MEMORANDUM ON THE "HONGKONG & KOWLOON MASS ANTI-JAPANESE
GUERILLAS"
26
Shortly after the fall of Canton in October 1938, a group of patriotic Chinese formed an independent guerilla unit, styled the "Kwangtung Mass Anti-Japanese Guerillas" under the leadership of one TS ANG SANG. The unit operated in the area astride the Canton-Kowloon Railway, then in Japanese hands. It attracted a number of recruits, and was subsequently divided into two units, operating in the TUNG KUN and WAI YEUNG districts of Kwangtung province respectively. On the 9th May, 1939, it claims to have received some form of recognition from the Central Government, and to have been incorporated into the 3rd and 4th dumns of the 4th War Area.
Since its formation, the unit received liberal subscriptions from overseas Chinese, particularly from organisations in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. Some of these organisations were undoubtedly leftish in character. Several in Malaya came under the surveillance of the Special Branch, and in some instances their activities were proscribed or otherwise discouraged, as being contrary to British Imperial interests.
The official attitude in Hongkong differed, and amounted to one of teleration as long as the Colony, was not openly used as a base for political intrigue, and as long as its neutral stance in the Sino-Japanese war was respected. This attitude had developed since 1933, when the local branch of the Communist party, still then carrying out an externally directed policy disturbing to the internal good order of the Colony, was smashed. Before the party could reorganise itself in Hongkong, the world-wide policy of Moscow altered radically. Infiltration, however, continued on intellectual and cultural lines, and during the succeeding years a number of associations were formed, more or less 'pink' in nature. They constituted no menace to the Colony, and apart from keeping an eye on their activities, the policy was one of tolerance.
Among other associations from whom help was received, the Kwangtung Mass Anti-Japanese Guerillas received considerable assistance, both through subscriptions and recruits, from the Foreigner's Employment Guild.(
Under a different name and constitution this guild had, during the period of belligerant anti-foreign feeling, taken a prominent part in the political disturbances within the Colony during the period 1925 to 1928. As a result it had been
Later it was revived
proscribed, and the leaders banished. under its present name, its activities being conducted in an orderly and innocuous manner.
Similarly, these guerillas had many friends among the employees of foreign owned utility companies in the Colony, and in particular, the major dockyards.
They received support also from the China Defence League, with which many persons prominent both in Hongkong and in China were connected. In addition to its openly advertised patriotic work, the League served as a channel for the remittance of funds both from the Colony and overseas to the communist and guerilla armies fighting in China. In this latter connection the identity of LIU SHING CHI became known to the Special Branch in Hongkong.
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