良莠不齊

When I (Chan Sui-jeung, the book writer) interviewed K.M.A. Barnett some forty years after Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day), he was still full of praise and admiration for the soldiers of the East River Column. He was dismissive (輕蔑的) of my remarks about "the Communist guerrillas" by saying that these were "the real sons and daughters of Hong Kong who took up arms to defend their homes. Their courage and sacrifice were admirable. The Communists only provided leadership and organization skill". According to him, there were two lots of Chinese soldiers operating near the border. The KMT (國民黨) occupied the area from Man Kam To (文錦渡) to the west and in his opinion did not do any fighting during the war. After VJ Day, they were mostly interested in  looting (搶劫). The other group was the Hong Kong and Kowloon Independent Brigade of the East River Column. Despite their Communist ideology, this group co-operated with the British officials courteously (有禮貌地)and reasonably...

...Barnett was deeply impressed by the discipline and conduct of the East River guerrillas who were occupying Shataukok. Despite their strong national and patriotic feelings, the guerrillas co-operated fully with the British military forces...

...While the main body of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Independent Brigade of the East River Column left the territory and moved north of the border in September 1945, there were isolated pockets that were not eager to depart and were hiding in places such as hills near Shataukok, Lantau Island and urban Kowloon, until 8 November 1945. There were also other people who claimed to be soldiers of the brigade who demanded protection money from shops and cinemas in urban Hong Kong and Kowloon. The military government could not verify their claims and credentials (憑據)...One senior cadre of the column's headquarters told me that he was not all surprised that there were unsavory (討厭的) types among them, as there were six detachments and the headquarters had little control over them. Indeed, the detachments had not always been careful when recruiting their soldiers during the war.

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