Green Camp - Ryokuei

A military organization in the Qing Dynasty, China. Also called the Green Banners. The basis of the Qing Dynasty military system was the Eight Banners, which were mainly composed of Manchus, but the Green Camp followed the Ming Dynasty military system and was composed only of Han Chinese from 1644 onwards, and its name comes from the fact that its military flag was green. Han Chinese who cooperated with the founding of the Qing Dynasty (1636) were organized into the Eight Banner Han Army. The Green Camps are broadly divided into the Green Camp in Beijing (Jingying) and the Green Camp overseas (Zhixiang Green Camp). The Jingying was stationed in Beijing under the command of the Infantry Commander. Its mission was to patrol its jurisdiction and arrest thieves, making it more of a police force than an army. The overseas green camps were under the command of the governor-general, governors, admirals, military commanders, generals of Chengdu, Sichuan, governors of the Hedong and Jiangnan river channels, and governors of shipping, and at their peak numbered more than 600,000, but they were all subdivided and deployed and monitored by the Eight Banner Guards.

[Yoshio Hosoya]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、清(しん)代の軍事組織。緑旗ともいう。清朝兵制の根幹は満州人を中核とする八旗であったが、緑営は明(みん)代の兵制を踏襲して1644年から漢人のみで編成し、軍旗の色を緑としたことに名称の由来がある。なお、清朝の建国（1636）に協力した漢人は八旗漢軍に編成された。緑営には大別して在京緑営（京営）と在外緑営（直省緑営）がある。京営は歩軍統領の指揮下に北京(ペキン)に駐屯した。その任務は管内を巡警して盗賊の逮捕にあたることで、軍隊というよりは警察である。在外緑営は、地方行政の任にあった総督、巡撫(じゅんぶ)、提督、総兵官、四川(しせん)成都将軍、河東・江南河道総督、漕運(そううん)総督の指揮下に置かれ、もっとも多いときは60万人以上あったが、すべて細分化して配置され、それを駐防八旗が監視するという形態であった。清末には無力化して勇営、練軍にとってかわられた。

［細谷良夫］

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