78  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
This  force  dates  from  the  Taiping  rebellion  (1850-64),  when
the  official  organisation  was  found  ineffective  and  unwarlike,
  and  the  provincial  rulers,  such  as  Tseng  Kwo-fan
in  the  west  and  Li  Hung-chang  in  the  east,  were  driven
to  raise  bodies  of  irregulars  or  volunteers,  styled  yung
(brave),  after  the  fashion  of  the  volunteers  of  the  French
Revolution  or  of  the  year  of  Leipzig.  In  these  the  highest
unit  of  organisation  was  the  battalion,  ying  (camp),  nominally ­
  of  five  hundred  men,  commanded  by  a  battalion-chief,
ying-kwan,  divided  into  five  companies,  shao,  commanded
by  a  Shao-kwan.  For  combined  action  any  number  of
battalions  from  two  to  ten  or  more  formed  a  command,
with  no  distinctive  name,  under  a  Tung-ling.  This  constituted ­
  the  fighting  army  of  China,  such  as  it  was,  until,
forty  years  after  its  first  formation,  its  best  representative,
the  “  foreign  drilled  ”  army  of  the  north,  went  down  before
the  Japanese  in  1894  ;  and  on  this  foundation  is  erected  the
“  New  Model  ”  army  now  in  process  of  organisation.

Note
The  devolution  of  responsibility  in  the  repression
disorder  is  shown  in  the  following  item  of  news  :
Peking,  December  14th,  1906.
On  December  nth,  the  Grand  Councillors  personally  received
an  Imperial  Decree  to  the  effect  that  the  rioters  on  the  bordeé
of  Kiangsi  and  Hunan  are  furiously  raging  and  that  Tuan  Faog
(Viceroy  at  Nanking),  Chang  Chih-tung  (Viceroy  at  Hankow),
and  Tsen  Chun-ming  (Governor  of  Kiangsi)  are  ordered  t0
despatch  troops  to  the  scene  of  the  troubles  in  order  to  suppress
the  same  and  capture  the  culprits  and  at  the  same  time  to  gi ve
protection  for  the  railway  between  Pingsiang  and  Tiling  #
well  as  the  mines  at  Pingsiang  and  all  the  foreigners  there.  l n
case  of  failure  the  said  Viceroys  and  Governors  will  be  held
responsible.
On  December  12th  the  Provincial  Judge  of  Kiangsi,  Chiné
Ping-chih  is  ordered  to  take  command  of  the  armies  from  th e