Peking Field Force

The Peking Field Force was a modern-armed military unit that defended the Chinese imperial capital Beijing in the last decades of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Its troops were on duty in the Imperial City, Beijing, as one of the units of the Qing emperor's Imperial Guard.

The Force was founded in 1862, two years after the humiliating capture of Beijing and the sack of the Qing emperor's Summer Palace in 1860 by foreign powers at the end of the Second Opium War. After that war, high Qing officials like Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, and Wenxiang (the latter a Manchu) tried to acquire advanced western weapons and to copy western military organization. Founded by Wenxiang and manned by mostly Manchu Bannermen, the soldiers most loyal to the dynasty, the Force was armed with Russian rifles and French cannon and drilled by British officers. The Field Force was one of the main units defending Beijing from the Eight Nation Alliance during the Boxer Rebellion in the summer of 1900, and it was destroyed by the heavy losses it took during the Western siege.

The "First Historical Archives of China" () in Beijing hold a collection of primary documents on the Peking Field Force.

Name

The Chinese name of the battalions is Shenji ying, in which ''shenji'' means "divine mechanism" and ''ying'' either "military camp", "battalion", or "regiment". The Qing force had the same name as the Shenjiying, a Ming-era (1368–1644) military corps that specialized in training with firearms. The Ming division has been variously referred to as "Divine Mechanism Battalions", "Firearms Division", "Artillery Camp", "Shen-chi Camp", and "Firearm Brigade". or "Divine Engine Division", whereas the Qing division that specialized in training with firearms has been referred to as the Firearm Battalion or "Huoqiying".

The Qing army corps also named "Shenji ying" is sometimes called the "Metropolitan Field Force", but is mostly known as the "Peking Field Force", the name by which foreigners referred to it in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

History

The force was created in 1862 and consisted entirely of bannermen. Initially it was 3,000 men strong, although by 1865 it had grown to 30,000 men. The force had received western training and modern equipment during the period 1862–1865, though after that while it continued its existence further, modernisation had not occurred and it had been left to languish.

See also

*Military of the Qing dynasty
* Imperial Guards (Qing dynasty)
* Firearm Battalion
* Hushenying

Notes

Works cited

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{{Qing dynasty topics

Military history of the Qing dynasty
Army units and formations of China
1862 establishments in China
Eight Banners
Military units and formations established in 1862
Military units and formations disestablished in 1900