English: Entitled Militarism in China. Here are specimens of the Soldiery who protect the people by dominating them, who protect property by looting it Liao Chow, Shansi, China [c1925] IE Oberholtzer (probable) [RESTORED] I did light scratch and spot repair, adjusted tone, contrast, added a sepia coloration, and cropped away the partial view of the individual on the far right edge.

From a private collection discovered on Picassa Web Albums (Google's free picture gallery) as hosted by generous netizen Joe. He has a collection of images that (from what information I could gather on his gallery), seems to have been taken by one I.E. Oberholtzer in or around the Liao Chow area of Shansi, (I suspect this may be modern day Liaozhou, Shanxi Province, but I'm having a bit of difficulty getting cross referenced confirmation), China, during the 1920-1930s. Once again, it is due to the dedication of private citizens that images which would otherwise be lost to history, is instead seen by all. This validates and burnishes that part (in this case, of a part of China), and makes indelible an isolated stitch in the fabric of time. Woven together with the contributions of others, that fabric becomes a tapestry that testifies to our collective history in a vital visual record. We all hold a debt of gratitude to the generosity of such net contributors.

Other pictures from this series and Joe's magnificent galleries can be seen here:

picasaweb.google.com/LlamaLane

Most people consider the China of today as a nation that has 5000 years of continuous unbroken history as one political entity; that is not so. As recent as a century ago, China was politically fractured akin to a nation say, like Pakistan, where the central government held political sway in name only. Genuine authority outside central urban areas resided in the hands of well financed individuals, called warlords, each armed with their own personal army.

Warlords held their positions by strength of the sword, and areas under their control were effective fiefdoms that the Chinese central government had little or no control over. At times, even central government commerce movement needed to tender road tariffs to these local governments before being allowed passage. These regional governments functioned by their own rules, often created at the whim of their leader. They fought not only with the government but with each other. Between the years of 1912 and the second world war, most people understand and remember the national struggle between the communists and the nationalists in China. In fact, the nationalist government was only in nominal control, with the communists being but one external factor, along with a variety of warlord cliques and subordinate factions that competed for overall supremacy in 8 major geographic areas. Opportunistic coalitions often formed to work either against, or with the Nationalist government; though allegiances were well acknowledged to be something ephemeral as parties easily traded loyalties according to their individual needs of the moment. Regional armies with fidelity to a local leader instead of a national government wasn't an entirely new concept to the Chinese of the times. In fact this was business as usual as far as Chinese history was concerned. During the monarchy, Qing standing regional Bannermen armies could likewise have been a template for the Warlord phenomenon. Each Banner was separate and distinct from the others and only loyal to themselves, and not to any idea of national government, per se. They fought for the throne because they were paid to. Thus, they were similar to mercenary armies at the service of the government

The Warlord private armies in essence were regionally raised militias that were privately trained. They were armed with a variety of western and traditional equipment and in one battle alone (Central Plains Battle of 1930, in which three warlords allied against the central Nationalist government), involved an estimated one million troops. These troops rode roughshod over the populace with impunity. They were notorious for robbing, raping, and pillaging everywhere they went. If they didn't have enough men to perform support functions (like build fortifications or carry away loot), they would gang impress local manpower as slave labor. They would often take whatever crops there were, and allowed the local population to subsist on starvation rations. As patronage mills, they allowed men of affluence to buy officer postings either for themselves or their sons, to serve as midlevel leaders within a warlord's army. The situation was so socially severe and dire that the populace hungered for relief and easily bought into the communist message of land ownership reform, equality of treatment, shared burden, and national defense. This helped set the stage for the mass support that Mao needed to overthrow the nationalists and take the country by force of arms.