research

Bibliography Minus Pickering and Dutch Article

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Primary Sources

Schlegel, Gustav, Thian di huai: The Hung-league or Heaven-earth-league a secret society with the Chinese in China and India. Accessed at the Republic of China National Library, Taipei April 18, 2009. Microfilm MFCDS755 N6zz [199?] No. 7-1-413. Published in Bavaria Leauge 1886.

Yatsen, Sun, Memoirs of a Chinese Revolutionary, A Programme of National reconstruction for China by Sun-Yat-Sen (London: 1927): 190-192

Secondary Sources

Grasso, June M., Modernization and revolution in China: from the Opium Wars to world power (New York: M.E. Sharp, 2004)

Huang, Sandy, "Hung Men Society holds ceremony to honor new leaders." Taipei Times Feb 20, 2002, Page 2

Jordan, David C., Drug politics: dirty money and democracies (Oklahoma City: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999)

Lau, Shu Chung, Worshiping KuanTi: A study of subculture in the Hong Kong Police Force and the Triad (Hong Kong: The University of Hong Kong Dept. of Sociology, 2000)

Martin, Brian G., The Shanghai Green Gang: politics and organized crime, 1919-1937 (California: University of California Press, 1996)

Murray, Diane, The origins of the Tiandihui (Stanford: University Press Stanford, 1994)

"Sun-Joffe Manifesto." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 20 Apr. 2009 .

Trocki, Carl A., Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy: A Study of the Asian Opium Trade, 1750-1950 (New York: Routledge Press, 1999)

Articles

Cai, Shaoqing, "On the Overseas Chinese Secret Societies of Australia," New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies 4, 1 (June, 2002): 30-45

Damon, Allen F., "Financing Revolution: Sun Yat-sen and the Overthrow of the Ch'ing Dynasty," The Hawaiian Journal of History 25 (1991): 161-186

Fong, Leong Yee, "Secret Societies and Politics in Colonial Malaya with Special Reference to the Ang Bin Hoey in Penang (1945-1952)," The Penang Story - International Conference (2002): 1-18

Low, Cheryl-Ann, "Chinese Triads: Perspectives on Histories, Identities, and Spheres of Impacts," Singapore History Museum Journal (2002) Pages: 1-65

Marshall, Jonathan, "Opium and the Politics of Gangsterism
in Nationalist China, 1927-1945," Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 8, (July - September 1976) Page 1

Shiu-Hing Lo, Sonny, "The Politics of Controlling Heidao and Corruption in Taiwan" Asian Affairs: An American Review Issue: Volume 35, Number 2 (Summer 2008) Pages: 59 - 82

Internet Resources

Black Dragon Society(Japan) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dragon_Society

Blue Shirts Society http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Shirts_Society

Chiang Kai-Shek and the Secret Societies in Japan http://www.republicanchina.org/tragedy.html

Chinese Mafia: The Triads of China http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_F8SmorvAY

Chinese Immigration to the United States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_immigration_to_the_United_States

Genyosha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geny%C5%8Dsha

Guan Yu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Yu

Guanfuhui http://www.imperialchina.org/Qing_Dynasty.html#guangfuhui

Henry Liu Assasination http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Liu

Hongmen Organizational Structure http://www.chinatownconnection.com/chinese-secret-society.htm

Hongmen Organization Website http://www.hungmen.org.tw

Kongsi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongsi

Secret Societies in Singapore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_societies_in_Singapore

Taiwan's Dirty Business http://members.tripod.com/~orgcrime/taiwansdirtybusiness.htm

The Shanghai Triad and the KMT http://www.takaoclub.com/opium/postjapan.htm

The South in Chinese history http://sunyatsenhawaii.org/english/research/kwok-south.html

Tiandihui Coinage http://ykleungn.tripod.com/pingcsp.htm

Tong Organizations in The United States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tong_(organization)

Triad Myths http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/history/chinese_freemasons/index.html#myth

Triad Oaths http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/cinema/archives/triads.php

Triad Organizational Chart http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_OFuTni_LeU4/SenZPgLXkKI/AAAAAAAAAAM/OE6QneItbXs/s320/TriadChart4.JPG

University of Hong Kong Powerpoint Presentation on Triads http://www.crime.hku.hk/2ccgc/papers/peterip.ppt

Urban Dimensions of the Political Economy of Nanyang Ethnicity http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Publications/AnthropologicalEssays/UrbanDimensionsNanyangPoliticalEconomy.htm

Wang, Hsi-ling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Hsi-ling

William Pickering http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_A._Pickering

Yale University Qing Archives http://www.library.yale.edu/eastasian/cn/archives.html

Overseas Hongmen leader present as Mao proclaims the PRC at Tiananmen square in 1949

2009-04-20T02:21:00.000-07:00

Situ Meitang (1868-1955), a famous leader of overseas Chinese, followed Sun Yat-sen in the Xinhai revolution, lent support to the motherland in resisting Japanese aggression, supported China’s liberation cause, participated in the political consultation over building a new China, and made utmost efforts to protect the rights of overseas Chinese. He was the founder of the China Zhi Gong Dang Party which is the Hongmen's political party in Mainland China and Taiwan. He was present when Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China at Tiananmen square in 1949. He once served in the Central People’s Government and on the standing committee of the National People’s Congress. He also served as a member of the first and secondChinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a member of the Overseas Affairs Committee of the central people’s government.

pickering book - brilliant primary source

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An interesting phenomena

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Both the police and triads worship the God Guan Di.

"Though by no means mandatory, most Chinese policemen worship and pay respect to him. Seemingly ironic, members of the Triad gangs and the Hung clan worship Guan Yu as well. A difference between the statues used by triad gangs and police station for the shrine are indicated by which arm holds his halberd, right for the police and left for triads. This explains in which side Guan Yu is worshiped, by the righteous people or vice versa. The state of Guan Yu's face for the Triads usually appears more sinister than the usual statue. This exemplifies the Chinese belief that a code of honor, epitomized by Guan Yu, exists even in the underworld. In Hong Kong, Guan Yu is often referred to as "Yi Gor" (二哥, Cantonese for second big brother) for he was second to Liu Bei in their legendary sworn brotherhood. Guan Yu is also worshipped by Chinese businessmen in Shanxi Province, Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia as an alternative wealth god, since he is perceived to bless the upright and protect them from the crooked. Another reason being related to the release of Cao Cao during the Huarong Pass incident where he let Cao Cao and his general passed through safely. As for that, he was perceived to be able to give a lifeline to those that needed it."

http://www.filedump.net/dumped/ft1240214549.pdf More info

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Yu

The "South" in Chinese History / Secret Societies

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In Chinese cultural awareness, the "South" is a composite term which acquired complexities and layers of meaning as her cultural geography expanded with the movement of history. Some of these meanings and connotations may be noted for the purposes of this brief treatment of the subject.

First, north-to-south was from earliest Chinese history the principal orientation of any view of the south. Both cosmology and geography reinforce this view. While the North Polar Star serves as the guiding reference point of cosmic bearing, the Chinese compass has always been called "South-pointing needle (zinanzhen.) To the extent that early Chinese cosmology was intricately involved in conceptions and theories of kingship, often invoked to lend earthly rule cosmic sanction, the ruler on earth took on the position of the North Polar Star and was also known as the nanmianjun (south-facing ruler). The Classic of Change (Yi Jing) is a rich source for this topic. Facing south has become not only propitious in the celestial and terrestrial affairs of life itself, but also a position of enormous honor, often, in social situations, offered to the guest of honor.

Then again, tradition has it that there was a poem called the "South Wind" (Nanfeng, which may also be rendered as the "Air of the South") attributed to Yu Shun. The lyric no longer exists, but by attribution, it is a poem of the humanizing influence of the Southwind, nurturing people's sense of filiality and enriching their wealth of being.

Yet, within this Central Kingdom, there are several souths as viewed from the north. The two major ones are Jiangnan and Lingnan.

Not all connotations of the south in early lore, however, enjoyed cultural salubriousness. The notion of man, denoting barbarity, was reserved for inhabitants of the southern lands. Such a usage, in company of the yi or hu of the East, the di of the North, and the rong of the West, reflects the earlier-mentioned orientation of the five directions now coupled with cultural disposition regarding "self" and "others." Thus, in a narrow sense, the center is occupied by the Han people, arrayed on four sides by the non-Han barbarians. In the larger sense, all these peoples, Han and non-Han together form Zhongguo, the Central Kingdom.

Yet, within the Central Kingdom, there are several souths as viewed from the north. The two major ones are Jiangnan and Liagnan. The first, "south of the river," actually refers to the regions immediately north and south of the Yangzi river, the zone of transition from wheat to rice cultivation and of enormous cultural and commercial growth since the Ming-Qing period (fourteenth to nineteenth centuries) The North-South sectionalism which developed in the three and a half centuries (220-589) of division and disunion before the Tang period (seventh to tenth centuries) had produced a sense of the north as associated with nomadic incursions and warring conditions or conquest and battle, and one of the south as a reservoir of true Chinese culture. Moreover, the silken landscapes of the south, interlaced by numerous waterways, now coalesced with this sense of Chinese civilization. But this sense of the south, later on reinforced by the renewed sectionalism caused by the Northern Song and Southern Song division during the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, was that of Jiangnan, of such areas as the Grand Canal towns and West Lake environs.

The Lingnan south refers to lands "south of the Nanling Mountains" comprised principally of Guangdong Province and Guangxi autonomous area, home of the most intensive cultivation of the rice crop, fishery and marine industries, and China's most cellular linguistic communities. To this general "South" may be added the area and people of Minnan, southern Fujian province on the southeastern coast of China which is separated from the rest of China by the Wuyi Mountains and whose language is related linguistically to the speech of eastern Guangdong. This is the home of settlers of Taiwan.

The whole of the Lingnan area is home of the millions of Chinese who have become sojourners and settlers in mainland and island Southeast Asia, Australasia, North and South America, Hawaii, and the rest of Oceania. Their view of the South is naturally different from the northern prospect, if for no other reason than the fact that the history here is experienced and not viewed from the seat of power which, having brought the area into its administrative orbit, set policies for it throughout more than two thousand years of the imperial state and modern regimes.

"Put simply, China had entered a demographic change that was to outstrip any Confucian theory of the economic and fiscal management and organization of society."

..Populous as early as the Tang dynasty, the southerners (especially the Cantonese) have always referred to themselves as the Tangren (People of the Tang). Canton in the early ninth century boasted a foreign population of a hundred thousand. Thus, while the northern regard of the south views it as frontier and culturally uncouth, it has always been the China of first contact for sea-borne, non-Chinese visitors and influences, as well as the home of the Chinese civilization abroad. This sea-borne influence dates to an antiquity at least co-eternal with the start of land-borne contact made famous by the silk trade in the first century B.C.

Being farthest from imperial grace or wrath, and the closest to the sea lanes of the western Pacific and South China Sea, the people of this area possess in addition to a habitual defiance of the north a liveliness of outlook and quickness of temper and wit commensurate with their advantageous geographical location. These traits, along with their shorter, lighter wirier build, contrast tellingly with the sturdy build, steady deportment and stoic temperament of the people of the north. From early centuries these southerners and northerners worked intensively as agriculturists over a land that is over sixty percent mountainous. This has meant an ecological approach to nature and its resources that over the centuries influenced Chinese mores, values, institutions and culture.

From the rice economy of the south to the cultivation of drought resistant crops in the north, the Chinese to this day practice intensive farming. With China’s perennial population density, which is highest in the Pearl River Delta, this intensive agriculture has accustomed the Chinese to the fullest use of human labor in the closest of human association for the utmost human advantage. Yet, at best, only a marginal living was possible during "good" years in the well-watered valleys of the Yellow, Yangzi, and Pearl Rivers. The view of nature and humans fostered from this experience contrasts distinctly with that of a variegated landscape. This view deals with the foibles of nature, fortuitous or calamitous, in intimate and personal terms. From the earliest of times, the Chinese learned to live within this landscape, not to alter or to command it.

It is a special characteristic of this south that from among this intensive agrarian population were to come some of China's numerous and noteworthy seafaring personages of commerce and various enterprises. But, unlike their Western counterparts, these Chinese of Guangdong and Fujian traveled far not to "discover" other peoples and leave sagas of their voyaging adventures. Many of them left with intentions to return. There were reasons for departures and there were reasons for return.

By the end of the eighteenth century, Chinese had entered one of their great turning points within their own geohistorical paradigms of change. The alien Manchu dynasty had already enjoyed a hundred years of splendors of conquest and now faced, with no escaping, the inevitable and traditional downward sweep of the dynastic cycle - cyclical patterns of corruption, excessive taxation, natural disasters, rural unrest and banditry. For another 112 years to come, the Manchu rulers fitfully coped with these traditional causes and results of dynastic decline, without fully knowing some other fundamental factors which conspired to make the Qing the last of China's dynasties.

Put simply, China had entered a dernographic change that was to outstrip any Confucian theory of the economic and fiscal management and organization of society. The population rose from 143 million in 1741 to 430 million in 1850, a rise of 200 percent, while cultivable land increased from 549 million mu (1 mu equalling 1/6 acre) in 1661 to 737 million in 1833, an increase of only 35 percent. On a new continent, a doubling or even tripling of the population over a century would be a boon to life, but not so in an old economy of essential self-sufficiency. That marginal balance between humans and nature, so preferred in philosophy and arduously maintained in tillage, now began to tilt increasingly toward personal and collective disaster.

The Pearl River Delta area had enjoyed during the Ming and high-Qing eras a long period of economic well-being. During the Ming especially, the economy of the area, while mostly agricultural, had seen great advances in porcelain and metal crafts, silk manufacture, pond fish industries, sugar growing and milling, and other activities. The region had also come to be tied to northern areas in a rich web of inter-regional trade through numerous river valleys that penetrated the Nanling Mountains. All such economic well-being however, was not blessed by official economic policies and in the end rested upon the sufficiency of agricultural production. Demographic changes now dislocated this base.

