The termshanlin (Chinese:山林;lit. 'mountain and forest') was frequently used to describebandits innortheast China from the time of theQing dynasty, because they knew the local wooded and mountainous terrain very well. Most operated in a fairly small district and took pains to maintain the goodwill of local peasants. As a result, government troops had great difficulty in suppressing them. After theRepublic of China was founded, they often were recruited as soldiers to end their bandit career.
It was a term frequently used later for remnants of theAnti-Japanese Volunteer Armies that resisted theJapanese invasion of Northeastern China in theSecond Sino-Japanese War. Some did not flee after thedefeat of the armies and fought on as small guerrilla units, called shanlin.
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