PRECIS 
AND 
TRANSLATION. 
A RUSSIAN OPINION OF THE CHINESE ARMY. 
TRANSLATED BY 
LIEUTENANT E. A. CAMPBELL, R.A. 
The well-known Russian traveller Grrum Grijmailo lias described, in a masterly 
manner, in the November number of the “ Historical Magazine,’* the typical 
characteristics of that part of the Chinese Army, the men of which are called 
“ Yoons,” or the bravest. 
Amongst his remarks are the following •—Chinese soldiers march anyhow. 
Their armament is, in the highest degree, varied ; one has a rifle, a second 
a sword ; a third, both rifle and sword ; a fourth, a spear; in fact, so diverse is 
their armament that it is impossible to describe the numerous variations. The 
non-commissioned officers possess revolvers and swords, but the officers are en¬ 
tirely unarmed. At first sight this seems remarkable, but one speedily becomes 
accustomed to this characteristic peculiarity of the Chinese Army; the more so 
when one suddenly recollects that the greater number of Chinese officers receive 
no special training in the knowledge of their duties, and that scarcely a tenth part 
of them even know how to shoot. . . . This latter is still more remarkable, 
but is, nevertheless, a fact. 
Shooting with the bow, on horseback and on foot, fencing, and skill in carry¬ 
ing and hurling weights—such is the syllabus of the present imperial examination 
for the highest grades, that is for Doctors of Military Science. As regards the 
lower grades, they are recruited from the servants of the Commanders of Army 
Corps, from grooms, and from men condemned to military service by the civil 
mandarins, and are still less adapted for their position than are the higher grades. 
Purthermore, persons rarely attain the higher military offices, who, although not 
educated, in the Chinese sense of the word, yet nevertheless, having long served 
in the ranks, and therefore having become acquainted with a soldier’s life, are well 
acquainted with the merits and defects of those parts of the army amongst which 
the greater part of their life has been passed. Various utterly senseless acrobatic 
feats (for instance, they turn somersaults, in order to deceive the enemy by a pre¬ 
tended wound, and simultaneously enable them to touch him with their long lance 
or, still better, compel the feeble infantry to attack, and deal blows with their ex¬ 
ceptionally heavy and long spears), roaring to frighten the enemy, certain strange 
dan. es at stated intervals in which unaimed fire is carried on, solely to create noise ; 
in fact, even in the present day, the chief importance is attached to bows, pikes and 
halbeids. Such are the chief elements of instruction of the army. The parades 
are characterised by the quantity of ornamental arms and frequent genuflexions. 
An immense number of glittering banners, the moans of the rebecks, the yells of 
10. vox. xxi. 68 a 