The woes of south China increased throughout the nineteenth century. The demographic imbalance made this part of China restless and prone to foreign covetousness. Great Britain, which had been knocking on Chinese doors for about a century seeking trade, now settled upon opium to enter the China market, for it was the only commodity that the Chinese would pay for. Every vice associated with opium now exacerbated other conditions afflicting South China. The war between Great Britain and China over opium (although British reasons referred to practices of law, state and commerce), far from settling the opium issue, actually multiplied the throes of hardships attendant to dynastic decline and pressure of population on land. The opening of five ports in the 1840s (eleven by the 1860s) shifted economic activities northward along the eastern seacoast, thus adversely affecting the livelihood of boatmen, carriers, transport workers, craftsman and the like who depended on the inland interregional trade. Such a dislodgement created a drifting population in the southern river valleys to mix with the soldiers who were not formally decommissioned and demobilized after the Opium Wars. This way, a restless and floating population became armed in their discontent.

The land, however, saw increasing activities of the secret societies, known in the north as jiao and in south as hui. They provided law, stability and identity, not on the national level but meaningful on the local and sectarian level, a sign of both the problem and its partial solutions. Then again, south China absorbed all these dislocations into its existing separatism of language and peoples. The people of the Xiangshang (Fragrant Hills) district thought of themselves as the bendi (boondi in dialect pronunciation, meaning "original locals"), while a group that had settled in the East River area came to be called the kejia (Hakka in local pronounciation, meaning "guest people"). Social and economic irredentism now inflamed each other, soon to involve other nationality groups, especially in Guangxi province.
"It is no wonder that most of the great figures of reform and revolution hailed from the south of China."

These mid-nineteenth century difficulties within and without are known in Chinese parlance as neiluan waihuo (literally, "internal disorder and external disaster"). Into this midst came the Yellow River in rampant anger, breaching dikes and changing its exit to the East China Sea and causing untold hardship, with drought and famine in the wake.

All human and natural factors seemed to have converged in producing the great Taiping upheaval in mid-century. Hong Xiuquan, a Hakka and feverish after repeated failures at the imperial civil service examination which would have rewarded turn with honor and his family with status, took to rebellion as a way to redress injustice. He fancied himself as the younger brother of Christ and coupled this eclectic Christianity with an appeal to egalitarian elements in the popular Chinese tradition to win himself a following. Something of this mix must have appealed to people, for his movement to topple the Manchus became a phenomenon that covered sixteen of China's eighteen provinces and lasted fourteen years from 1850 to 1864. The Taipings (meaning "grand peace"), starting in the Canton area, passing into Guangxi province and ending with a capital at Nanking, nearly succeeded as a heavenly kingdom on earth. Many still see in this movement a revolutionary nature, although it cast itself in the rhetoric of a traditional rebellion. Its appearance at all summed up the social and economic ills of the Chinese state at the time. As a movement, it linked the Lingnan and Jiangnan areas to give the Manchu rulers a composite set of "southern" problems. The Manchus, eventually with northern and central gentry-official aid, quashed the rebellion, even though internal dissension of the Taiping movement should shoulder a good part of the responsibility for its failure and demise.

In any event, the Taiping and its suppression illustrated the premium Chinese have habitually given to internal factors of causation. The government viewed this uprising by far as a greater problem, because of its internal (nei) character, than the external (wai) challenge of the western powers. It bent its resources to cope with it, while the foreign presence continued to increase. When the movement was finally quelled in the mid-1860s, the foreign threat had consolidated and the southern element had been greatly weakened, though not necessarily appeased. The Manchu, or northern, suppression now drove many abroad. Economic distress, social disgruntlement and now political displacement moved the southern outlook overseas. Macao and Hong Kong became staging points for farther havens. Was it merely accident that the first contract for Chinese labor to come to Hawaii, for instance, dated to 1852?

Be that as it may, the Chinese exodus from this southern homeland was now in earnest. Plantation laborers and railroad workers, restaurant owners and laundry operators, small shopkeepers and creditors in several continents bore southern Chinese surnames. While these figures helped to write the history of Chinese overseas, there were also reformers and revolutionaries among them who had the home country at heart. It is no wonder that most of the great figures of reform and revolution hailed from the south of China. Among the reformers, Kang Youwei came from Nanhai and Liang Qichao from Xinhui, the former of the Hundred Days’ Reform fame in 1898, and the latter as the singlemost important publicist of new ideas in early twentieth-century China. The revolutionary Sun Wen (Sun Yat-sen as he is known to the world), born when the Taipings were quelled, came from Fragrant Hills (Xiangshang) and felt inspired by the exploits of Hong Xiuquan, perhaps a fellow Hakka. San came to Hawaii (known to China as the Sandalwood Fragrance Mountains even to this day) in the 1870S for schooling and returned to Honolulu in the mid-1890s to found the Xingzhonghui (Revive China Society), ancestral organization of modern China's nationalist revolutionary party. Sun Yat-sen enjoined the sentimentalities of the two fragrant hills, his country of birth and his overseas base of pioneer revolutionary aspirations.

With the mid-nineteenth-century emigration and Sun Yat-sen's exploits, South China came to acquire an overseas (haiwai) character. The North may persist in viewing the South as Jiangnan, Lingnan, and now haiwai, but the view of China from abroad is essentially that of this southern character of Chinese, slight of build, wiry and diligent, alert in wit and commercial acumen, restless and yet purposeful, defiant of the North and of orthodoxy of power (undifferentiated most of the time) as well as patriotic to a China of imagined unity, and resilient in every human situation.

Which is the truer China, the North which views the South in auxiliary terms, or the South which experienced the demographic realities of the mother body to produce reformist impulses, a revolutionary dedication and overseas character and credibility? History may yet produce a verdict.

1998-2001 Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Hawaii Foundation
http://sunyatsenhawaii.org/english/research/kwok-south.html

pickering - wikipedia

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William A. Pickering
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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William A. Pickering (1840–1907) was the first Protector appointed (in 1877) by the British government to administer the Chinese Protectorate in colonial Singapore. He was the first European official in Singapore who could speak fluent Mandarin and Hokkien and gained the trust of many of the Singapore Chinese. His efforts went a long way towards controlling the problems posed by the secret societies then. Pickering Street in Singapore's Chinatown is named after him.

Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Departing to Singapore
3 Arriving in Singapore
4 Larut Wars
5 Chinese Protector
6 Assignment in Negeri Sembilan
7 References

[edit] Background
Before becoming the Chinese Protector, William Pickering had previously served a 10-year term in Hong Kong's Chinese Maritime Customs Service. He could therefore speak many Chinese dialects such as Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien, Foochew, Teochew, and Mandarin itself.

[edit] Departing to Singapore
In 1871, Singapore's Governor Sir Harry Ord, who was back in London on leave, came across William Pickering. Ord was pleasantly surprised by Pickering's fluency in essential Chinese dialects. The British Government in Singapore had been having trouble communicating with the Chinese during that time, as most officials were ignorant of Chinese culture and language. This had caused many Chinese to join secret societies in Singapore, resulting in turf wars and other disturbances that threatened the stability of the settlement. Ord thus recognised the need for an official who could communicate with the Chinese and hired Pickering on the spot. In January 1872, Pickering departed for Singapore.

[edit] Arriving in Singapore
Once in Singapore, Pickering was appalled at how Chinese dialect translations of European officials referred to judges as "demons", police as "big dogs" and Europeans in general as "red-haired demons". There were also 'post office riots' between the Hokkiens and Teochews over who had the right to send money and letters back to China. An unusual technique he employed to quell the riots was to walk up and down the streets playing his bagpipes. This unusual sight often subdued the Chinese onlookers. Pickering, with his command of dialects, would then help to sort out the differences.

[edit] Larut Wars
Pickering played a part in putting an end to the incessant troubles between the Ghee Hin and Hai San who had engaged in open warfare over the tin fields at Larut since 1861. When Sir Andrew Clarke wished to gather together the heads of both secret societies together for a peace conference he first sent Pickering up to Penang. Pickering was to behave as if he were acting on his own responsibility. The seeds of peace thus informally sowed, Clarke could then officially invite the parties to peace talks together. Around 9 January 1874, together with McNair and Dunlop, Pickering met with Capitan China Chung Keng Quee a person of considerable influence with the Hai San secret society. (Here for more about Pickering's role in the ending of the Larut Wars.)

[edit] Chinese Protector
In 1876, an official British report into secret society activities was published. One recommendation in this report was that every coolie-to-be who arrived at Boat Quay should first encounter a British official who could speak his language and let the immigrant know that "there was an officer of the Government whose special duty is to protect and befriend him". In May 1877, William Pickering was appointed for this job under the title of "Protector". His office was located in a small shophouse along North Canal Road known as the Chinese Protectorate.

In a dramatic incident in 1887, Pickering was attacked by a Teochew carpenter, Chua Ah Siok, who was sent by one of the secret societies, the Ghee Hok Society, to kill him in retaliation for Pickering's constant meddling in business. Chua coolly walked up to Pickering's desk and threw an axe at him. The butt end of the axe blade struck Pickering on the forehead, causing serious injury, but Pickering survived.[1]

Previously, Pickering had worked in the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs in Fuzhou and Taiwan, and wrote an account of his time in Taiwan called Pioneering in Formosa.

Pickering retired as Protector in 1889, due to complications from the attack by Chua, and died on 26 January 1907.

[edit] Assignment in Negeri Sembilan
Further information: British Malaya
Pickering was sent to Sungai Ujong, Negeri Sembilan by the British in Malacca to aid a British ally. He successfully commanded 160 troops in 1874 to remove possible resistance leader in Sungai Ujong.

[edit] References
^ http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/insidetrack/s6_6.html
"What history textbooks don't tell you". The Straits Times. 2005. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/mnt/html/webspecial/insidetrack/s6_6.html.
Makepeace, Walter; Gilbert E. Brooke, and Roland St. J. Braddell (eds.) (1991). One Hundred Years of Singapore. Singapore: Oxford University Press

Sun Yatsen's Financing Revolution: Tiandihui/Tongmen

2009-04-19T23:53:00.000-07:00

"KET ON SOCIETY (Location: Maunakea Street, Chinatown): On January 8, 1904, Dr. Sun Yat-sen was inaugurated as a member of the Ket On Society in Honolulu, which was one of the Hung Meng organizations in Hawaii. The Ket On Society kept the membership records in which Dr. Sun’s name and the day he joined the Society were recorded."

Also fundamental to Sun's support network was his relation-
ship to Chinese secret societies. The very nature of secret societies
precluded the detailed recording of events, but Sun's association
with one such organization—the Hung-men, formed in 1674 and
also known as the Triads—was so extensive that adequate records
do exist to reconstruct many of his dealings with them.
47

Suntreasured this association, for the Hung-men gave generously to
his party, and in 1911 it merged with the T'ung-meng-hui, creating
a united organization
48

Sun first became associated with the Hung-men in 1903, when
he joined the Ket On Society, the Hung-men organization in
Hawai'i. His motives were a bit devious, for though the Hung-
men was committed to the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty, it
also favored the restoration of the Ming dynasty. Sun opposed
this, but he joined the society in order to tap its financial
resources. Strategically, it was a sound move, for Hung-men
members were committed to aiding each other, and Sun took full
advantage of this.
49

In fact, Sun's stature was such that, after his
initiation into the organization, he was promoted to marshal, the
second highest position in the society.
50

In 1904, Sun sailed to San Francisco, the headquarters for the
Hung-men in America. Using the authority invested in him in
Honolulu, he convinced leaders of the society to let him rewrite its
constitution. Sun produced a constitution of 80 articles that over-
night converted the Hung-men into a revolutionary group with
goals mirroring those of the T'ung-meng-hui.

