I stumbled across this article at the Sporting Shooters Of Australias Association Guestbook.

I am uncertain, as to wether it best belonged here,or on the Weapons And Tactics Board. However it does seem to raise some interesting issues regarding the role of a "well regulated militia". As such I thought it might arouse greater interest among the regular posters at this board.

From: http://theaustralian.news.com.au/printpage/0,5942,4926499,00.html

Workforce to be reckoned with
By Catherine Armitage
19aug02 ('The Australian')

"IN streets and factories all over China, ordinary people are preparing for
war. They are members of a hidden but probably huge arm of China's military
� the civilian militia.

The size of this mums and dads army is a secret. Nor has its effectiveness
in defending the nation been tested � although it has been on hand to help
out in natural disasters, such as the 1998 floods that killed 4150 people.
But in a recent interview, members of the little-known force were only too
happy to show off their patriotic credentials.
Yang Jie, a muscular young militia leader and manager at Beijing Iron and
Steel's Shi Jing Shan factory in a northwest suburb of Beijing, said joining
the militia was a popular choice for the factory workers.

Among Beijing Iron and Steel's 165,000 workers, 25,000 � just over one-sixth
� are militia members.

"Everyone wants to be an outstanding militia member because they think it is
a kind of cultivation of their skills and an enrichment of their
experience," Yang says.

The militia was created to support Mao's doctrine of People's War for
defence of the Chinese heartland. Although it is not compulsory, every
citizen aged from 18 to 35 has a responsibility under Chinese law to join,
if not the People's Liberation Army, then the militia, says Zhang Chao, head
of the People's Armed Department for Shi Jing Shan district. "If something
urgent happens, we can become a very, very powerful force to support the
PLA," he says.

But under a new military doctrine of "Local War under Modern Hi-Tech
Conditions", in which Chinese forces are envisioned to fight at China's
borders, exactly how the militia will be used to support active-duty PLA
forces is still being decided, says retired US soldier and Chinese military
expert Dennis Blasko.

Not everyone can join. They must be young and fit, and "they must support
the Communist Party and support socialism", Zhang says. They must not be
physically disabled or "weak-minded", and they must not be criminals.

Militia members should have higher productivity than ordinary workers, and
they should "play a lead role in overworking" if their workplace has a tight
deadline to meet, Yang says. "It is like being a Communist Party member,"
says Major Wang Jia, of the National Defence Ministry foreign affairs
office. "They should be exemplary for the other people."

Qing Baoshe is the head of the citizen's militia of Gucheng Street, famous
as the gateway to one of Beijing's biggest cemeteries. It's only a small
street but her 400-strong troop is "from all walks of life", she says:
workers, government officials, technicians and private employees.

They are divided into several groups according to their responsibilities:
"Some are in charge of air defence and maybe missiles, some focus on
telecommunications, some are public transport and some are medical treatment
and salvage."

They do not meet regularly but the specialist groups whose tasks demand
professional expertise are sent to training with the PLA for 20 to 30 days
each year, while the non-specialist groups receive 10 to 15 days' basic
training a year.

The US Department of Defence in 2000 said the militia, combined with the
separate People's Liberation Army reserve force, numbers about 1.5 million.

Blasko has argued that China's reserve forces are growing to accommodate
many of the 500,000 or so soldiers recently forced to retire from the PLA
under a downsizing program. The reserve's role, too, is being reassessed.

He believes the militia's impact comes not from its effectiveness as a
fighting force, but from its size and the fact it can be mobilised and given
tasks in times of emergency.

"The militia is much less likely to be told 'to go out and take the hill',
but rather set up the supply line, help move wounded soldiers to hospital,
and defend the rear areas in support of the PLA active or reserve units,"
Blasko says."

[Catherine Armitage is The Australian's China correspondent]

If China goes to war, EVERYONE has to take the hill.

"Sea of humans" works.