The Costume of China / Picturesque Representations of the Dress and Manners of the Chinese

The military of China differs, as every thing else differs, from that of all other nations, in the nature of its establishment, its occupation, and its dress. They have two distinct armies, if they may be so called; the one composed entirely of Tartars, who are stationed in the several provinces on the Tartar frontier, and occupy all the garrison towns of the empire; the other composed of Chinese, who are parcelled out in the smaller towns and hamlets to keep the peace, by acting as constables, subordinate collectors of the taxes, guards to the granaries, and assisting in various ways the civil magistrate. Along the public roads, canals and rivers, are placed, at certain intervals, small square guard-houses, at which are stationed from six to twelve men, who are employed in settling disputes upon the rivers or roads, and also in conveying the public dispatches. When a foreign ambassador or any of their own mandarins travel, these soldiers turn out in their holiday dresses with their streamers stuck in the back, as in the annexed figure. The breast-plate and shoulder-guards are nothing more than cotton stuffed with wadding, and the helmet, which looks so fierce, is made only of paste-board. The Chinese matchlocks resemble so much the old common matchlock of the Portuguese, that it has been supposed these people first introduced them into China, where however it is sufficiently determined, gunpowder was in familiar use many centuries before any communication was known to exist between this country and Europe. In some of the larger matchlocks there is a fork to support the piece, and by sticking it in the ground to give it the degree elevation that may be required.