Needless to say, Sun attempted to extract money from Hung-
men members. Article 62b of the constitution stipulated that all
members had to reregister each year by sending $1.00 to the head
office. The potential contributions were enormous since the
organization had one hundred thousand members.
51

Sun's most lucrative contact with the Hung-men occurred in
Canada on the eve of the 1911 Chinese revolution. On four consec-
utive nights, Sun addressed audiences of more than 1,000. He
devised with local Hung-men members a scheme in which they
could harness this enthusiastic support and turn it into concrete
funds. They decided that Sun would give an exceptionally pas-
sionate speech at the Heng-men headquarters in Victoria and
leave the auditorium directly after finishing it. Playing on the
emotional high that Sun would have created, Hung-meng leaders
would suggest that they mortgage the society's building and offer
the money to Sun. This strategy paid off, as the organization
wholeheartedly supported the idea and agreed to give the money
to Sun.
52

Sun brilliantly manipulated this support and created a band-
wagon effect in the rest of Canada. Soon Hung-men societies in
Montreal and Toronto mortgaged their buildings, and a few
wealthy merchants donated generously to the cause. Much of the groundwork had been laid for Sun, but he certainly was the inspi-
ration that triggered this financial windfall. This effort enabled
Sun to send $70,000 to the T'ung-meng-hui office in Hong Kong,
and this money was primarily responsible for funding the revolt in
April 1911.
53

A few months after the Canadian venture, Sun devised yet
another fund-raising project through the Hung-men. With
$1,000,000 as his goal, Sun proposed the formation of a Chinese
Industrial Company and intended to sell 10,000 shares of stock for
$100 a share. He envisioned a company headquarters in San Fran-
cisco with offices eventually opening in other cities. His major
pitch was that the company would be given monopoly mining
rights in China for ten years, and therefore the stockholders
would directly benefit. Sun, however, could not convince the
Hung-men members, and without their support he could not
form the company.
54

Although Sun chose socialism as one of the fundamental princi-
ples of the Chinese future he envisioned, he readily employed the
capitalist tools such as mortgages, bonds, stocks, and loans in his
fund raising for the T'ung-meng-hui. While in the United States
he conceived a plan to monopolize the export of Malay tin. In let-
ters to T'ung-meng-hui leaders, Sun described the plan and
urged that all Chinese owners of tin mines form a syndicate to
control tin exports. Sun had arranged with a broker in New York
an import contract pending the guarantee that Malaya would sell
the United States at least half of its exported tin. It was a shrewd
plan, for it would take control of the price of tin away from the
British, who had previously administered its export from Malaya.
Not only would Sun gain a sizeable commission, but Chinese
exporters would increase their profits. The syndicate was never
formed, however, and the project had to be abandoned. The Chi-
nese exporters were vaguely ambivalent, and the T'ung-meng-
hui was unable to convince them of the monopoly's merits.
55

During the 16 years that Sun was collecting funds for the revo-
lution, the overseas Chinese, especially those in Southeast Asia,
were his most important resource.
56

Systematically declared per-sona non grata by Asian governments, Sun himself found it increasingly difficult to tap this source himself. Thus he entrusted fundraising among overseas Chinese in Asia to other T'ung-meng-hui
leaders while he traveled to the West. This was the background
that led to Sun's most ambitious and complex financial scheme.

s a result of a series of letters and meetings, Sun was united
with four very different men. Homer Lea was a Stanford gradu-
ate, military enthusiast, and a hunchback whose personality was
as unusual as his posture. Charles Boothe was a former New York
banker forced into retirement because of ill health. W. W. Allen
was a successful Wall Street financier and childhood friend of
Boothe. Last, there was Yung Wing, a Yale graduate and elderly
reformist leader living in Connecticut. Together, these men
formed an American syndicate in March 1910 and drew up a
detailed plan to overthrow the Manchus. The whole project
involved more than $10,000,000 dollars. Sun naturally took the
office of president and commanded the whole proceeding. Lea
was the "commanding general" in charge of all military opera-
tions. Boothe became the "sole foreign agent" and was responsi-
ble for much of the overall coordination of their activities. Allen
was the essential contact with Wall Street money, and Yung acted
as the mediator between the revolutionary groups in the United
States and those in Asia
57

These five men acted out an intriguing plot to finance a revolu-
tion. Offering concessions similar to those already mentioned,
Sun and his entourage came surprisingly close to pulling off this
deal. Early on, Lea had raised more than $1,000,000 dollars in
cash and had obtained promises of another $1,000,000.
58

In February 1909, Allen was confident that he had found a group that
would lend the revolutionaries the needed cash.
59

In reality, the money never materialized. Allen did meet with J. P. Morgan,
American financier, a number of times, but Morgan could not be
convinced. A Morgan representative gave at least one reason for
not offering the loan: "I am ready to do business with any estab-
lished government on earth but I cannot . . . make a government
to do business with."
60

Sun was undeniably disappointed with the outcome. He had once even told Lea that "all our hopes are pinned on the American plan."
61

Financing Revolution: Sun Yat-sen and
the Overthrow of the Ch'ing Dynasty
Allen F. Damon

http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:20_w57mHWYgJ:scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/6572/1/JL25167.pdf+sun+yat+sen+secret+societies&cd=37&hl=en&ct=clnk

1 "Dr. Sun Advocates a Revolt in China," PCA, 14 Dec. 1903.
2 Henry Bond Restarick, Sun Yat-sen: Liberator of China (New Haven: Yale U P, 1931) 13-6.
3 Jen Yu-wen and Lindsay Ride, Sun Yat-sen, Liberator of China (Hong Kong: U of Hong Kong, 1970) 10.
4 Restarick, Sun Yat-sen 25.
5 Restarick, Sun Yat-sen 25.
6 Wang Gungwu, "Sun Yat-sen and Singapore," Journal of the South Seas Society, 15 (Dec. 1959): 57.
7 Jen and Ride, Sun Yat-sen 18.
8 Jen and Ride, Sun Yat-sen 14-5.
9 Harold Z. Schiffrin, Sun Yat-sen and the Origins of the Chinese Revolution (Berkeley: U of California P, 1968) 30.
10 Culture 6 (Mar. 1965): 22. Chun-tu Hsueh, "An Early Chinese Revolutionary Organization: Controversy Concerning Its Founding," Chinese Culture 6 (Mar. 1965):22.
11 C. Martin Wilbur, Sun Yat-sen: Frustrated Patriot (New York: Columbia U P, 1976) 13.
12 Loretta O. Pang, "The Chinese Revolution: Its Activities and Meaning in Hawaii," B.A. honors thesis, U of Hawaii, 1963, 20.
13 Pang, "The Chinese Revolution" 3.
14 Restarick, Sun Yat-sen 43-5.
15 Yen Ching Hwang, The Overseas Chinese and the 1911 Revolution (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford U P, 1976) 149.
16 See, for example, the statements cited in Restarick, Sun Yat-sen 53-4 and 60-1.
17 Thomas W. Ganschow, "A Study of Sun Yat-sen's Contacts with the United States Prior to 1922, " diss., Indiana U, 1971, 47.
18 T'ang Leang-Li, The Inner History of the Chinese Revolution (New York: E. P.Dutton, 1930) 46-7.
19 Ganschow, "A Study" 31.
20 Sun Yat-sen, "The True Solution to the Chinese Question," unpublished paper, New York, 1904, 11-2.
21 Pang, "The Chinese Revolution" 21; Diane M. L. Mark, Seasons of Light: The History of Chinese Christian Churches in Hawaii (Honolulu: Chinese Christian Association of Hawaii, 1989) 29-3o and 47-8. Damon had spent some time in China in the 1870s studying the language and culture. His wife was the daughter of missionaries to China and spoke Cantonese fluently.
22 Ganschow, "A Study" 9.
23 Pang, "The Chinese Revolution" 20.
24 Restarick, Sun Yat-sen 101.
25 Sun Yat-sen, letter to F. W. Damon, 8 Feb. 1912, C. F. Damon, Jr. Papers, HMCS.
26 Robert L. Worden, "K'ang Yu-Wei, Sun Yat-Sen, et al. and the Bureau of Immigration, Ch'ing-shih wen-t'i, 2, no. 6 (June 1971): 5-9. See, also, Restarick, Sun Yat-sen 6-9.
27 Wilbur, Sun Yat-sen 56.
28 Marius B. Jansen, The Japanese and Sun Yat-sen (Cambridge: Harvard U P, 1954) 68-74; Shelley, Hsien Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui: Its Organization, Leadership, and Finances, 1905-1912," diss., U of Washington, 1962, 28-9; Wilbur, Sun Yat-sen 57.
29 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 29.
30 Jansen, The Japanese and Sun Yat-sen 117-8.
31 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 164-5.
32 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 333.
33 L. Eve Armentrout Ma, Revolutionaries, Monarchists, and Chinatowns: Chinese Politics in the Americas and the 1911 Revolution (Honolulu: U of Hawaii P, 1990) 162.
34 Wilbur, Sun Yat-sen 42.
35 Wang, "Sun Yat-sen and Singapore" 59.
36 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 174.
37 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 175
38 Wang, "Sun Yat-sen and Singapore" 62.
39 Ma, Revolutionaries 42-3.
40 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 173-4.
41 Wang, "Sun Yat-sen and Singapore" 65.
42 Ma, Revolutionaries 154.
43 Wang, "Sun Yat-sen and Singapore" 62-3.
44 Wang, "Sun Yat-sen and Singapore" 62; Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 177.
45 Jansen, The Japanese and Sun Yat-sen 127 and 252-3.
46 New York Times, 14 Oct- 1911:2.
47 S. Y. Teng, "Dr. Sun Yat-sen and Chinese Secret Societies," Studies on Asia (Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1963) 84 and 86; Pang, "The Chinese Revolution" 12.
48 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 196-7.
49 Pang, "The Chinese Revolution" 11-25 and 45.
50 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 46.
51 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 47.
52 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 192-4; Ma, Revolutionaries 137-8.
53 Ma, Revolutionaries 138.
54 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 196.
55 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 184.
56 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 163.
57 Key Ray Chong, "The Abortive American-Chinese Project for Chinese Revolution," Pacific Historical Review, 41 (Feb. 1972): 65-6; Ganschow, "A Study" 97.
58 Chong, "The Abortive American-Chinese Project" 59.
59 L. Eve Armentrout, "American Involvement in Chinese Revolutionary Activities, 1898-1913," master's thesis, California State C, Hayward, 1972, 118.
60 Chong, "The Abortive American-Chinese Project" 64 and 67.
61 Wilbur, Sun Yat-sen 71.
62 New York Times, 14 Oct - 1911:1.
63 Jansen, The Japanese and Sun Yat-sen 146 and 256.
64 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 179-80.
65 Chong, "The Abortive American-Chinese Project" 68; Cheng, "The T'ung Meng-Hui" 191.
66 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 15.
67 Jen and Ride, Sun Yat-sen 15.
68 Wilbur, Sun Yat-sen 40-1.
69 Cheng, "The T'ung-Meng-Hui" 189-90.
70 T'ang, The Inner History 51.
71 L. Eve Armentrout-Ma, "Chinese Politics in the Western Hemisphere 1893-1911: Rivalry between Reformers and Revolutionaries in the Americas," diss., U of California, Davis, 1977, 394.
72 Pang, "The Chinese Revolution" 21.
73 Schiffrin, Sun Yat-sen 325.
74 Wilbur. Sun Yat-sen 48.
75 New York Times, 21 July 1940:28.
76 Lyman L. Pierce, How to Raise Money (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1932) 26.
77 Pierce, How to Raise Money 29.
78 New York Times, 27 Jan. 1889:2.
79 Wilbur, Sun Yat-sen 40.
80 Pierce, How To Raise Money 108.
81 Wilbur, Sun Yat-sen 281.
82 C. Martin Wilbur, interview, Columbia U, New York, 23 Sept. 1982.
83 Wilbur, interview.
84 Sun Yat-sen, 10 Letters of Sun Yat-sen (Stanford,: Stanford U Libraries, 1942) 9.
85 Wilbur, Sun Yat-sen 289.
86 Publicity Department of the Central Executive Committee, Dr. Sun Yat-sen, His Life and Achievements (n.d., n.p.) 267; Schiffrin, Sun Yat-sen 267. Four different "dying words" have been attributed to Sun. These two sources mention these words.

On the overseas Chinese secret societies of Australia

2009-04-19T23:09:00.000-07:00

In the period since the 19th century over 20 million Chinese have migrated overseas. Many of the earliest of these migrants worked initially as coolies in mines and goldfields, on road construction sites and plantations and pastures throughout Southeast Asia, North America, Australia and New Zealand. L.A. Mills has claimed that: “Wherever the Chinese coolie came the Hung League followed”,3 and this seems to be an accurate reflection of the situation amongst the overseas Chinese migrant communities in the 19th century.

3.L.A. Mills, British Malaya, 1824-67 (1925; reprinted Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University
Press, 1966), p. 211

Page 1

"In Australia, the majority of Chinese secret societies also referred to themselves as the “Yee Hing Company”, indicating that the League had spread there from Southeast Asia. We must conclude, therefore, that there existed two channels for Hung League expansion to Australia: one flowed directly from Mainland China; the other was by way of Southeast Asia."

Page 5

It remains difficult to establish a precise date for the founding of the Hung
League in Australia. As a secret society, the Hung League’s organisational
activities were conducted through clandestine channels and were never
disclosed to outsiders. Of one thing can we be sure, however, and that is that
the Hung League entered Australia during the Gold Rush years. During that
period of time, large numbers of Chinese came to Australia in search of gold.
As the Chinese flooded in, the Hung League followed.
During the 1850s, gold mines continued to be discovered in Australia,
and the news of these new finds spread rapidly to Europe and throughout the
rest of the world. As a result, hundreds and thousands of Chinese gold rushers
swarmed to these “New Gold Mountain” fields in Australia. Most of these
gold rushers were poor peasants or indigent labourers from the coastal areasof Guangdong and Fujian Provinces. Specifically, they were Cantonese from
the countryside around Canton and from the Pearl River Delta who arrived in
Australia via Hong Kong or Fujianese from Xiamen (Amoy).
The rapid population increase in these regions from the mid-Qing period onwards had
exacerbated the crisis in the supply of available arable land. Taking the Pearl
River Delta region as an example, the 13 counties that made up this region
occupied an area of some 20,000 square kilometres, comprising 10% of the
total territory of Guangdong Province. Yet the population reached upwards of
18 million, that is 50% of the total population of the Province.
The population density was even higher in the See Yap (Siyi) region and Chung
Shan (Zhongshan) County, with between 1,500-1,600 people per square
kilometre.15

These regions were amongst the most densely populated areas in
the world at the time. The shortage in arable land displaced from these areas
many peasants who had little or no land, forcing them into vagrancy in other
provinces and overseas. Life was far from easy for them, afflicted as they
were also by both natural and man-made disasters, and oppression at the
hands of foreigners. In keeping with their need for mutual support, their
desire for an association based on sworn brotherhood and which maintained
the principle of “All for one and one for all” was a pressing one. It was
precisely this historical context that gave rise to the Hung League. Research
has revealed that once the Hung League had been established in Zhangzhou in
Fujian Province in 26 the year of the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1761),
16 it spread rapidly in the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Fujian.
By the 1850s, the League: “had spread throughout [Guangdong] and had reached as far as Guangxi Province”, “infecting also the Wu and Chu regions”.
17

