仁者無敵

While the Independent Brigade was anxious to eliminate traitors (叛徒) and collaborators (通敵者) with the Japanese, such as the Japanese interpreters, there was evidently a policy of dealing leniently (仁慈地) and humanely (人道地) with lesser traitors. One report filed by a British Army Aid Group member who personally witnessed the capture of six bandits (土匪) and collaborators in Tai Po in June 1942, described how he was surprised by the lenient treatment. He fully anticipated that they would be summarily (即刻) executed. Instead, this group of six was given a stern (嚴厲的) lecture on their "unpatriotic conduct". The six were genuinely reduced to tears (使哭了起來). They were given some money for travelling expense and released. They were told to return to their original home, be it north of Shenzhen in China or Japanese-occupied Hong Kong. It seemed that the policy was that, as long as such bandits or collaborators had not killed any Chinese, they were treated more leniently. The treatment meted out to (予以) Japanese prisoners of war was equally humane. Once they were captured, they were repatriated to the safe sanctuary (收容所) of the column, somewhere in Luofu Mountain (羅浮山) in Dongguan. Again, they were lectured on the "evils and crimes of the Japanese Imperial Government" and told that "the Japanese and Chinese peoples should never be at war".

Chan, S.J. (2014). East River Column -- Hong Kong Guerrillas in the Second World War and After. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.