Wuwei Corps

The Wuwei Corps (simplified Chinese: 武卫军; traditional Chinese: 武衛軍; pinyin: Wǔwèijūn; Wade–Giles: Wu-wei chün) or Guards Army was a modernised army unit of the Qing dynasty of China. Made up of infantry, cavalry and artillery, it was formed in May or June 1899 and trained by western military advisers. The guard took responsibility for the security of Peking (Beijing) and the Forbidden City, with Ronglu as its supreme commander. This move was an attempt by the Qing imperial court to create a western-style army equipped with modern weaponry following the Qing Empire's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War. Three out of the five divisions of the Wuwei Corps were disbanded after two years due to attrition caused by the Boxer Rebellion.