Large numbers of poor peasants and indigent labourers joined the
Hung League in order to obtain mutual aid and to safeguard their livelihoods.
Even more did the Hung League of this period speak to the needs of the
migrant Chinese communities, and it appears that it held especial attraction to
Chinese collies and workers. As large numbers of Chinese labours arrived in
the goldfields of Australia, so too did the Hung League, spreading widely throughout the Australian Chinese community. A point that very much needs to be borne in mind is that during the 1850s the Taiping Rebellion broke out in Southern China, along with the Hung League led Red Turban Rebellion. Upon the defeat of both these
uprisings, the Qing Imperial authorities launched a cruel campaign to suppress both the remnant Taiping army and the Hung League. Many of the key
leaders of these movements joined the gold rush and fled to Australia. It is recorded that in 1864, after the defeat of Taiping Rebellion, the Southern Conquering King Huang Deci(a man from Xinhui County,Guangdong Province) led his remaining soldiers and: “fleeing in dozens of boats, crossed the South China Sea, and finally arrived in Darwin Harbour in northern Australia. Their arrival coincided with the opening up of the New Gold Mountain, and thus they proceeded to this place and became gold
miners”.
18

According al so to the memoirs of an earl y overseas Chinese named Yang Tangcheng
, of the six brothers of his great grandfather Yang Shenglong’s I generation, two participated in the Red Turban Rebellion in Poon Yee (Fan’ou) County of Guangdong Province, led by Gan Xian of the Hung League. Both were executed by the Qing armies after the defeat of the uprising, and in order to avoid guilt by association, one other brother fled to New Zealand to join the gold rush. Some years later, Yang
Tangcheng’s grandfather Yang Xiongda. and two of his brothers also fled overseas. The eldest went to Australia to become a gold miner, the two other men to New Zealand and America respectively as coolies.
19

As key members of the Hung League, these men had all proved themselves to be able
organisers. It is said that once Huang Deci had established himself in the New
Gold Mountain area of Australia, he immediately established the Hung League
run “Yee Hing Company”, and that the present office building of the “Yee Hing Company” in Bendigo (on the site of a former Guan Yu Temple) was
actually built by Huang Deci.20

In my view, the course of the Hung League’s dissemination and development amongst the Chinese migrants to Australia may be broadly divided into three phases.
First Phase (1851–75): This was a period when the influx of Chinese
migrants into Australia as part of the gold rush reached a peak; it was also the
period during which the Hung League membership become widespread amongst the Chinese labourers. About 55,000 Chinese arrived in Australia during this period,
21 most of whom gathered at the gold fields of New South Wales and Victoria. At the time, the gold production of areas like Ballarat and Bendigo in Victoria led to a concentration there of Chinese people

Page 7

According to statistics, in 1853 there were 2000 Chinese labours in Ballarat;
three years later this figure had increased to 25,000, the Chinese population
comprising a quarter of the total population of the area. By 1859, the Chinese
population of Victoria had reached a total of 42,000. In New South Wales
there was a Chinese population of 21,000 Chinese in 1861, comprising 1/6 of
its total population.
22
In large groups, these Chinese crossed mountains and
forded rivers in search of gold, setting up their huts whenever and wherever
they discovered a mine. Exposed to the harsh climate and the depredations
of wild beasts, they were also subject to attack by both the aborigine
population and the white colonialists, occasionally resulting in loss of life.
Apart from relying for mutual aid on their fellow townsmen and fellow
clansmen, the Chinese also welcomed the expansion of the activities of the
Hung League, an organisation that displayed the strongest cohesive power and
which conducted most of its activities in a clandestine manner. At present it is
impossible to know the exact number of the League’s membership in this
period, but comparison with what we know of Hung League development in
Southeast Asia and North America, along with statistics from the later stages
of the development of the League in Australia does permit us to make some
conjectures. According to Victor Purcell, of the 27,000 Chinese in Singapore
in 1850, 20,000 were members of the Hung League; that is, almost 80% of
the Chinese population of Singapore had secret society affiliations.

numbers of Chinese quit mining and turned to other forms of employment,
many of them removing to the cities to take up jobs in the industrial or
commercial sectors of the economy. Sydney and Melbourne became the two
most important centres of Chinese population concentration. In 1881, the
Chinese population of Melbourne had totalled 1,057, that of Sydney, 1,321.
By 1891, however, the Chinese population of Melbourne had reached 2,143,
and that of Sydney 3,499; in other words, the Chinese populations of these
cities had doubled within the decade.
27
Chinese guild and clan halls were
established one after another within the Chinatowns of these cities. The office
building of the “Yee Hing Company” too shifted in to Chinatown. During
this period also, leadership of the Hung League in Australia was assumed by
experienced members of the League and by successful businessmen and
industrialists, such as Lee Yuan Sam
in Melbourne, Moy Sing
and James A. Chuey
in New South Wales and so on.
28
Third Phase (1901-21): This period saw an increasing sense of
nationalism within the Hung League in Australia and was a period also when
the social and political activities of the Hung League reached a high point.
Firstly, during this period, immediately after the establishment of the
Federation of Australia in 1901, the Australian Federal Government passed the
Immigration Restriction Act, an Act that served to give both systematic and
legal expression to the “White Australia Policy”.
Racist sentiment spread
throughout society and the frequency of anti-Chinese and anti-coloured
incidents increased.
Naturally, these anti-Chinese incidents could not but
serve to arouse the nationalist sentiments of both the Chinese in Australia at
the time and the Hung League.
Secondly, at the beginning of the 20
th
century a revolutionary movement to overthrow the Qing Dynasty developed
in China. The propaganda campaign on the part of the revolutionaries, led by
Dr Sun Yat-sen, encouraged Hung League members in Australia to express
widespread anti-Manchu sentiment. For the first time, they came to realise
that it was necessary to make a connection between their own fates and that of
the future of their motherland and they began to participate self-consciously in
social and political activities:
(a) They initiated a campaign against the “White Australia Policy” and
petitioned for the establishment of a Chinese Consulate in Australia.
(b)They supported Dr Sun Yat-sen’s revolutionary programme for the
overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of a republic,
working together with the republicans to set up a Young China League and
otherwise actively seeking to raise funds for the revolutionary cause. In
1911, a sum of £1,300 was raised and sent to Dr Sun Yat-sen personally.
27
C.F. Yong, The New Gold Mountain: The Chinese in Australia, 1901-21,pp. 218-20.
28
Ibid.
Page 10
Secret Societies
39
After the Wuchang uprising, the Hung League continued to collect
contributions for the revolutionaries and in partnership with the Young
China League, the “Yee Hing Company” raised £4,700 in Melbourne,
£4,758 in Sydney, whilst £1,900 was raised from the Chinese in Western
Australia. Between June, 1912 and 1913, Chinese in Australia and
throughout the South Pacific region raised altogether the sum of £26,000
for the Nanjing revolutionary government, as an expression of their
patriotic support for the Republic.
29
(c) They actively participated in anti-Yuan Shikai activities and supported the
Northern Expedition of the Guangdong Military Government. In China,
Yuan Shikai’s usurpation of power after the 1911 Revolution sparked off
the “Second Revolution”. Apart from publishing “The China Republic
News” in order to denounce Yuan Shikai’s actions, leaders of the
Australian Chinese Hung League such as James A. Chuey, Moy Sing and
the others also enthusiastically raised funds to support the anti-Yuan ShiKai
movement in Southern China. In 1916, the Chinese Masonic Society in
Sydney established a “Hung League Fund Raising Committee”, and James
A. Chuey and Moy Sing embarked upon a tour of Victoria and Tasmania
in order to rally the support of “Yee Hing Company” members for this
cause. The sum of £2,900 was raised and sent to Dr Sun Yat-sen to
support the Southern China revolutionaries. In 1918, in order to support
the Guangdong military government’s expedition against local warlords,
the Chinese Masonic Society of Sydney raised a further £2,300.
30
(d)As social and political circumstances changed, the Chinese Hung League in
Australia also began to adapt its organisational structure and nomenclature.
Firstly, the “Yee Hing Company” began to accept membership from all
sectors of the Chinese community; rich merchants and poor vegetable
gardeners alike, carpenters as well as street vendors, all met the
requirements for membership of the “Company”. Generally, however,
although there was a higher percentage of working class members, control
of the “Company” remained in the hands of rich Chinese merchants. In
1912, the headquarters of the “Yee Hing Company” was established in
New South Wales, later on becoming the headquarters of the Aligned Yee
Hing Company, and adopting the English name: “The Chinese Masonic
Society”.
In 1914, “Yee Hing Company” in Melbourne underwent
reform and adopted the same English name. During the period 1916-18,
once the Chinese Masonic Society had opened up its activities to the public,
branches of the Chinese Masonic Society appeared throughout Australia,
29
Ibid.
30
Ibid.
Page 11
Cai Shaoqing
40
publicising their activities and membership lists in the local Chinese-
language newspapers. All these branches took their direction from the
Sydney headquarters.
Between 1918-21, the Sydney headquarters
convened four Interstate Chinese Masonic Society Consolidation
Conferences, and inaugurated its own newspaper, “The Chinese World
News” in 1921. This latter served as a forum for important political issues
and gave expression to the increasing influence of the League. The Hung
League of Australia had by now completely escaped from its clandestine
past, and its history as a secret society had come to an end.
The Nature, Characteristics and Social Role of the
Chinese Hung League in Australia
It has now been more than 150 years since the Heaven Earth League first
arrived in Australia along with the large number of Chinese labourers who
came to Australia to join in the gold rush from 1851 onwards. Although the
original slogan of the League had been “To overthrow the Qing and Restore
the Ming”, it had in essence been an association by, of and for indigent
labourers seeking mutual aid and support. Once it had commenced its
activities overseas, the entire context of these activities changed fundamentally;
no longer did it have to contend with the Qing imperial government or the
feudalistic control of the Scholar-gentry class, but rather the discrimination and
oppression of a Western colonial power. As a consequence, the Hung League
in Australia could no longer be said to be defined by the slogan “To
overthrow the Qing and Restore the Ming”, and the League’s original nature
as an association devoted to resistance to tyranny and to mutual aid came to
the fore. Large numbers of Chinese labourers, finding themselves now in a
foreign land, without relatives or acquaintances to turn to in times of need,
swore oaths of brotherhood and joined the Hung League in order to
undertake mutual aid activities to protect the economic rights and common
interests of the Chinese and to oppose the oppression and discrimination of
both the Western colonial government and the European settlers. Under
normal circumstances, the Hung League arranged jobs for them, mediated
their disputes, and assisted with the everyday difficulties of birth, old age,
sickness and death and so on. One source records that: “in their initial phases,
the “Yee Hing Companies” of both New South Wales and Victoria undertook
a great many good works on the behalf of their members. The companies
encouraged amongst their members a sense of brotherhood and helped them
find employment, all to protect the interests of members”.
31
31
Ibid., pp. 112-116.
Page 12
Secret Societies
41
During times of anti-Chinese violence, they sought legal protection for
their members through petitions and appeals to public sympathy. When a
violent anti-Chinese incident broke out in the Baklan gold fields in Victoria in
July, 1857, and the colonial government began to impose a resident’s tax of
£1 per person per month, the Chinese gold miners rallied to petition the
government of Victoria with a statement of their plight. As a result of their
efforts, the Victorian State Parliament decided to reduce this tax to £1 per
person every three months.
32
In 1861, when another violent anti-Chinese
incident occurred in the lowlands of Lanming in New South Wales, as many as
600 Chinese joined the Chinese speaking interpreter James Henley in
petitioning the colonial government for legal protection. Driven by his strong
sense of social justice, Henley presented a report to the Australian authorities
demanding legal protection for Chinese labourers.
33
In an editorial dated 2
nd
August, 1861, the Sydney Morning Herald also
expressed its sympathy for the suffering of the Chinese, stating: “In all respects,
they are excellent; one does not see them wallowing on the ground drunk; one
does not see them shabbily dressed, and nor do they make a display of their
poverty in order to gain public sympathy; they have their own broadly based
organisation to provide mutual support and help, and although they earn very
little, they still save some to send back to support their families”.
34
To my
mind, in terms of its resistance to the oppression of the colonial government
and its protection of the interests of the Chinese, the Hung League served
something of the role of an unofficial Chinese consulate.
In the course of its century or more of development, and in comparison
to similar Hung Leagues elsewhere, the Hung League of Australia, has two
obvious particularities. Firstly, in contrast to the circumstances that prevailed
in Southeast Asia and America, Australia was essentially without the type of
gang fight and Tong Wars between branches of the League which proved so
injurious to the social order of both the Chinese community and the local
society more generally. The main reason for this was because of the diversity
of the origins of the overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia and
America. Although the majority came from Guangdong and Fujian Provinces,
these overseas Chinese communities included also men who came from
Guangxi Province as well as ex-members of the “Three Rivers Gang” secret
society from throughout China. The communities they formed part of were
fragmented by dialect differences and, as a consequence, their Hung Leagues
too were divided.
In Malaya for example, during the 19
th
century, the Chinese community
was comprised of five main dialect groups and the Hung League there divided
32
Zhang Qiusheng, Aodaliya huaqiao huaren shi,p. 126.
33
Liu Weiping, Aozhou huaqiao shi [A History of the Chinese in Australia] (Taibei:
Xingdao chubanshe, 1989), pp. 112-16.
34
Quoted in Zhang Qiusheng, Aodaliya huaqiao huaren shi,p. 127.
Page 13
Cai Shaoqing
42
into groups like the Ghee Hin Society
, the Hai San Society
,
the Ho Seng Society ^, the Wah Sang Society
and the Toh Peh
Kong Society ..
35
Mutual misunderstanding, suspicion and hostility
often arouse between these groups as a result of differences in dialect, custom,
personality and nature of employment, occasionally resulting in conflict and
bloody strife. The secret societies played leading roles in these battles. Such
internecine struggles caused, in the case of Malaya, the two infamous Larut
Wars of 1862 and 1872.
In contrast, the Chinese in Australia, especially those who migrated
there during the gold rush period, were mainly from the Pearl River Delta of
Guangdong Province, whilst others came from the southern part of Fujian
Province. They lived in communities based upon their places of origin.
Although there is no detailed statistical record of the numbers of the earliest
Fujianese and Cantonese migrants to Australia, we can gain an impression of
the origins of these men from the existing Chinese gravestones of Ballarat.
480 of these gravestones provide clear record of origins of those buried. 250
of the gravestones record Ningyi (Xinning County) as the place of origin, this
representing over 52% of the total number. A further 123 gravestones give
Sun Hui in Gangzhou (Xinhui County) as place of origin, this in turn
representing another 26% of the total. The remaining 107 gravestones belong
to men from counties such as Tot shan (Taishan), Chang Shen (Zengcheng),
Xiangshan, Hoi Ping (Kaiping), Poon Yee (Fan’ou), Tung Kuan (Dongguan),
Soon Tack (Shunde), Ho Shan (Heshan) and so on. Not one gravestone is for
somebody from any other province.
36
The impression gained from such records is of a community which
spoke the same dialect of Cantonese and which was made up of men of very
similar physical features, ideology and character, thus reducing the likelihood
of mutual friction and conflict. With the exception of battle that took place on
Little Bourke Street in Melbourne in 1904 between the “Yee Hing Company”
and the Bo Leong Association over the profits from the opium and gambling
business, the history of the League in Australia is almost completely free of
violence or conflicts that derived from the existence of Chinese secret societies.
In fact, the reputation of the Bo Leong Association was so affected by this
fight that it was disbanded in 1912.
37
The second particularity of the Hung League in Australia was that it
became unified at an early stage, making use of English title “The Chinese
Masonic Society” to refer to the aligned headquarters of the “Yee Hing
35
L.F. Comber, Chinese Secret Societies in Malaya: A Survey of the Triad Society from
1800 to 1900,pp. 35-36.
36
Linda Brumley, Lu Bingqun & Zhao Xueru, eds., Fading Links to China: Ballarat’s
Chinese Gravestones and Associated Records, 1854-1955, Melbourne University History
Research Series # 2 (1992).
37
C.F. Yong, The Chinese in Australia, 1901-21,pp. 159-60.
Page 14
Secret Societies
43
Company”, in order that the Australian public understand the nature of the
“Yee Hing Company” and thus helping to facilitate the assimilation of the
league into Australian society. As is widely recognised, within many overseas
Chinese communities, the various secret societies were divisive elements which
inhibited any sense of unity within these communities. This remains the case
in a number of regions. The situation with the Chinese secret societies of
Australia is different. With the exception of the early gold rush period when
Hung League members were scattered throughout the various gold fields,
once the majority of Chinese had moved to live in the cities, the League too
moved the centre of it activities into the cities. By the end of the 19th century
and the beginning of the 20th century, two “Yee Hing Company” headquarters had been established; one in Sydney in New South Wales and the other in Melbourne in Victoria.
The Sydney headquarters was the first established, in Blackburn Street in 1908; this headquarters was later moved to Mary Street. The Melbourne headquarters was established in Little BourkeStreet.
The two headquarters co-operated frequently, and the connection between them was an intimate one. When the “Yee Hing Company” in New South Wales celebrated the opening of its Blackburn Street headquarters, the heads of the “Yee Hing Company” of Melbourne and Bendigo all attended the ceremony. When in 1912 the “Yee Hing Company” of Sydney adopted “The Chinese Masonic Society” as its English name, the “Yee Hing Company” of Melbourne followed suit in 1914. On the cover of the extant
Bendigo Hung League Pamphlet are written the words “Masonic Society”. In 1916, an aligned headquarters was established in New South Wales. In the same year, the aligned “Yee Hing Company” called on all “Yee Hing Companies” across Australia to become affiliated branches of the Sydney
headquarters. Between 1918-21, the Sydney headquarters convened four Interstate Consolidation Conferences of the Chinese Masonic Society and laid the foundation for a unified Australian Hung League in Australia. The change of name for the Hung League from “Yee Hing Company” to “The Chinese Masonic Society” not only won support from the Chinese community in Australia, but also facilitated an understanding of the League on the part of the Australian public, for the term “Free Mason” was one that they were familiar with. Although the Chinese Masonic Society did not undertake any of the rituals associated with the Australian Masonic Society, the sense of brotherhood and fraternity that the societies sought to foster were very similar. This served towards the greater purpose of the acceptance of the Chinese into Australian society. Apart from the similarity in the origins and backgrounds of members and a consequent reduction in the possibility of conflict, another characteristic of the League that allowed it to become unified at an early stage was to do
with its leadership. Men such as Lee Yuan Sam, Moy Sing, James A. Chuey and Lee Yuan Xing
were not only capable organisers, but they also had enormous prestige within the Chinese communities in Australia, and the trust of Australian society in general. Lee Yuan Sam whom I had occasion to
mention earlier, was born in China in 1831 and came to Australia in 1862, initially as a gold miner in Ballarat. Later on, he established a business inMelbourne. He travelled frequently throughout New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, and gained a lot of experience of life in Australia. He had
maintained a long-term relationship with the “Yee Hing Company” of Victoria, becoming a leader of the Yee Hing Company of Melbourne early last century. By 1911, under his leadership, the “Yee Hing Company” had attracted a membership of 3,000. He was a popular figure in the Chinese community of
Victoria and played an important role in the 1891 Revolution against the Qing Dynasty. He played a critical role in the unification of the Hung League of Australia. Moy Sing was born in the See Yap region of Guangdong Province in 1831. He migrated to New South Wales in 1852 and served as leader of
the “Yee Hing Company” there for 55 years. During his term as leader, the Yee Hing Company had a membership of 3,000. He died in 1919. James A. Chuey, who was also from the See Yap region, migrated to Australia in 1878. He settled down in Junee in New South Wales, running a wheat farm and exporting wool. A faithful follower of Moy Sing, he was a sociable, modest, honest and generous man and became one of the most popular members of the Chinese communities of New South Wales and
Victoria. He made many friends, both Chinese and Australian. W.A. Holman, an Australian who was elected as premier of New South Wales between 1913-19, was amongst his closest friends. He was one of the top leaders of the Aligned Chinese Masonic Society during the first three decades last century.
Under his leadership, the Chinese Masonic Society of New South Wales was united and became an important social and political power within the Chinese Community of the state throughout the 1920s,
39 whilst he also played an important role in the process of unifying the Chinese Masonic Society across Australia. It has now been more than 150 years since the large-scale initial wave of
Chinese migration to Australia. During this period, Chinese migrants have undertaken all kinds of work; gold mining, vegetable farming, furniture manufacturing, industrial business and city construction. Though they suffered at the hands of anti-Chinese movements and from the ill treatment and discrimination of the “White Australia Policy”, with perseverance and hard
work, they made a great contribution to the economic development and modernisation of Australia.
At the same time, their Chinese cultural background served to make Australian society more culturally pluralistic. Throughout this process, the Hung League of Australia played a very significant role in uniting the Chinese community, undertaking mutual aid measures, and promoting the integration
of the Chinese with Australian society. This circumstance needs now to bemore fully appreciated by the general public

