As we mentioned in a previous post, during the early 20th century banditry was rife in Manchuria, as it had been historically. Moreover, the boundaries between soldiers, bandits, and warlords were fluid. This was certainly true during the social dislocation following the Mukden incident and the Japanese takeover.
In her letters of February, 1933, Anna Bøg speaks of "the gray", or "old gray", explaining in a parenthetical comment that by this she means "former soldiers, now bandits". The color apparently relates to their uniforms. It is said that the northern soldiers who were affiliated with the Nationalists/ Kuomintang wore a winter uniform with a padded slate blue jacket that soon faded to gray.
Prior to the Japanese takeover, Manchuria was ruled by the warlord Chang Hsüeh-liang (the son of the assassinated warlord, Chang Tso-lin). Chang had affiliated with the Kuomintang, however. Thus, the Kuomintang padded jacket is probably the "gray" that Anna Bøg refers to.
According to the Wikipedia entry on Chang, after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Chang's armies "withdrew from the front lines without significant engagements". Readers will remember that in her letters at Christmas, 1932, Anna Bøg used the term "old soldiers" to refer to men who were apparently putting up a resistance to the Japanese. And, she said in her letters at New Year's, 1932-1933 that some of the "old soldiers" surrendered at the end of December. Now, in her February, 1933 letters she refers to those who did not surrender as bandits.
Anna Bøg's characterization of these men as bandits perhaps reflects the official Manchukuo view. Maybe she was being circumspect. One might question, however, whether the "gray" were not in some way still fighting a resistance, even if surviving by banditry. After all, fighting armed battles from behind sandbags sounds more like a military endeavor than typical bandit activity, and there is no indication that the "grays" had joined up with the local bandit chieftain, Teng-Tieh-Mei, whose men were plundering the area.
The fact that the "grays" might have been robbing does not mean they were not fighting a resistance. Chinese soldiers were generally not well behaved. Nor does fighting a resistance necessarily imply a noble purpose, especially in a political context as fragile and chaotic as early 20th century China. It simply implies an opposition to Japanese rule. Unfortunately, Anna Bøg's letters furnish no information about any chain of command, although she does say that part of the town was still in the hands of the former mandarin.
Janet Mitchell, in her book Spoils of Opportunity, wrote that in 1936 the Japanese analyzed Manchurian banditry and concluded there were five classes of bandits: (1) political, (2) professional (the hunghutze), (3) civilians forced into banditry for survival, (4) religious bandits (the Long Sword and Red Spear leagues, and (5) minor groups of impoverished farmers and workers. The "political bandits" were those "formerly under the command of notorious political leaders, such as Ma Chan-Shan, Ting Chao, and Su Ping-Wen." Perhaps the "gray" in Siuyen fell into that category.
In any event, as the old soldiers had before, the "gray" chose as a stronghold the vacant house of the Japanese man that had been built right up to the property line of the mission station. And so, as before, the mission station was in the line of fire.
Here is what Anna Bøg, the Bjergaarde family, and the Chinese Bible Women who lived in community at the women's mission station in Siuyen underwent during the February, 1933 confrontations:
Sources:February 22, 1933
"During the morning the Bible women were away from home. Suddenly at noon, there was panic in the streets. Carts and infantrymen rushed down the streets. At noon the thunder of cannons could be heard from North Town. There was unrest the entire afternoon, and many refugees arrived. The blind girl, Chang Kuei-Ch'ing spoke at a prayer meeting about Jer. 33:3* and told about the three angels:** faith, hope and charity. But, the refugees were nearly all pagans. The Christians could not get out. In the evening, we did not put on any lights in the yard because the bandits are right here by the town. At this time, there is no moonlight. I went to bed at 7:30 p.m. but at 9:30 p.m. I had to get back up and dressed again because there was a frightful cannon volley. It was a bad night, the worst we have experienced so far. The entire night there was the sound of cannons, machine-guns, rifles, and hand-grenades, so there was no sleep.
"Most of the night, [blind] Kuei-Ch'ing sat in the living room. It startles her every time a gun goes off. The Bjergaardes did not sleep all night either. The cook, whose home is out of town, did not come this morning. It is like it was at Christmas. A small crowd of gray (the former soldiers, now bandits) from the nearby temple just ate breakfast at the house of our neighbors across the street. So far, they have not knocked on our gate to get food. Before lunch, there was an awful sound of howling and shouting. It was the soldiers coming into town.
