Yong Ying () were a type of regional army that emerged in the 19th century in the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

army, which fought in most of China's wars after the Opium War and numerous rebellions exposed the ineffectiveness of the Manchu Eight Banners and Green Standard Army. The Yong Ying were created from the earlier ''tuanlian''

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

Tuanlian history

''Tuanlian'' (Chinese: 團練) is the Chinese term for localised village militias created in the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

. In May 1645, Ming rebel leader Li Zicheng (Chinese: 李自成) was killed by a tuanlian of local landowners in

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

province. During the

Jiaqing The Jiaqing Emperor (13 November 1760 – 2 September 1820), also known by his temple name Emperor Renzong of Qing, personal name Yongyan, was the sixth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over Chin ...

reign, with the corrupt and ineffective official military establishment of the Eight Banners and Green Standard Army incapable of curbing the White Lotus Rebellion, the Qing court began to order local gentry and landowners in all ten

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

to organise tuanlian for self-defense, with both funding and control in the hands of local gentry and landowners.

Yong

''Yong'' (Chinese:勇), literally "braves", was the official name for members of the militia, which was recruited from the local civilian (Han Chinese) population. These "braves" were grouped into units or battalions (''ying''), known as the "Yong Ying". Yong were not regarded as part of the official imperial army of Eight Banners or Green Standard, with their funding and logistics provided by civilian society, not the imperial governments. The

Xiang Army file:Zeng Guofan.png, 150px, Zeng Guofan, the leader of the Xiang Army The Xiang Army or Hunan Army () was a standing army organized by Zeng Guofan from existing regional and village militia forces called ''tuanlian'' to contain the Taiping Rebel ...

, a "Yung-ying" army in Qing dynasty China, was separate from the Manchu Eight Banners and Green Standard Army. It used modern weapons and the officers were never rotated, so relationships formed between officers and the troops, unlike in the Green Standard and Banner forces. It was recorded that

Although rations came from public funds, the yung-ying troops were nevertheless grateful to the officers of the battalion for selecting them to be put on the rolls, as if they had received personal favours from the officers. Since in ordinary times there existed etween the officers and the troopsrelations of kindness as well as mutual confidence, in battle it could be expected that they would see each other through hardship and adversity.

The soldiers of the Yong ying militias were often poorly equipped with Jingals, swords, spears and antiquated firearms though they did possess modern firearms it was not the norm. They were often poorly housed in barracks and left idle with many becoming addicted to opium and gambling. The commanders of these militias however gained vast power becoming appointed to the positions of governor-generals and

governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

between 1861 and 1890 of the 44 governor-generals appointed 20 were militia commanders and of the 117 governors appointed in the same time period over 52 were militia commanders with 25% of the governors not possessing the 2 highest grades of the imperial civil service exam

List of Yong Ying Armies

* Chu Army *

* Huai Army * Kansu Braves

References

External links

* {{Webarchive , url=https://archive.today/20130418203626/http://taiwanpedia.culture.tw/en/content?ID=3571 , title=Yong Ying (Brave Camps) 19th century in China Military history of the Qing dynasty Military units and formations of the Qing dynasty

Tuanlian history

Yong

List of Yong Ying Armies

See also

References

External links