New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies 4, 1 (June, 2002): 30-45
CAI SHAOQING
Nanjing University

http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:e5eaGbnk3OsJ:www.nzasia.org.nz/downloads/NZJAS-June02/CaiSahoqing.pdf+sun+yat+sen+secret+societies&cd=34&hl=en&ct=clnk

Blue Shirts Society: A secret Fascist clique inside the KMT

2009-04-19T23:00:00.000-07:00

The Blue Shirts Society (藍衣社 in Chinese, hereinafter referred to as the BSS) also known as the Society of Practice of the Three Principles of the People (三民主義力行社 in Chinese, hereinafter referred to as the SPTPP), the Spirit Encouragement Society (勵志社 in Chinese) and the China Reconstruction Society (中華復興社，hereinafter referred to as the CRS in short), was a secret clique in the Kuomintang (KMT). Under the direction of Chiang Kai-shek it sought to lead the KMT and China by following the ideology of Fascism and was a secret police or para-military force.

Although in its early stage the society's most important members came from the Whampoa Military Academy, and part of it constituted the Whampoa Clique of the KMT, its influence had extended from the military to the political system, the economy and the social life of 1930s China as well. The rise and fall of the Blue Shirt Society was rapid, but obscure, and was seldom mentioned again by either the KMT or the Communist Party of China after the establishment of the People's Republic of China and the following KMT domination on Taiwan.

After the Northern Expedition, Chiang and the KMT took over most of China's territories. But the government established by the KMT was far from the republic envisioned by Sun Yat-sen. In some degree the social crisis was deepening rather than disappearing. Firstly, the tension between Japan and China increased day by day, for Japan's ambition to dominate China was never satiated with the conquest of Manchuria. Secondly, with the split of the first KMT-CPC alliance (which contributed to the downfall of the warlords), the KMT and the CPC (Communist Party of China) turned against each other. The CPC had developed its power base both in the cities and in the countryside, which was a great threat to the KMT’s governance. Finally, the KMT itself was divided into several cliques, resulting in power struggles among Chiang, Hu Hanmin and Wang Jingwei. The courage and passion previously shown in the Northern Expedition subsequently disappeared. Ordinary Chinese people and even some KMT members were disappointed to find out that, although they had brought down the old warlords, the KMT's power structure resembled that of the defeated warlords. China was still scourged by corruption, poverty, and civil wars from time to time. Chiang, the man people once regarded as their savior, did little to quell such discontent and concentrated on the power struggle.

As the base of Chiang's rule, some Whampoa graduates felt that it was time to take action. This feeling was especially strong among those who had studied in Japan but subsequently developed an intense hatred of the Japanese due to their encroachments upon China. Consequently, in July 1931, Teng Jie (滕傑) and Xiao Zanyu (蕭贊育), were sent back to China to report on the threat from Japan and the forthcoming war to KMT leaders.

When Teng and Xiao arrived in China, they were upset to find out that the KMT, the party which used to be progressive and energetic, was now gravitating toward decadence. After careful thinking, Teng designed a blueprint to reform the KMT, in which he suggested that only a great and powerful leader could save China and the KMT. The leader could rule by all means, even as a benevolent dictator. Chiang was the sound candidate and therefore the only hope in Teng’s plan. Teng decided to dedicate all his life to this grand plan. In the following months, Teng traveled around Nanjing, which was the capital of the KMT government at that time, seeking support from his Whampoa schoolfellows.

Teng was lucky to get acquainted with Zeng Kuoqing (曾擴情), who was among the first graduates of Whampoa, and later was appointed to be in charge of the Whampoa Alumni Association. Zeng showed great enthusiasm and passion for Teng's plan and spared no effort to support it. However, because the KMT banned the freedom to organize political parties, Teng and Zeng had to do this job all in secrecy. Zeng used his influence and personal relations among Whampoa graduates to organize a periodic party to discuss Teng’s plan and its enforcement. Of course, they also needed to enroll new members.

After several months of hard work, they found sympathizers who became the members of this group. Among them were Whampoa graduates, the most prominent figures were He Zhonghan (賀衷寒), who was regarded as one of The Three Most Outstanding among Whampoa graduates (the other two were CPC members Jiang Xianyun (蔣先雲) and Chen Geng (陳賡), the patriarch of the Sun Yat-sen Theory Research Group at that time; Hu Zongnan (胡宗南)，the rising young general of Chiang’s army; Deng Wenyi (鄧文儀 )，another patriarch of the Sun Yat-sen Theory Research Group and a secretary of Chiang; Feng Ti (丰悌), the Commissar of the 1st Division of the KMT army. Except for these young elites of the KMT, there was one person unknown to the public, but later he became prominent and notorious as the Beria of China, his name was Dai Li (戴笠).

In September 1931, in the third meeting of this group, they decided to set up an organization to reform the KMT and fight against Japan. Under the direction of He, this group was named the Society of the Practice of Three Principles of People (三民主義力行社, hereinafter referred to as the SPTPP in short). Teng was elected General Secretary. The party also issued guidance on the establishment, discipline and organization of this group, and confirmed that its main missions were as follows:

1. using secret measures to fight against the Japanese, the CPC, other cliques of the KMT and to ensure the Whampoa clique's domination of the KMT and China;
2. using the public image of the Whampoa Alumni Association to enroll new members and to set up a formal, well-organized and highly disciplined group.

The funds were mainly raised by Deng, who could make use of his charge of a KMT propaganda tool- the Party Book Shop. Furthermore, to avoid being arrested under the KMT's ban on political organizations, members decided to keep secrets from Chiang temporarily, although they had regarded Chiang as their spiritual mentor and the leader of their group from the very beginning.

Before long, Kang Ze (康澤) joined the group. He published a newspaper China Daily with the permission of Chiang, which became the mouthpiece of the SPTPP.

In December 1931, under great pressure from opponents both inside and outside the KMT, Chiang had to resign. In his hometown in Zhejiang, Chiang began to show great interest in Mussolini's fascism. Deng then let Chiang know of the existence of their group. Chiang summoned He, Teng and Kang to meet with him. In this secret meeting, Chiang did not blame them for their secret actions, and instead expressed his support. Moreover, he announced his will to be the group's mentor and leader, and he preferred a more formal and disciplined organization like those in Italy and Germany. Thus they decided to draft specific rules and articles to guide the party as soon as possible.

With support from Chiang, these young and ambitious talents moved quickly. In writing the articles of the association, Teng designed a hierarchical organization style, the top was Chiang, and the base was the elite among Whampoa graduates. New members could only be accepted with two recommendations and approval from Chiang himself. Members were not allowed to resign unless the party itself faced dissolution. If there was any violation of discipline, members would receive severe punishment and even suffer execution.

In 1932 Chiang regained power thanks to the power struggle between his opponents. He sped up the reform of the SPTPP . In a secret meeting in February, Gui Yongqing (桂永清)， a member of the SPTPP, recommended Liu Jianqun (劉健羣) to Chiang. Liu, He Yingqin’s (何應欽) secretary at that time, later contributed much to the group.