"While Mrs. Bjergaarde and I stood watch a while at the west gable, I suddenly caught sight of a big hole in the stove. A bullet had passed through the window and into the wall. It's snowing -- the first day of real snow the entire winter.
"On the calendar this morning was Mark 4:40: "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" May the Lord in this hour be with all in this small home, where they live for him and pray to him, and may they believe that Jesus is with them in everything.
"3:00 p.m.: The old gray are still holding up at the old temple and the corner of Main Street. All day long there has been cannon-fire alternating with rifle-fire and together with that all day long there has been a glorious snowfall such as we have not seen the whole winter. That is good for the homes that have no water as the clean snow can be melted. All the thatched houses are soaked, so if they are set afire, they will not burn so quickly.
"6:00 p.m.: The southern part of the city is at this time in the hands of the former Mandarin Leo, and the north is in Manchukuo's. It said that the bandit chieftain, Teng-Tieh-Mei, will come in by the northern road this evening. Mrs. Chao's home at the cross-street has been plundered of everything. They had all gone together and locked the doors. Now even the shutters of the house are gone. It looks grave outside. What will night bring? We are now nested up here in my living room.February 24, 1933
"The morning: There was unrest all night. We had the impression that it was from the Japanese man's house (our neighboring house) that there still was firing. It did not seem to be answered from the North. The gray were still up at Main Street behind sandbags. After breakfast, [Rev.] and Mrs. Bjergaarde came with binoculars. We had barely gone upstairs before a battle commenced here in our street. We had to hurry downstairs again. That lasted about 3/4 of an hour. There was violent shooting. The Manchukuo soldiers had come down from the river behind the others. From inside the Japanese man's house there was strong resistance. Shells whistled over our houses. How many times I asked the Lord to preserve our good new houses. Then the old gray was once again forced to flee southward.
"If the proverb: 'Good things come in threes' applied here in Siuyen, we would now be finished. Little Hans Bjergaarde was also sick last night. Today he is better. From our gable window, we saw how the victors with their sun-flags*** marched through town. They stopped by a fallen soldier who lay at his post behind the sandbags. I then saw how a beggar came and stole the shoes from his feet, and the dogs licked his blood. There are fallen in several places in both the large and small cross-streets and now reports are steaming in of bandit attacks in the homes. At Mrs. Hsu's, one reads, they took almost everything. She said: 'We cannot get by.' As far as we know, all the Christians are at peace. At Leo-Tang-An's they took a padded cotton coat and from the neighbors the same. At Lao Shi Chia's, they found one of the old [gray?] dead.
"The Japanese man's house was the center this morning, but the Lord kept his hand over us all. The women lay on the floor and prayed when it was the worst. Now all the refugees have been sent back home again and we will rest a bit in the afternoon. There were 15 on the dining room kang last night. In the big room there were 30 or more. Merely getting them inside makes them happy. We had a beautiful snowfall - 1 / 2 foot - a magnificent snowfall again today. This evening a suspicious soldier came into the yard. Fortunately, [Rev.] Bjergaarde spoke to him forcefully. Then he made an excuse and disappeared.February 27, 1933
"How people are suffering. I cannot but suffer with them. At dusk, they come with their bundles and babies. They dare not be at home. Ez. 21:4.**** This time, they are nearly all pagans. The shops are all closed. Yesterday about 100 Manchukuo troops arrived. It is worse with the bandits than ever before."
Bøg-Madsen, Anna; "Uddrag af private Breve fra Frk. Bøg Madsen", Dansk Missionsblad; April 26, 1933; Vol. 100, Nr. 17, pp. 245-246. Translation by Marie-Jacqueline. The parenthetical comments are in the original. Our own explanatory comments are in brackets or footnotes.
All D.M.S. materials used with permission.
Mitchell, Janet; The Spoils of Opportunity (Methuen & Co.; London, 1938), pp. 34-35.)
Image:
Weapons of Manchurian bandits, from Wikimedia Commons. In the public domain.
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* Jer. 33:3: "Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."
** Here the word "angels" is a metaphor. Faith, hope, and charity are the theological virtues.
*** The word Anna Bøg uses here -- "solflaget" -- can be translated as sun-flag or sun-colors. She might be referring to the Manchukuo flag, which is predominantly golden. More likely, however, she is referring to the Japanese flag with its big red sun in the center.
****Ez. 21:4: "Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore shall my sword go forth out of his sheath against all flesh from the south to the north[.]"
