1. NOBODY can understand the Chinese army without understanding something about that fascinating group of half-educated, dispossessed farm boys who suddenly rose from obscurity between 1911 and 1926 and almost overnight became field marshals, generalissimos and warlords, with dominion over regions as large and populous as many modern European states.
如果不了解一九一一年至一九二六年间崛起的一些风云人物的情况，就不可能了解中国的军队。那些人都是失去生计的识字不多的青年农民，本来是无名小卒，突然几乎一夜之间就成了大帅、将军和军阀。他们统治的地区，其面积之大和人口之稠密，不下于当今的许多欧洲国家。