Liu was greatly influenced by the book The Truth of Fascism written by a famous liberal Italian leader, which made him the earliest member of the SPTPP to advocate fascism. Liu was in fact the most enthusiastic advocate of fascism in China. He wrote a pamphlet called Some Opinions On The Reform of the KMT. In this pamphlet, Liu proposed that the reform of the KMT be enforced by way of a group consisting of elites, which should be established and organized along the lines of Mussolini’s MVSN or Blackshirts. Members wore blue shirts to pledge their allegiance which distinguished them from others. According to the group, the leader should encourage members by his sublime and super spirit. Under the direction of the leader, all members should live in a simple and highly disciplined way as dervishes. All cadres should be treated as equally as ordinary members, whose incomes and lives should be under strict supervision. Any violation should be severely punished. Only by these measures could this group lead the people. In return, the people should entrust their property and their families to the country and the supreme leader. People had great responsibilities varying from military service to absolute obedience of orders including surveillance of their neighborhoods. In order to bring up this obedience, everyone's lives should be divided into several stages, among which he should join the child group of the BSS, when he reached youth and qualified, he became a formal member of this group. Thus, China would be turned into a militarized society by a three level organization of Leader-BSS-People.

Chiang met with Liu and appreciated his theory, this meeting made a great contribution to the evolution of the SPTPP into the BSS. In March 1932, on the cover of another existing club called the Spirit Encouragement Society (勵志社)，the SPTPP walked out of the shadow and officially announced its establishment. Although Liu’s proposal that members wear blue shirts and name their society after the blue shirts was not accepted, the SPTPP was known as the BSS from then on. In this ceremony, Teng was elected General Secretary, with He, Kang as Standing Secretariat. The BSS consisted of six divisions, which were the secretariat, organization, propaganda, military, special agency and logistics. The era of the secret society in China reached its peak, and the BSS began its infiltration of the Chinese political system and even of everyday life.

[edit] Rise and Achievements

Chiang was busy carrying out his Suppression of the CPC’s Red Army in the countryside. With Chiang’s permission, the BSS took over the defense of the capital, and most of the prominent Whampoa graduates who now got promotions as commanders became BSS members. Besides increasing its influence in the army, the BSS took over the police and other security services in China's major cities. Furthermore, it recruited members in the youth leagues of the KMT too, which had great influence in labor unions, publishing houses and schools. The force of the BSS had extended to every block of all major cities in China. A new structure of power had emerged, the BSS was the core of the Whampoa Clique, it coexisted and competed with the other two cliques which had a longer history and were much well- known, the CC Clique led by Chen Lifu (陈立夫) and Chen Guofu (陈果夫)，whose orbit was dealing with party issues; the Politics Research Group (政学系) led by Yang Yongtai (杨永泰) and Zhang Qun (张群), whose orbit was daily KMT government running.

Liu’s pamphlet was accepted as the guidance of the BSS, and part of it was revised to be the Regulation of Life Discipline. In accordance with this regulation, BSS members would be paid a low wage, and part of it would be donated to the BSS. Gambling and opium were banned. Anti-corruption laws and laws prohibiting male BSS members from having a mistress were strictly abided by. The practice of BSS members was quite distinct from that of other corrupt KMT bureaucrats.

After the BSS’s Organization Construction and Spirit Construction, now it was time for Action Construction. In June 1932, an anti-graft campaign was launched under the direction of BSS member, Deng Wenyi. He led the special force mainly composed of BSS members who cracked down on corrupt police officers in Wuhan. After several arrests and executions, the police force improved its working style greatly. Then Deng waged war against organized crimes such as prostitution, opium and gambling. After 3 months of hard work, the mess was cleaned up and Deng later won Chiang’s appraise. Chiang wanted this effort to be promoted around the country. Chiang later launched a campaign in Nanjing to purify the capital, although it ended with less significant success.

At the same time, the BSS played an active role in the Suppression of the CPC as well. Zeng Kuoqing using his status in the Whampoa Alumni Association, wrote a letter to Xu Jishen (许继慎), who was commander of Zhang Guotao’s 4th Red Army and a whampoa graduate also, asking Xu to defect to the KMT’ s camp. Xu didn’t reply. But when Zhang got this letter, this raised his suspicions and he decided to carry out a purge. Thousands of commanders and soldiers were tortured and executed, which greatly weakened the CPC’s resistance to KMT forces. This plot was just a warm-up for the BSS. In October 1932, Hu Zongnan led his army mainly consisting of BSS members in a cruel and decisive battle against Xu Xiangqian in Hekou Anhui. In contrast to other KMT armies, this army was fearless and picked, and it had more advanced weapons and strong support from other armies also led by BSS members such as Yu Jishi (俞济时) and Huang Jie (黄杰), Xu’s failure was unavoidable. After more than 10,000 casualties , Zhang and Xu led their army in an inner retreat. Hu and his troop kept tracking them closely. When Zhang and his army reached Sichuan and set up another base. Hu remained in Gansu nearby, and began his era as King of Northwestern China.

Coinciding With the BSS's ever-increasing power and influence, disagreements among the leaders of the BSS mounted. Chiang, only regarded the BSS as a tool for his dictatorship, hence he would not allow the BSS to be more powerful and influential than himself, so he used his usual tricks to manipulate these protégés. As a young man with high ethics and ideals, Teng couldn’t accept this fact. He preferred a government run by a political institution rather than government run by a supreme leader. The conflicts between him and Chiang were frequent. Then Teng’s sack was destined. In 1933, Chiang chose He Zhonghan to succeed Teng as General Secretary of the BSS.

In 1933 Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. Fascism then became popular around the world. The BSS found more room for prosperity. As a more ambitious and skilled politician, He won the power struggle with Liu Jianqun, who was regarded as the Chinese Strasser due to his power of instigation in the training of new members. Then He decided to set up a propaganda network, which was run by Kang Ze, who was regarded as the Goebbels of the BSS. And the special agency under the direction of Dai Li, who was regarded as its Himmler and his deputy Zheng Jiemin (郑介民) evolved into a network infiltrating every corner of China. The most important work of He was to extend the BSS’s influence into Northern China, which was under direct threat of invasion by Japan at that time. In 1933 the Japanese army invaded Rehe. KMT armies mainly consisting of BSS members fought against them along the Great Wall, although they suffered more than 65,000 casualties , the BSS promoted its prominence. And He made the most important decision, to change the BSS from an elite group into an anti-Japanese mass movement. He decided to send Liu to set up a Northern China division of the BSS, which was called the China Reconstruction Society (中华复兴社，hereinafter referred to as the CRS in short). Most of the members would work in the universities and student groups to enroll new members and carry out campaigns against the Japanese. In the summer of that year, the CRS had divisions in 24 provinces of China with more than 40,000 members. With the CRS controlling the political training system of the KMT, new recruits were always available. With thousands of members, political instructors and different organizations, the BSS had set up a huge kingdom under the direction of He.

Besides the achievement of setting up the CRS, the other blueprint of He was the Second Stage Revolution. First to ensure the reunification of China. The BSS used its influence in Northern and Southwestern China, to persuade local warlords to pledge allegiance to Chiang. And the reform of the KMT armies was carried out by those BSS members such as Gui Yongqing who studied in Germany to train new armies, and to establish an air force and an armored force. Along with the war against corruption, opium and poverty, the reconstruction of rural areas was undertaken, roads were wre built and bank loans were provided to peasants. The most significant part of this movement was Kang Ze’s New Jiangxi Style and Special Detachment (别动队，hereinafter referred to as the SD in short).

In 1933 during the 5th Suppression campaign against the CPC, in order to maintain law and order in the territory that used to be the CPC’s base, Chiang decided to set up a paramilitary force modeled after the SS of Nazi. Kang was appointed to lead this SD, which was the only direct military group in the BSS. At first, the SD was a copycat of the SS. Its members came from the trainees of KMT officers. It was organized like the SS and members even dressed in uniforms resembling those worn by SS members. But soon the SD had more power than its mentor, in that it was a monstrous integration of military, political, police, military police and secret policy power. At its peak it had 24,000 members and three divisions of regular troops. The SD mobilized those peasants who lived near Soviet Territory occupied by the CPC in Jiangxi and Northern Anhui to be categorized into groups and confined them in places where they had limited access to the outside world. Every family in this group that could prove itself to be made up of good citizens needed to have the guarantee of four other families, and they had to promise not to collaborate with the CPC, accommodate any suspect, or provide any support to the CPC. Once there were any violations such as not reporting on CPC actions, the whole family would be executed, and the other four guarantor families would be executed as well. The SD set up hundreds of concentration camps around Shangrao, Jiangxi, where they tortured and executed residents and CPC captives. Under this system of cruelty, the network worked quite well as a deterrence. Fewer and fewer peasants supported the CPC. Kang and his SD also crack down on the merchants who used to smuggle materials to the CPC by implementing cruel measures, and peasants were organized into groups to build roads to blockade the Soviet Territory. With the shortage of supplies, accompanied by heavy attacks from the KMT army, the CPC suffered great losses and had to launch its now-famous Long March in order to retreat.

At the same time, Kang and his SD started the New Jiangxi Style. They provided compulsory education and free medical treatment to peasants. With the effective anti-corruption campaign, they provided loans, seeds and pesticides to peasants also. When Mao Zedong led the Red Army on the Long March, spring ploughing, trade and bazaars began to flourish again in the territory that used to be occupied by them. But the other side of the story was full of blood and tears. The SD spared no effort to terminate CPC members and supporters. They had committed countless massacres in CPC occupied territories. The most extreme case occurred in Mount Dabie, which used to be the base of the 4th Red Army of the CPC in Northern Anhui. In that incident, more than half a million were massacred. At the same time, in accordance with SD and New Jiangxi Style, Kang reached the peak of his career, and he earned enough capital to challenge He as the only leader of the BSS.

Xiao Zuolin(肖作霖), one of the BSS members from the early stage, drafted a plan called the Whole New Culture Movement and proposed the establishment of an organization called the Chinese Culture Academy to increase the BSS’s influence in culture. Xiao got Deng Wenyi’s support and began to carry out his plan. By taking over several newspapers and journals, and by enrolling its members in universities ,this academy succeeded in the fields that used to be dominated by members of the CC Clique. Above all, its scheme of a new culture movement was adopted by Chiang.

On February 19th 1934, Chiang announced the start of the New Life Movement at a meeting in Nanchang, in which he planned to reconstruct the moral system of the Chinese and welcome a renaissance, and reconstruct Chinese national pride as a result. In March, Chiang issued his guidance consisting of 95 rules of the New Life Movement, which was a mixture of Chinese traditions and western standards. It was a vast propaganda movement, with war mobilization and military maneuvers seen on a scale that China had never experienced before. But because its plan was too ambitious and its dogmatism too rigid , and because its policies created too much inconvenience in the everyday lives of the people, this movement was destined to fail just like prohibition. Nearly three years later in 1936, Chiang had to accept the fact that his favorite movement had failed. Although this movement had no happy ending, the BSS showed its influence again. It took over the movement very soon. Deng, Kang and Jiang Xiaoxian (蒋孝先), Chiang’s nephew and bodyguard, also BSS members were appointed General Secretariats of this movement, and the limitations on and supervision of life styles was enforced by the BSS. By controlling the mouthpieces of the KMT, the BSS openly expressed advocacy of fascism in its publications.

[edit] Fall

As a professional politician, unlike Teng, He never concealed his ambition for power. He used his relations to foster a Hunan Clique in the BSS, which aroused the suspicion of Chiang, who was concerned that the BSS might use its abuse of power to threaten his governance one day. So Chiang decided to take action and let his protégés know that their leader was still Chiang and that nobody else was the paramount leader of the BSS. In 1934 Chiang used the excuse of corruption and malfunction of the BSS after its quick expansion to dismiss He as General Secretary of the BSS. Liu Jianqun was appointed to succeed He. With the rise of Kang and the SD , and the Southwestern Clique behind him; and the Zhejiang Clique led by Hu Zongnan and Dai Li, BSS faced the same fate as the old KMT.

At the same time, with the continuation of the New Culture Movement, the BSS spread its influence into the cultural centers of Shanghai and other major cities, which used to be the CC Clique’s power base. Though cultural conflicts occurred on paper, they were in fact bloody struggles for power. Chen was greatly irritated, but he was still waiting for a good chance to fight back.

In June 1934, the Nanchang Airport ,which was built by donations from Chinese all over the world for training the KMT air force, was burned down. The Aviation Commissioner, Xu Peigen (徐培根) ,who was also a BSS member ,was the primary suspect. Deng was sent to investigate this case. He reached the conclusion that the fire was accidentally caused by a cigarette that had been dropped by a soldier. But Chen Lifu and Yang Yongtai argued that Xu masterminded the fire to eliminate evidence of his corruption, and that Deng had colluded with Xu in the cover-up. Upon Yang's suggestion, Xu was kept in custody, Deng was sacked and all his titles were removed. The Chinese Culture Academy was banned. Dai Li was recommended by Yang to investigate this case. Dai saved no time in taking over Deng’s investigation agency and integrated it into his own special agency, which later evolved into the Military Statistical Bureau, the notorious secret police agency of the KMT. Of course, Dai left the BSS to set up his own kingdom.

Taking advantage of this heavy blow to the BSS, the Politics Research Clique began to consummate the Administrative Office System, which was to add a new level of administration offices between the provincial level and the county level although the two level system had been followed in China for more than one thousand years. With the appearance of new offices, the Politics Research Clique was able to control the county level which used to be absent. Many bureaucrats who used to be loyal to the CC Clique and the BSS defected to the Politics Research Clique. The Politics Research Clique began to take over the promotion of, Categorizing, and the Guaranteeing of Group Systems, and then the security forces, the police and the militia step by step.

