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CHINA 457 prisonment is regarded only as a corrective. Decapitation and strangling are the legal modes of executing criminals, the more cruel modes of quartering, flaying, starving to death, &c., having fallen out of use almost entirely. It is believed that the number of criminals who undergo the penalty of death is not one half of those who die from the eifects of torture and imprisonment. The trials are held in pub- lic ; they are brief and free of cost ; no coun- sel is allowed to the criminal. Appeals to higher courts are frequently resorted to. Sentences of death require the signature of the emperor, but this form is dispensed with by a fiction of the presence of the emperor in every public office. The military organization is very de- fective. As a general rule, the Chinese hate war, and do not consider superiority in mili- tary power an attribute of a higher order of civilization, though they esteem personal cour- age and praise their ancient heroes in songs and novels. " China owes her advance in numbers, industry, and wealth mainly to her peaceful character and policy." A standing army has existed since the 7th century. The soldiers in time of peace live in garrison in the large cities ; they are poorly paid, and badly armed and equipped. There is nothing imposing about them except their numbers. The infantry carry matchlocks of the clumsiest kind, or spears, bows, swords, and bucklers; the cavalry, helmets, cuirasses of quilted and doubled cotton cloth, covered with iron plates or brass knobs, bows and arrows, and shields of strong wickerwork. The artillery have cannon of iron and brass of a heavy calibre, but scarcely know how to use them. The jin- gall, a kind of swivel resting on a tripod, is the most effective light arm the Chinese pos- sess. Of late years the government has shown a disposition to adopt the weapons and the military methods of western states. In 1860- -'61 Gen. Ward, an American, drilled a force of 2,500 Chinese after the foreign style. They were armed with foreign muskets, and dressed in a half-foreign costume. This organization was enlarged under Burgevine, another Amer- ican, and Col. Gordon of the British army, and was very successful in expelling the Tai-ping troops from the province of Kiangsu. Some French officers drilled a similar force in the Chekiang province, and operated against the Tai-pings with like success. Arsenals, so called, have been established at Shanghai and Foochow. In each of these upward of 1,000 natives are employed under the supervision of foreigners. Firearms of all kinds are successful- ly made, and each establishment has built and launched four or five war vessels, some of them of nearly 3,000 tons burden. The want of courage of the Chinese soldiers has been pro- verbial, yet it is not without honorable excep- tions. The Tartar garrison of the Pei-ho forts stood their ground with firmness in May, 1858 ; and there were many instances of daring ex- hibited by the native troops during the suc- ceeding campaign. Gen. Ward used to say that he could take his disciplined corps where no white troops would go. It is likely that in j case of another foreign war the Chinese gov- ! ernment, having considerable supplies of im- proved arms and a knowledge of the foreign methods of warfare, would be able to make a much better contest than heretofore. A French officer, M. Giquel, in a recent book says that it would not be safe to undertake a contest with China with a smaller force than 40,000 men. The regular army, or the eight banners of Mantchoos, consists of 67,800, or, according to De Guignes, 100,000 Mantchoos, 21,000 Mongolian Tartars, and 27,000 Chinese. The pay of a foot soldier is from $3 to $4 a month, of a horseman about $5. The green banner, or militia, numbers 700,000 men, mostly farm- ers and mechanics, wholly unfit for a serious conflict. Besides these, there are some irreg- ular corps, bringing the total nominal figure of the army up to 1,230,000. Of so-called for- tresses China has not less than 1,193, but only a few of them are built in a substantial man- ner and able to withstand a cannonade, while the rest consist merely of a common wall and ditch. The great wall (wan-li-chang, i. e., the myriad-mile wall), on the N. frontier of China proper, is the most gigantic work of defence ever erected by man. It was originally built as a bulwark against the invasions of the Tar- tars (215 B. 0.). It runs from a point on the coast of Liautung, lat. 40 4' N., Ion. 120 2' E., in a westerly direction, to the Yellow river, in lat. 39 N. and Ion. lllf E. ; thence to lat. 37 N., and again in a N. W. direction to its termination in Ion. 99 E. and lat. 40 N. ; making 21 degrees of longitude, and with its windings a length of 1,250 or 1,500 m. In some places it is a simple rampart, in others a solid foundation of granite, while the eastern section has a height of from 15 to 30 ft., and a breadth such that six horsemen may ride abreast on it. There are brick towers upon it at different intervals about 40 ft. high. The navy has heretofore consisted of 1,951 war junks, entirely similar to trading vessels, and in no way able to withstand the means of mod- ern maritime warfare. The whole number of vessels of the foreign style now (1873) in use as war vessels is about 20. These are placed under the control of provincial officers, and are supported from the several provincial treas- uries. Foreigners have heretofore been em- ployed to command these vessels, and to super- intend their engines ; but of late nearly all such have been dismissed. It is quite certain that they would in case of war fall into the hands of the enemy, and form a source of danger rather than of support to the government. The history of China dates back nearly 5,000 years, but up to the year 2207 B. C. it bears a mythical character. The Chinese myths begin with the reign of the Tien-hwang, Ti-hwang, and Yin-hwang (the celestial, the terrestrial, and the human rulers). After them, Fuh-hi,