices, who, although not educated in tho Chineso sense of the word, yet, nevertheless, having long served in the ranks and therefore having bocome acquainted with a soldier's life, aro well acquainted with the merits and defects of those parts of tho army amongst which the greator part of their life has been passed. They go through various utterly senseless aciobatic feats (for iustaueo, they turn somersaults, in order to deceive tho enemy b3 r a protended wound, and '•'iinultanoously enable them t) touch him with their long lance ; or, bettor still, compel tho feeble infantry to attack and deal blows with their exceptionally heavy and long spears), roaring to frighten the enemy, certain strange danoes at statod intervals, in . which uuaimed fire is carriod on, solely to create noise.—Telegraph.