Green Standard Army

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Green Standard Army
Active	1644–1912
Country	China
Allegiance	Qing dynasty
Branch	Army
Type	Police and gendarmerie
Size	Approximately 500,000[1]
Engagements	Transition from Ming to Qing Ten Great Campaigns White Lotus Rebellion Taiping Rebellion Sino-Burmese War (1765–69)

The Green Standard Army (Chinese: 綠營兵; pinyin: Lǜyíngbīng; Manchu: niowanggiyan turun i kūwaran) was the name of a category of military units under the control of Qing dynasty in China. It was made up mostly of ethnic Han soldiers and operated concurrently with the Manchu-Mongol-Han Eight Banner armies. In areas with a high concentration of Hui people, Muslims served as soldiers in the Green Standard Army.^[2] After the Qing consolidated control over China, the Green Standard Army was primarily used as a police force.^[3]

Despite its name, the Green Standard Army served as a gendarmerie rather than a military force. After the formation of "brave battalions" in response to the mid-19th century rebellions in China, who were mercenaries hired and financed by provincial governors, the Green Standard were relegated for local security only, while the braves became the Qing dynasty's rapid response force.^[4] There was an effort starting in the 1860s to modernize Green Standard units to make them similar to the braves, and the Late Qing reforms in the early 1900s began the process of disbanding the worst Green Standard forces while integrating the rest into the New Army. This process was not completed before the 1911 Revolution against the Qing dynasty and the Green Standard were being used as reservists for the New Army.^[5]