CHINESE SOLDIERS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume XIX, Issue 2061, 30 December 1924, Page 6

CHINESE SOLDIERS.

TRAINED BY BRITISH OFFICERS. In the yean 1808 during a moment of inspiration the then British Government decided' to make a naval base of till© Chinese poift of Wei-Hai-Wai. In order to control and administer the hinterland of the new territory it. was also decided to maintain iflhere a regiment locally recruited bjat led entirely by Britsh. officers and noncommissioned officers. It would perhaps be a pardonable exaggeration to say of these Rr.ft)ish officers and non-commissioned officers what Caesar wrote of himself and' his famous campaign: Voui, Vedi, Vioi (I came, I saw, I conquered). But it is no exaggeration, writes Bri-gadier-General G. D. Bruce in the Daily Mail, to say that the reputataJtion as soldiers which the men of the Chinese Regiment, with the help of their British officers and non-commis-sioned officers, made for themselves is as high in China, to-day as it was 20 years ago. The writer has fought with and against Chinese soldiers. He has no hesitation in confirming what ho long ago said, thaJti if properly led the Northerners are tho finest Oriental raw material in the world.

Tho Northern; Chinaman has a physirpie second to none. He possesses a constitavtfon of iron, together with most of the potential virtues of a firstclass oldier. The Chinaman does not drink. He is frugal, temperate, and a. wonderful marcher. He can carry all day an equipment few Europeans could. He is cheery, child-dike, and in his own way careless of danger. ,Which is not to say that he is any fonder of being killed than any other soldier. In fighting tomperament the Northern Chinaman is more akin <to the Turk or the Russian than tho French or Italian soldier. In attack the Chinese soldier is slow and methodical, like tho Turk. In defence, under modern conditions of trench warfare, he will he ideal. Nerves, in 'the European sense, he docs not possess. The following oxtract (May, 1901) from the pen of a well-known foreign correspondent serves to show what the Chinese soldier was twenty years ago: "The (Wei-Had-Wei) Chinese Regiment* now numbering 1400 men is a standing tribute to the excellent way in which the British officer handles native levies. I had the pleasure of being present; all- the siege of Pekin, an.! when, the relief came, no men, among the most motley collection of troops ever got together, could he compared with 'ime two companies of the Chinese "Regiment so far 1 as physique, obedience, and soldierly qualities go." Napoleon has left on record: "The first quality of a soldier is fortitude in enduring fatigues and hardships; bravery, but itihe second. Poverty, hardship, and misery are the school of the good soldier." Few Asiatics, if any., more nearly fulfil these requirements than does the Chinese soldier.