Liu was replaced by Feng Ti under the excuse that he had health problems and was sent to Northern China to work with Zeng Kuoqing for the BSS there. In 1935, two chief editors of pro-Japanese newspapers were assassinated. The Japanese troops in Northern China thought that these actions were taken by the BSS. They argued that it was a violation of the Tanggu Accord between China and Japan which was signed in order to keep the status quo of Northern China. Under the leadership of Yoshijiro Umezu (梅津美治郎),who was commander of Japanese troops in Northern China at that time, the Japanese spy agency under the direction of Kenji Doihara (土肥原贤二) provided information about its Investigation of the BSS as the appendix of a memo sent to He Yingqing, who was the commander of Northern Chinese troops at that time. He agreed with all of the recommendations proposed by the Japanese in this memo, which later was called the He-Umezu Accord. According to this accord, all forces having relations with the BSS including military police, regular forces such as the 2nd Division and the 25th Division should be evacuated from Beijing and out of Hebei province. The BSS had to retreat from Beijing in humiliation.

When Feng Ti took over civilian military training for the KMT, he used this opportunity to enroll new members into the BSS. Hu Zongnan, Dai Li and other former BSS members also strengthened their grip on power by enrolling members into their own force. The pyramid of the BSS had been set up again. On the top were hundreds of whampoa graduates. below were more than 30,000 mid and low level officers, university teachers and public servants. And below them were more than 200,000 members of the CRS. At the bottom were hundreds of thousands of boy scouts. With the organization undergoing such a huge and rapid expansion, corruption and inefficiency plagued BSS divisions all over the country. Furthermore in 1935, there was a serious security leak in the headquarters of the BSS, and the BSS was involved in the assassination of Wang Jingwei, under heavy pressure, Feng Ti was sacked. And Liu Jianquan took over, then Zheng Jiemin succeeded him in turn.

In 1936 Deng Wenyi became the General Secretary of the BSS. In December 1936, the Xi'an Incident took place in this chaotic atmosphere. After Chiang was arrested and kept in custody by General Zhang Xueliang’s army, there were disagreements between KMT leaders on whether to solve this incident by peace talks or by military action. In the meeting held by the BSS, He Zhonghan and Deng expressed their determination to use military action and called for the mobilization of BSS members around the country. 176 young generals issued a statement to denounce Zhang Xueliang and announce war on his army. Under the direction of He, more than 2000 officers and BSS members held a meeting pledging their allegiance to Chiang and agreeing to mobilize military action against general Zhang. Gui Yongqing led an army of more than 12,000 men in heavily armored vehicles across the Yangtze River as avant-couriers. But this reckless action received a cold shoulder from Chen and other KMT leaders, even He Yingqing, who was in charge of the KMT military didn’t agree with the BSS’s movement and sent them no support troops.

Chiang’s wife Soong May-ling came to Xian for peace talks. Due to the efforts of the CPC delegation led by Zhou Enlai, who wanted to set up an alliance with the KMT against the Japanese, Chiang was released several weeks later. After his release, Chiang took revenge on his protégés’ for their reckless action and lack of control which might have wreaked havoc on his governance and might even have killed him in the Xian Incident. Deng was sacked with all titles removed again and he was replaced by Kang Ze.He was out of favor with Chiang and had to travel around Europe. In March 1937, Chiang issued his order that all activities of the BSS should be temporarily suspended.

With the Chinese-Japanese general war breaking out on July 7th 1937, Japanese troops conquered vast areas of China quickly. Before Nanjing fell to Japanese troops, Kang led the retreat of the BSS from its headquarters. In 1938 the BSS held its first and last national congress in Wuhan. In this congress members of the BSS and SPTPP were permitted to have their memberships automatically transferred to the KMT , members of the CRS could be transferred to the Youth League of Three Principles of the People (三民主义青年团, hereafter referred to as the YLTPP in short ). Most of the 500,000 members of the BSS and CRS didn’t transfer to the KMT, they chose the YLTPP instead, which was the basis of another new and rising force within the KMT and the reason why Hu Zongnan kept the position of Director of the YLTPP all along, and Kang only acted as his agent. But the biggest winner was Dai Li, his new spy agency, the Military Statistical Bureau was set up, and he took all the agents of the BSS, CRS and SD, which made him almost more powerful than Himmler. He kept his control over this secret empire until his death in an airplane crash in 1946, but only on the condition that Chiang never express doubt about Dai’s loyalty, otherwise he would have been purged without any mercy just like his BSS fellows.

This was the end of the BSS. But Kang still wanted to keep it alive under the cover of the YLTPP. In the following 7 years he endeavored to increase YLTPP membership from 400,000 to more than 1.5 million. Kang used the SD style to re-organize the YLTPP and turned it into a group that was much more efficient and disciplined than the KMT, which aroused Chiang’s suspicion again. Moreover, when Chiang sent his son Chiang Ching-kuo to the Soviet Union where he learned numerous CP political organization and propaganda skills, he sought to take over the YLTPP after his return home. Kang was reluctant and tried to resist junior Chiang’s efforts. Consequently, Kang’s fall was destined. In 1945 Kang was sent to Europe. During the Chinese Civil War, many members of the YLTPP were killed or captured in the battles against CPC armies. When the fall of the KMT became an undeniable fact, some YLTPP members fled to Taiwan, those left behind were purged after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. Some of them were executed, others were thrown in jail, others were discriminated against,but few were lucky enough to survive the Cultural Revolution. Only those prominent YLTPP figures such as Kang survived the purges as the best examples of the CPC’s clemency toward successfully modified war criminals.

[edit] Legacy

The following were some of the most prominent and earliest members of BSS.

Teng was later appointed as mayor of Nanjing temporarily. He went to Taiwan with KMT troops and later retired from the position of chairman of Central Trust Bureau of KMT.

He lived in idleness for quite while and then was appointed as director of Labor Bureau. When KMT retreated to Taiwan, he was Minister of Communication and Policy Counsellor, but never gained great power as before.

Liu's wife was an agent working for Kenji Doihara, and later brought many confidential documents with her on defecting to the Japanese. Liu had to be a fugitive to escape from the hunting of his former colleague Dai Li. Liu became a monk and spent years in Guizhou before Chiang found him by chance. Chiang showed his mercy by asking Liu back to politics. Liu was once vice-speaker of the KMT Congress. When he went to Taiwan, Liu lived in poverty and unknown to outside world. Before his death in 1960's, Liu's last contribution was providing valuable details for an article on the BSS written by an American professor.

After several times rise and fall, Deng showed little interest in politics. He arrived in Taiwan and retired as Director of Political Work Bureau.

Feng Ti was appointed as commander of guard for Changsha, but was executed in 1938 as scapegoat for a big fire set by KMT force to resist the invasion of Japanese army which killed thousands of civilians.

Kang was sent to the battlefront after his return from Europe and was POW. Although KMT propaganda departments pictured him as a martyr, Kang lived well in custody and confessed to CPC.In 1963 he was released in CPC amnesty and died 4 years later.

Hu’s troops were annihilated by CPC armies. When he retreated to Taiwan, he was impeached by 46 members of Control Yuan for his incompetence in military command. Although Hu was released with no charge, he was appointed a defense commander for a little island and never returned to the central stage of political stage. After his retirement, Hu died in peace in 1962.

Zeng was a POW in the civil war, and later released by the CPC. He died in 1983.

Gui later became commander of the KMT navy, then went to Taiwan and died during his term as Chief of Staff of KMT army in 1954.

Dai Li became head of secret police and espionage of the KMT, and died in an air crash in 1946. Zheng succeeded Dai in leading the secret police for the KMT. He died in 1959 in Taiwan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Shirts_Society

Secret Societies and Politics in Colonial Malaya / KMT

2009-04-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

THE PENANG STORY:
Secret Societies and Politics in Colonial Malaya with Special Reference to the Ang Bin Hoey in Penang (1945-1952)
by Leong Yee Fong Email: yfleong@usm.my

ABSTRACT This paper is a preliminary survey of Chinese secret societies and their connections with the Kuomintang and the Malayan Communist Party in Post World War Two Malaya. The period under survey covers the immediate postwar period and the early stages of the Emergency. It is specifically related to the resurgence of secret societies at a time when the absence of law and order, the fluidity of the political situation, economic shortages, inflationary prices and low wages provided a fertile environment for the resurgence not only of secret societies but also political parties that were both radical and moderate in nature. Historians have so far concentrated on the controlling forces of secret societies over the Chinese community during the prewar period but little attention on the political dimension of secret societies during the immediate postwar period. Although secret societies were not politically inclined and tended to maintain their traditional roles in running protection and extortion rackets, the profusion of KMT branches and the Malayan Communist Party during the immediate postwar period invariably dragged the secret societies into the rival conflicts between the two organizations. It is the intention of this paper to examine the rise of the Ang Bin Hoey in Penang, the resurgence of KMT branches, MCP political dominance and the dynamism of Communist sponsored General Labour Unions, KMT-MCP-Secret society connections, the Emergency and MCP’s attempts to win the adherence of Secret Societies. The evidence is gathered from police records, intelligence information and communist documents acquired by the police. Speculations and interpretations certainly reflect the colonial point of view and, as such, may not provide a balanced picture of the role of secret societies until further evidence is available. The account also contains several background references which are considered necessary to understand the role and position of secret societies in historical perspective. The Hung League in China and Malaya: A Brief Historical Survey The Hung League was of great antiquity in China. It was also known as the Heaven and Earth League or the Three United League and it is from the latter that the popular English usage “Triad” is taken. Its origins were shrouded in mystery and antiquity but it was generally deemed to be a religious society with lofty aims which included “Obey Heaven and Act Righteously” with its ritualistic ceremonies associated with the journey of the human soul from Heaven to Earth and back through the underworld to Heaven.[1] With the collapse of the Ming Dynasty in China in the hands of the Manchus, the Hung League changed its religious complexion and became primarily a band of political and

revolutionary crusaders and took up the cause of overthrowing the Manchu Dynasty. It adopted the slogan “Drive out the Ching Dynasty. Restore the Ming”. Under the Manchus it became a prosecuted organisation but despite Manchu suppression, the League’s numerical strength increased enormously expanding to the provinces of Kwantung and Fukien from which the majority of the immigrant Chinese in Malaya were derived. The Hung League supported the revolutionary efforts of Dr. Sun Yat Sen in the final overthrow of the Manchu regime. Nevertheless, the Hung League did not associate itself with any political party after the 1911 Revolution but persisted independently and retained much of its revolutionary ideals in its ceremonial triad rituals. The ramifications of the Hung League were never totally confined to China. The Hung League spread to many of the countries outside China with the migrational tide of the Chinese. They took with them the rituals and ceremonies to countries in Southeast Asia, India, Australia and Britain.[2] Their primary aim initially was to acquire hegemony over the Chinese communities in these countries. It was inevitable that once the Hung League was transplanted to overseas countries, it lost its political significance and degenerated into an organisational machine for the oppression and extortion of the Chinese communities. Its existence was sustained by its powerful armour of secrecy, its ritualistic traditions and reinforced by its imposition of the death penalty to protect itself against treachery from within and interference from without. Its activities inevitably generated violence and turbulence which became a matter of much concern to the ruling authorities. In colonial Malaya, when the Hung League was transplanted, it became known as the Ghee Hin Society. The principal lodge was in Singapore while the subsidiary lodges were established in Penang, Malacca and the Federated Malay States. The influx of the Chinese in mid 19th century also brought with them lodges other than the Hung League, one of which was the Ko Lao Hoey. The lodges, in general, settled disputes by arbitration between members in any dispute between members of different societies. Each society or lodge controlled its particular area on the pretext of affording protection but in reality committed criminal violence with impunity. Riots and large scale fights frequently occurred when societies encroached on each others’ preserves. The Penang Riots of 1867 between the Ghee Hin and the Toh Peh Kong was one such example that reached severe proportions. It lasted for ten days during which period the contending parties obtained reinforcements from the mainland. Buildings were burnt and hundreds either perished or injured. The severity of the clashes attracted the attention of the ruling British authorities and in 1890 the societies were required by law to dissolve and societies that practised triad rituals were declared unlawful. Nevertheless the Ghee Hin and the other lodges continued illegally but through vigilance and pressure by the authorities they had for the most part degenerated into hooligan gangs which continued to use the jargons and symbolic rituals of the triads. Resurgence in October 1945: The Ang Bin Hoey in Penang It was known that the prevailing chaotic political and economic situation that followed the Japanese surrender in 1945 provided an impetus to the recrudesence of triad activities in Malaya. Penang, in this connection, was the centre for the resurgence of triads under the name of Ang Bin Hoey (ABH). Under the impression that all societies whether triad or otherwise were allowed to operate, the ABH functioned as a society openly. According to police records, the ABH was purported to have been formed by a Phillipine-born Chinese Hokkien by the name of Teoh Teik Chye, a small businessman. Its original headquarters was located in Sandilands Street and founded in October 1945.[3] The founding of the ABH

was given favourable media coverage. Towards the end of December 1945 the Society moved to a larger premise at 55 Maxwell Road. It was then run on a more systematic basis with an executive committee of 12 and a general committee of 22. The general committee of 22 represented 22 cells established in various parts of Penang island. Each of the cells was run by a supervisor. With a Hokkien majority in Penang’s population, it was inevitable that its membership consisted largely of the Hokkiens. In view of the frequency of initiation ceremonies, membership increased rapidly and by May 1946 it was reported by the Malayan Security Service that membership ranged from 30,000 to 40,000. In terms of structure and organisation, membership was categorized on the basis of senority and influence. There were two main categories : the organisers who were the senior members while the rest were the ordinary members. The organisers constituted the executive committee exerting full control over the other members. On the basis of ascending senority, the Assistant Superintendent of Police, Khaw Kai Boh provided the following list in 1949.[4] Rank 1. Ordinary Member Romanised Hokkien Hoey-guan or Sin-beh Duties

2. Horse Leader

Tai-beh

Recruiter

3. Tiger General

Go Hor Cheong

There were five of them. Served as killer squads and carried out the orders of the headquarters

4. Iron Plate

Tee-pan

Messenger

5. Grass Sandals

Chou-eh

Detective or agent

6. White Fan

Peh-see

Civil Affairs Officer and normally head of a cell. Advised members on triad rituals

7. Cell Leaders or Councillors

Pang Keng Chu

Head of an area and represented the area in a meeting held by the headquarters

8. Red Rod

Ang Koon

Executioner. Investigated any breach of discipline, conducted trials, and passed sentence ranging from fines to death. Arranged armed guards for initiation ceremonies. Organised fights and conducted persecutions against the enemies of the organisation.

