shanlin

{{Short description|Qing dynasty Chinese bandits}}

The term shanlin ({{zh|c=山林|l=mountain and forest}}) was frequently used to describe bandits in northeast China from the time of the Qing 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 the Republic 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 the Anti-Japanese Volunteer Armies that resisted the Japanese invasion of Northeastern China in the Second Sino-Japanese War. Some did not flee after the defeat of the armies and fought on as small guerrilla units, called shanlin.