MAUSER IN CHINA

Before China adopted Mod.07, various models of Mauser rifle were sold to China from 1894 to 1907. These orders usually are in very small quantities. Because of scarce original documents, I do not have a precise number. Following are the known Mod.04 contracts I've discovered.  According to Mauser's 1929 Inventory Book, some spare parts of 7.9 Cal "Inf Gewehr Chine Mod.04" were still left in Mauser's inventory. Mauser's 1904 annual report noted 1000 Mod.04 were delivered to "uberseeische Regierunf/ China/ zu liefern", literately means colony government in China. German colony government located in a port city Qing Dao, Shang Dong province. Mr. Speed did not find correspondent record in 1904 sales book either.  From Imperial Qing record, china order several bathes of Mod.04 during 1905 to 1906.  *The currency unit of silver in these contracts is Jin Hang Ping Silver (行平化宝银), a popular silver currency used in Tianjin for commercial purpose , which weigh...

Months ago a friend in china sent me a picture of this Ludwig Loewe made Russian S&W No.3 revolver, which belongs to his college's reference room collection.  This reminds me of some archives I'd read about  China acquisition of Ludwig Loewe manufactured S&W No.3 revolvers.  In 1878, LI Hongzhang asked China Embassy in Berlin to buy 200 pistols for his army. The ambassador visited Ludwig Loewe Company in Berlin twice in 1878, Ludwig Loewe presented Chinese ambassador S&W No.3 revolver which they were producing for Russian contract. A letter from Berlin Embassy to Tianjin Arsenal stated some opinions of the ambassador about the revolver. He said this "very delicate revolver" disassembles into 66 components and does not suit for Chinese soldiers. This letter also mentioned that t he unit price is 60 Marks and Loewe Company had an top break design revolver which costs 42 marks. Li Hongzhang The ambassador sent a broker named Muller from Diers...