Editing Russo-Japanese War (section)

=== Effects on civilians ===
During the fighting in Manchuria, there were Russian troops that [[Looting|looted]] and burned some Chinese villages, raped women and often killed those who resisted or did not understand what they wanted.<ref name="Jukes2002_84">{{harvnb|Jukes|2002|p=84}}.</ref> The Russian justification for all this was that Chinese civilians, being Asian, must have been helping their fellow Asians (the Japanese) inflict defeat on the Russians, and therefore deserved to be punished. The Russian troops were gripped by the fear of the "[[Yellow Peril]]", and saw all Asians, not just the Japanese, as the enemy.{{r|Jukes2002_84}} All of the Russian soldiers were much feared by the Chinese population of Manchuria, but it was the Cossacks whom they feared the most on the account of their brutality and insatiable desire to loot. Largely because of the more disciplined behavior of the Japanese, the Han and Manchu population of Manchuria tended to be pro-Japanese.{{r|Jukes2002_84}} Russian soldiers also reportedly raped Korean women, for example in the city of [[Chongju]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Shin |first=Michael |url=https://www.routledge.com/Korean-National-Identity-under-Japanese-Colonial-Rule-Yi-Gwangsu-and-the-March-First-Movement-of-1919/Shin/p/book/9780367438654 |title=Korean National Identity under Japanese Colonial Rule: Yi Gwangsu and the March First Movement of 1919 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2018 |isbn=9780367438654 |edition=1st |pages=35 |language=en}}</ref> The Japanese were also prone to looting, albeit in a considerably less brutal manner than the Russians, and summarily executed any Chinese or Manchu whom they suspected of being spies. The city of Liaoyang had the misfortune to be sacked three times within three days: first by the Russians, then by the Chinese police, and finally by the Japanese.{{r|Jukes2002_84}}

The Japanese hired Chinese bandits known variously as the [[honghuzi]], hunghutze, or ''khunkhuzy'' to engage in guerrilla warfare by attacking Russian supply columns.{{sfn|Jukes|2002|pp=84–85}} Only once did the honghuzi attack Japanese forces, and that attack was apparently motivated by the honghuzi mistaking the Japanese forces for a Russian one.<ref name="Jukes2002_85">{{harvnb|Jukes|2002|p=85}}.</ref> [[Zhang Zuolin]], a prominent bandit leader and the future "Old Marshal" who would rule Manchuria as a warlord between 1916 and 1928, worked as a honghuzi for the Japanese. Manchuria was still officially part of the Chinese Empire, and the Chinese civil servants tried their best to be neutral as Russian and Japanese troops marched across Manchuria. In the parts of Manchuria occupied by the Japanese, Tokyo appointed "civil governors" who worked to improve health, sanitation and the state of the roads.{{r|Jukes2002_85}} These activities were also self-interested, as improved roads lessened Japanese logistics problems while improved health amongst the Chinese lessened the dangers of diseases infecting the Japanese troops. By contrast, the Russians made no effort to improve sanitation or health amongst the Chinese, and destroyed everything when they retreated. Many Chinese tended to see the Japanese as the lesser evil.{{r|Jukes2002_85}}