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0500 Across Asia : vol.1
Across Asia : vol.1 / Page 500 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

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[Photo] Fy darin, the commander of the Manchurian garrison at Lianchow.

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doi: 10.20676/00000221
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C. G. MANNERHEIM

yy darin, the commander of the Manchurian garrison at Lianchow.

       

The armed force consists of i o tchi, two of which are composed of Mongols, who came here during the time of the Emperor Tja telling. The Manchus call them Khalatchien Mongols. Each tchi consists of 5 tshalans of 25 men, each with a fang jy, and is commanded by a tsoling and a junior officer called hsiao tchi hsiao. There is one galdai to every 5 tchi. i tchi = 125 men (200?). In the event of a man dying, the best marksman is given his place. Formerly the test was made with bows and arrows, but now rifles are used. For the last 3 years there has been an instructor from Bejan here, trained according to the German system. Only 50o men are drilled daily from 6 to 7 a.m. During the 6th, 12th and half the i st month the men are free. Target practice is donc twice a month. The powder (about t,000 djin yearly) is obtained from Lanchow. The Manchurian garrison has been stationed here since the days of the Emperor Tshenglung, when the fortress was built. During the Taiping revolt the Dungans failed to capture it.

On the following day I called on the Roman Catholic bishop of Northern Kan Su, Mgr. Otto. The missionary Kerkhof, who was stationed here, kindly acted as my guide. The journey of 25 li to the residence of the bishop in the little village of Shungshu Chuan, W of the town, was very pleasant in the company of a man I could converse with, rather a rare occurrence in Central Asia. My companion had spent 3 or 4. years in China and had studied the Tibetan language lately. He seemed to hope that he would be transferred to work among the Tanguts and intended to occupy himself, too, with ethnography, anthropology, mapping etc. On the way to the village we met the children of the Chinese school of the episcopal see. The New Year's holidays had just begun and the youngsters were taking a walk with the schoolmaster, a young missionary of the name of Florent Mortier, who gave me a hearty welcome. The boys gazed with great interest on a Christian who was not wearing a pigtail and Chinese dress. Bishop Otto was a man of 50 of medium

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