[
    {
        "id": 208314,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
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        "document_key": "RAS-1978",
        "page_number": 38,
        "title": "RAS-1978",
        "content_text": "22 \n\nRICHARD J. SMITH \n\nLi's approach to officer education during his tenure as governor-general of Chihli from 1870 to 1895, at the apex of his power, may shed some light on the many problems involved in China's late nineteenth century effort to create a modern officer corps.34 \n\nThroughout his illustrious career up to 1895, Li continually drew upon foreign talent to instruct (and occasionally to lead) his forces.35 But in 1876, he took the unprecedented step of sending Chinese military men abroad for training, entrusting seven petty officers to one of his best German drill instructors, a man named Lehmayer. Li's plan was to employ these men as instructors in the Anhwei Army upon their return to China.36 Li had as early as 1874 inquired into the possibility of sending Chinese students to West Point, and in 1875 had discussed the establishment of a military academy in China with the American general Emory Upton.37 But political difficulties in the United States stood in the way of the first plan, and financial constraints made the second impossible.38 Li's writings in the mid-1870s indicate a full awareness of the value of military academy education, but apparently the need at the time was not sufficiently great to justify the cost of establishing a full-fledged military academy on Chinese soil.39 \n\nOf the seven men sent to study in Germany, two were recalled before completion of their planned three-year program of study because of their frivolous attitude and poor progress. One became sick and died, three successfully completed their infantry training, and one—Wang Te-sheng—stayed on in Germany until 1881, receiving additional specialized instruction in Berlin. Of the seven, only Wang emerged as a prominent figure in the Anhwei Army, heading Li's crack “personal guard unit” (ch'in-ping), and eventually achieving the rank of tsung-ping. Overall, the educational experiment fell far short of complete success, and was marked by numerous problems, including disputes with the German supervisor, language difficulties, and, of course, high costs.40 \n\nAs one of the three regular graduates of the German training program, Cha Lien-piao's experience as an instructor in the Anhwei Army is illuminating. Cha served in Chou Sheng-ch'uan's 10,000-man Sheng-chün—perhaps the best detachment of the Anhwei Army in all of China up to the time of Chou's death in 1885.41 Convinced of the value of Western training and drill from long exposure to foreign instructors in Li's force (dating from the Taiping period),",
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        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593",
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    {
        "id": 208327,
        "series_id": 26,
        "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine",
        "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊",
        "series_use_hku_proxy": false,
        "document_key": "RAS-1978",
        "page_number": 51,
        "title": "RAS-1978",
        "content_text": "MILITARY EDUCATION IN CHINA, 1842-1895\n\n35\n\n22 See Jonathon Porter, Tseng Kuo-fan's Private Bureaucracy (Berkeley, 1972), 74-76, 127.\n\n23 Consult Richard J. Smith, Mercenaries and Mandarins: The Ever-Victorious Army in Nineteenth Century China (Millwood, New York, 1978).\n\n24 Richard J. Smith, \"Foreign-Training and China's Self-Strengthening: The Case of Feng-huang-shan, 1864-1873,\" Modern Asian Studies, 10.2 (1976), 196-197; also Kwang-ching Liu and Richard J. Smith, \"The Military Challenge: The Northwest and the Coast,\" in The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 11, Late Ch'ing, Part Two, Chapter 4, forthcoming.\n\n25 Cavendish, 709-710. See also the sources cited above, note 24.\n\n26 Smith, \"Foreign-Training,” 196, 220-223.\n\n27 IWSM, Tung-chih, 25: 3.\n\n28 Smith, “Foreign-Training,” 220-223; also Richard J. Smith, “Reflections on the Comparative Study of Modernization in China and Japan; Military Aspects,” Journal of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 16 (1976).\n\n29 Ibid., (both sources); Smith, Mercenaries and Mandarins, chapters 8 and 9.\n\n30 Smith, \"Foreign-Training,\" 215-223. See also Mark Bell, China (Simla, 1884), 2: 58; William Bales, Tso Tsung-tang Soldier and Statesman of Old China (Shanghai, 1937), 339; K. C. Liu, \"Nineteenth-Century China,\" in Tang Tsou and P. T. Ho, eds., China in Crisis (Chicago, 1966), 120.\n\n31 On the relationship between modern weapons and tactics and officer-training in the West, see Emory Upton, The Armies of Asia and Europe (New York, 1878), 270-271, 318-319, 324, 328-330 and passim. See also NCH, July 28, 1866, cited in Wright, The Last Stand, 201. For Upton's critique of Chinese tactics and training in the mid-1870's consult The Armies, 20-23. For the use of lien-chün in suppressing internal rebels, see Kung-chung tang Kuang-hsi ch'ao tsou-che, 2: 302, 664, 667; 3: 172, 318, 323, 399, 445, 518, 753, etc. I am indebted to Professor K. C. Liu for supplying this reference. For a critique of yung-ying and lien-chin forces in the 1890's, consult Cavendish, 712-714.\n\n32 Smith, \"Foreign-Training,\" 216 and notes.\n\n33 Bell, 2: 4. The standard works on Li's army are: Stanley Spector, Li Hung-chang and the Huai Army (Seattle, 1964); Wang, Huai-chün chih (Hong Kong, 1973).\n\n34 See Chang Chih-tung's somewhat comparable effort in the 1880's and 1890's, discussed in Ayers, chapter 5. For a brief overview of the problems connected with officer education in late Ch'ing China, consult Powell, 40-45.\n\n35 Smith, Mercenaries and Mandarins, chapter 9.\n\n36 Wang, Huai-chün, 203; LWCK, Letters to the Tsungli Yamen, 4: 39-41, 41-43; LWCK, Memorials, 27: 4-5.\n\n37 On the West Point inquiry, see Chester Holcombe, China's Past and Future (London, 1904), 82-83; FRUS, 1875, part 1, 227-228. On Li's negotiations with Upton, consult LWCK, Letters to the Tsungli Yamen, 4: 39a-41a; YWYT, 3: 592; Peter Michie, The Life and Letters of Emory Upton (New York, 1885), 29-298, 309-310.",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1978.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8g84t8593",
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