The "Hoonhoozy" (hung hu tzu), the Chinese Bandits

     One of the chapters/tales in the book is dedicated entirely to the hung hu tzu, the Chinese bandits that were more commonly called by the Russian pronunciation as "hoonhoozy."   In the early part of the 20th Century, until the Japanese were able to establish some sort of control, the "hoonhoozy" operated almost unchecked in Manchuria.  They were a major source of concern to those who had to travel or lived outside of populated areas like the city of Harbin.  Harbin was a very modern and a new city at the time.  It was built at the turn of the century and most of its buildings and infrastructure was less than a quarter of a century old.  In  many ways, it was ahead of Shanghai in the earlier years.
     Despite the existence of a modern city of Harbin in Manchuria, the countryside was wild and wooly.  In 1925 a visiting American by the name of Harvey Howard very foolishly went chasing after some "hoonhoozy."  Howard, together with his teenaged son, was visiting an American friend who had a country estate not far from Harbin.  When they heard that the local village was being raided by the bandits, the Americans, including the teenaged boy, decided to chase the bandits for "sport."  They went after the bandits and soon made contact, and a gun battled ensued.  Not surprisingly, the amateur bandit chasers soon discovered that they were in over their heads and Howard was captured by the "hoonhoozy."  He was fortunate that he was not killed and his son escaped capture by hiding.
     Howard spent ten weeks in captivity while the bandits tried to collect ransom.  He was very lucky.  He was also able to verify rumors that there were former Russian soldiers who had thrown in with the Chinese bandits.  Howard's experience was much publicized in international press and after he returned stateside, he wrote a book about his ten week captivity.  As exciting and newsworthy Howard's experience may have been, it was also a very unusual occurrence.  "Hoonhoozy," for the most part avoided contact with Europeans and other foreigners.  Their primary prey were rich Chinese merchants and their family members that they could hold for ransom.  They were ruthless and extremely cruel to those they considered to be their enemies.  They also lived by no rules of any known society.
     In my book I describe a couple incidents in which "hoonhoozy" were encountered.  In one incident they got more than a bloody nose when they attacked a taxi whose passengers were armed Mongols.  In another incident they seized and very brutally killed a man and a woman who had apparently cheated them.  The Japanese had been trying to control "hoonhoozy" ever since they came to Manchuria in 1905 when they took over all of the Russian concessions.  They tried everything, including the bribing of the war lord Chiang Su Lin (also written as Chang Tso Lin) to control the bandits.  By the mid 1930s they did manage to control most of the countryside.  But the "hoonhoozy" never really went away, they just  kept a lower profile when things got too hot.