Honghuzi

Honghuzi (Chinese: 紅鬍子; lit. 'Red Beards') were armed Chinese robbers and bandits who operated in the areas of the eastern Russia-China borderland during the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. Their activities extended over southeastern Siberia, the Russian Far East, and Manchuria/Northeast China. The word honghuzi has been variously transliterated as hong huzi, hong hu zi, hunghutze, hun-hutze, etc. There is also a common transliteration from Russian, khunkhuzy (Russian: хунхузы), and a back-formation for the singular, khunkhuz (Russian: хунхуз). Korean immigrants to Manchuria in the 20th century called the honghuzi ma-jeok (마적,馬賊). Groups of honghuzi were recruited as guerrillas by the Imperial Japanese Army during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905^[1] into chunchu (チュンチュ) sabotage units.^[2]

^ Jukes, Geoffrey (6 June 2014) [2002]. The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905. Essential Histories. Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing (published 2014). ISBN 978-1-4728-1003-8. Retrieved 6 September 2022. A criminal element among the Chinese, well-armed bandit groups, often ex-soldiers, variously known as 'Chunguses', 'Chunchuse' or 'khunhuzy', preyed on Russian supply columns. This was partly because Colonel Aoki paid them to do so, but even when unpaid, they went after the rich booty, because Russian depredations made them more presentable as avengers among the Chinese, their normal peacetime prey [...].
^ Ivanov, Alexei; Jowett, Philip (20 July 2012). The Russo-Japanese War 1904–05. Bloomsbury Publishing (published 2012). p. 46. ISBN 978-1-78200-173-7. Retrieved 6 September 2022.

[1] Jukes, Geoffrey (6 June 2014) [2002]. The Russo-Japanese War 1904–1905. Essential Histories. Oxford: Bloomsbury Publishing (published 2014). ISBN 978-1-4728-1003-8. Retrieved 6 September 2022. A criminal element among the Chinese, well-armed bandit groups, often ex-soldiers, variously known as 'Chunguses', 'Chunchuse' or 'khunhuzy', preyed on Russian supply columns. This was partly because Colonel Aoki paid them to do so, but even when unpaid, they went after the rich booty, because Russian depredations made them more presentable as avengers among the Chinese, their normal peacetime prey [...].

[2] Ivanov, Alexei; Jowett, Philip (20 July 2012). The Russo-Japanese War 1904–05. Bloomsbury Publishing (published 2012). p. 46. ISBN 978-1-78200-173-7. Retrieved 6 September 2022.

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