About This Print

The Trans Siberian Railway gave Russia a huge advantage in the war, allowing Russia to send reinforcements to the war zone in a very short time. In retaliation, Japan engaged honghuzi (Manchurian bandits) to destroy the railway, as is illustrated in this print. The Honguzi - The Account of War Correspondent J. Martin MIller

The Chinese bandits, mention of whom has just been made, are the curse of Manchuria. These Chunchuses – the word is a corruption of the Chinese “Hung Hutzu” (Red Beards) – have preyed on Manchurian merchants for many years, deriving their living from gold-washing and occasional raids, together with a system known as brigand insurance. The suppression of these brigands has been one of the great policies of Russian administration; but, strange to say, great divergence of opinion exists as to its real value. A celebrated writer, who knows the country well, says that in all the principal towns offices existed where the carters or bean boat skippers could purchase immunity, the outward and visible sign of which consisted of a small triangular flag, which insured the carrier, cart, or boat against molestation or pillage. Though theoretically reprehensible, in practice this system worked admirably, as the premium paid was not at all prohibitive. The Russians, by their expeditions against the brigands, who galled them rather severely, split up these united bands into several lesser sections, and without diminishing their numbers destroyed in a great measure their organization, with the result that the carters and bean boat skippers, unable to purchase immunity – the flag of one section being unrecognized by the others – could no longer ply their trade with the same degree of safety or, in fact, any safety at all. Accordingly both produce and lightstuff were prevented from coming forward in the usual quantities, the entire trade of the province being disturbed. It will be readily seen that this in its turn helped to swell the ranks of the disorganized robbers as, cut off from the legitimate exercise of their calling, the impoverished agriculturists and carriers had to become the preyers or the prey, the majority throwing in their lot with the former as yielding better return. The same authority says: “It is dangerous to meddle with old-established customs in China, and many of the Chinese modes or procedure, theoretically incorrect though they be, are peculiarly adapted to the conditions prevailing. In the time of the China-Japan War these Hung Hutzu bands offered the Japanese the most obstinate resistance they met in the province. It will be a matter for surprise if in the present war they do not materially contribute to the many difficulties with which the Russian forces will find themselves confronted in operating in an intensely inimical country.”2