9. Vanguard

Sien-hong

They were the armed guards for initiation ceremonies and fighters.

10. Master of Incense Hioh-chu

He acted as a clerk-in-council. Made all arrangements and kept the accounts.

11. Master of Incense Lor-chu Pot

Patron of any initiation ceremony.

12. Master of Ceremonies

Sia seh Koon Lam

Grand Master of the Lodge. Supreme manager on all matters and business. Authority on rituals and conferred ranks on all triad members.

At a time when the economy was in the doldrums, it was a wonder that the ABH could rake in so much revenue to support its organisation. It was reported that the ABH managed to collect in early 1946 an amount in the region of $100,000.[5] The revenue was derived from entrance fees collected at the initiation ceremonies when new members were recruited. Goods entering or leaving the harbour had to pay tribute and the situation in this connection had become so bad that the Importers and Exporters Association in Penang had to approach the ABH for negotiations. Some of the committee members operated gambling syndicates dealing with the Hua Hoey of Chee Fah lotteries.[6] The gambling syndicates were as a matter of fact a continuation of the gambling operations during the Japanese Occupation. The usual sources of revenue also included protection money collected from prostitutes and hawkers as well as extortion money from businessmen. The ABH declared its own dissolution in May 1946 when its criminal and illegal activities became a source of concern to the authorities. Nevertheless, despite its dissolution, the ABH influence spread to other parts of the mainland. Traces of ABH influence were found in Province Wellesley, South Kedah and the coastal areas of Perak. They were invariably offshoots of the ABH lodge in Penang but under the guise of various names, probably to escape detection. In Perak at Kampung Koh, Sitiawan dan Pangkor Island, they reappeared as clubs – the Sung Club in Kampung Koh and the Ek Ching in Pangkor Island.[7] Triad documents had been found in these clubs and in the possesion of individuals in Sungei Patani, Kulim Ipoh and Bidor but there was no explicit reference to the ABH. Nevertheless, documents recovered from the premises of the MCP controlled Perak Fedaration of Trade Unions referred to the ABH’s interference in the Perak Disturbances in October 1946.[8] The tendency for the ABH to the function under the guise of recreational clubs or benevolent societies was a normal trend in postwar Malaya. It was probably a means for members to meet openly without attracting the attention of authorities. A case in point was found in the document issued by the Selangor Branch of Malayan Communist Party dated November 1952. The MCP stated that the Wah Kee Secret Society in Selangor existed under the cloak

of benevolent and provident associations. The associations were registered with all the office-bearers and the members being members of Wah Kee.[9] Although the ABH was dissolveed in May 1946, it continued to retain its illegal existance underground. Inevitably, it had to scale down its operations as a controlling force over the Chinese community but its existance was complicated by the rising dominance of postwar MCP and the resurgence KMT branches in Malaya. In order to examine the connections of the ABH and the other secret societies with the MCP and the KMT, it is necessary to provide a brief survey of the rise of those two political organisations in postwar Malaya.

The Emergence of the MCP and the KMT in Postwar Malaya. The resurgence of the secret societies was accompanied by the proliferation of Chinese political organisations. Apart from the KMT and the MCP which were the two main Chinese political parties, there were also other organisatons, albeit insignificant , that sought the allegiance of the Chinese. The Review of the Chinese Affairs in November 1947 referred to three such organisations, the Chi Kung Tong, the China Democratic League and the New Democratic Youth League.[10] The Chi Kung Tong had two rival divisions – the communist oriented half that was linked to the MCP and inclined towards supporting the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) and the nationalist half that backed the KMT in China. Both the New Democratic League and the China Democratic League supported the aspirations of the MCP and the CCP. It was apparent that Chinese politics in postwar Malaya reflected the sharp division between the two political camps – the KMT and the MCP. Manifestations of the rivalry between the KMT and MCP supporters were often related to the China – oriented political issues. By the end of 1947 it had reached a stage that was described by the Chinese consul in Malaya as “social disintegration of the Chinese community” in Malaya.[11] Although the KMT had been banned before the War, the political confusion that followed the Japanese Occupation saw the revival of the KMT branches under auspices of the Chinese consulate. In many centres of Chinese population, it was known that wherever MCP branches were set up, the KMT would follow suit immediately. These branches were initially subsidised by the Chinese Nationalist Government. To win over the Chinese youth to the KMT, San Min Chu I Youth Corps were also set up. They were eventually amalgamated with the KMT in November 1947.[12] The KMT District Branch in Penang, located at 29 Carnavon Lane, controlled 20 other sub-branches. 16 in Penang and 4 in Province Wellesley with a total membership of 3,360.[13] Even in backward town of Balik Pulau in Penang, there was a KMT branch. This was known as the 16th branch of the Penang KMT. It was declared open in November 1947 by the Chinese consul in Penang who administered the oath of allegiance. The KMT members were mostly drawn from the merchant and business class who formed the backbone of the Chinese Chambers of Commerce. They maintained a close relationship with the Chinese Consul and provided the leadership to many of the Chinese associations. They constituted the upper class of the Chinese Society and invariably were at odds with the labour unions sponsored by the MCP. The MCP, on the other hand, emerged as the champion of labour interests. Under the hegemony of the MCP which operated openly for the first time, labour unions appeared all over Malaya and Singapore. These were the General Labour Unions(GLU) the membership of which was drawn from various industries and trades, In effect, they were political organisations manipulated by the MCP to gain mass labour support. It was MCP’s strategic move to force the Government to give political concessions such as recognition,

representation in govenrment bodies and particition in mainstream politics.[14] The GLUs were coordinated by State Federations of Trade Unions which in turn were centrally controlled by a Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions(PMFTU). The aim of the PMFTU was to mobilise labour support for the political consolidation of the MCP. During 1946 and 1947 the PMFTU literally extorted the employers by their persistent strikes to gain economic concessions. The PMFTU, in this respect, had developed a formidable coercive machine which caused considerable industrial disruption. Between April 1946 and March 1947 the PMFTU’s unionisation campaign unleashed a proliferation of strike activity causing huge losses to both employers and workers. Invariably, the employers especially the Chinese who were largely pro-KMT were soon caught up in bitter conflict with the GLUs.

MCP-KMT Rivalry and the Role of Secret Societies. MCP-KMT rivalry in postwar Malaya was in reality a continuation of a prewar phenomenon. In the 1920s conflict was centred on the rivalry between the left-wing and right wing KMT at a time when the CCP functioned as a block within the KMT in China (1924 – 1927). In the 1930s the Anti-Japanese National Salvation movement provided the backdrop in that both established rival organisations for the collection of relief funds and the boycott of Japanese goods in Malaya. The postwar period saw the revival of rivalry when both endeavoured to win the allegiance of the Chinese community over issues pertaining to the civil war between the KMT and CCP in China.[15] In this respect, the Double Tenth Anniversary in October 1947 was a clear manifestation of the KMT-MCP rivalry which was reflected in the acute polarisation of Chinese political opinion.[16] Separate celebrations were held by right and left-wing sympathisers. Rightist functions were dominated by the KMT and the San Min Chu I Youth Corps. Speakers by Chinese consular and KMT officials eulogised the foundations of the Chinese Republic, urged support for the Chinese Government and despatched congratulatory telegrams to Chiang Kai Shek. Leftist functions, on the other hand, were dominated by the MCP, the Pan Malayan Federation of Trade Unions and other left-wing organisations. Fiery speeches were made condemning the totalitarian and oppressive regime of Chiang Kai Shek. The Chinese were urged to call upon the whole Chinese nation to overthrow the KMT Government and to form a democratically constituted coalition government. With reference to Penang, it was significant that the MCP organised function was attended by various labouring groups including harbour labourers, factory workers, shop employees and a few cabaret girls. Speeches, in particular by the Penang Federation of Trade Union officials, condemned the KMT regime. A telegram was addressed to various papers in China condemning the KMT Government for negotiating treaties with the United States which undermined the sovereignty of China.[17] It was within the context of this political rivalry that Blythe, the Secretary of Chinese Affairs discovered that Secret Societies had established connections with the KMT. Initially, in September 1945, it was reported that the ABH was seemingly on the side of the MPAJA. It shared the same premises of the MPAJA and that several members of the MPAJA had joined the ABH. Nevertheless, when the ABH realised that the MPAJA had encroached on its sphere of influence, it became increasingly anti-communist.[18] This was not necessarily related to any ideological dispute but due to the fact that both pursued the same objective – control of

Chinese population. The leaders of the Penang ABH who were arrested in 1947 categorically remonstrated that the Government should suppress the communist activities instead of the ABH. The communists were regarded by the ABH as the “apotheosis of evil” and had no right to exert influence on the Chinese.[19] The anti – communist stance of the ABH invariably brought about a reorientation of its attitude towards the KMT. Apart from its anti-communist orientation, there could be other reasons behind the forging of a closer relationship between the ABH and the KMT. It is difficult to ascertain these reasons but speculating from the remarks provided by the committee members of the ABH arrested on warrants issued under the Banishment Laws, it could be said that the ABH, after its dissolution in May 1946 desired to enhance its standing and influence by persuading Chinese merchants not only to join the ABH but also to become high office-bearers in the ABH’s committee.[20] Some of the merchants who joined the ABH were also members of the KMT and might have been influenced to join by their sheer antagonism towards the communists. The existence of merchants in the ABH was supported by evidence from communist documents acquired by the police. The communist document issued by the State Secretariat of the Selangor Branch of the MCP stated that the ABH leaders consisted of “proprietors of mediocre and small business shops, kepalas(contractors) and proprietors of mediocre and small estates. It further claimed that a minority of them were pro-KMT but their attitude towards the communist revolution was one of neutrality or sympathy.[21] It was evident that there was no direct linkage between the ABH and the KMT organisations and that members of the latter as well as pro-KMT sympathisers joined the ABH as individuals. It was possible that pressure from the communist labour unions and MPAJA intimidation had forced them to join the ABH for the purpose of protection. As Chinese employers were not effectively organised as the Europeans or had any assistance from the Government to counteract the communists, they had perforce to resort to extra-legal methods to counteract that excessive demands of the communist –controlled unions. The use of force to counteract force was no more that a traditional method of the Chinese. Finally, W.L. Blythe claimed in his memorandum on “Triad, Ang Bin Hoay and Kuomintang in Malaya” that the KMT branches in Malaya turned towards the ABH upon receiving instructions from China in November 1946.[22] This was in keeping with the KMT line of thinking upon the revival of the Hung League in Shanghai in August 1946. The ABH, in this respect, was regarded as possessing powerful potentialities which could be utilised to sustain the existence of the KMT in Malaya, As such, it was considered favourable to cultivate friendly relations with the ABH. The resort to extra-legal methods involving violence and strong-arm tactics was clearly shown in the occurrence of what was known as the “Sitiawan Incident” in October 1946, the anniversary of the foundation of the Chinese Republic. A circular issued by the Perak Federation of Trade Unions lamented that the Government did not take effective measures to suppress the ABH thugs from destroying labour union premises, kidnapping and assaulting GLU personnel in Sitiawan, Dinding, Simpang Empat, Taiping and Pangkor Island. The outrages were said to be the work of careful planning which implicated the ABH, the Sam Min Chi Yi Youth Corps and another third Party presumably to be the KMT. The PKM exhorted the members of the Perak FTU to be more vigilant and to be more aware of “those cunning, shameless murderous elements” who were all out to strike a fatal blow at the labour unions.[23] The MCP and the Secret Societies, April – June 1948

In March 1948 the MCP had committed itself to a policy of industrial disruption at the Fourth Plenum of the Central Executive Committee(CEC). It called for a “people’s revolutionary war” and preparation of the masses for an all out struggle for independence. Shortly after the CEC meeting the PMFTU staged a conference during which labour unrests and strikes were planned to disrupt the country and to bring industry to a stand-still. The conference was followed by a resurgence of militant and violent strikes in Singapore and Malaya in April 1948. Letters of intimidation were sent to Chinese contractors and estate managers while labourers were forced to join the labour unions.[24] By June 1948 the situation had deteriorated into a state of terrorism when MCP “killer squads” carried out a campaign of not only extermination European managers of estates and mines but also pro-KMT proprietors, schools teachers, labour contractors. In Rengam Village, Johore, the vice-president and secretary of the KMT local committee were assassinated. Similarly, the president of Layang – Layang Village KMT branch was murdered. Significantly, secret society members were also targets of the MCP assassination campaign. By then, the focus of MCP attention had turned from the ABH in North Malaya to the Wah Kee in Selangor. The ABH was said to be less a rival to the labour unions than the Wah Kee organisation which was controlled by the KMT proprietors and, significantly labour contractors who were attempting to form employer-sponsored unions to divert the workers away from the communist-controlled unions. According to the MCP released circular, “The Wah Kee is in the hold of the KMT in Malaya, and hence it is pro-British, anti-communist, anti-revolution and anti-democracy”.[25] They had body guards to force the masses to join the organisation and to exert control over associations and societies which operated openly. The MCP claimed that the Wah Kee elements had “submitted themselves to the British Imperialists and openly became the running dogs to oppose the Revolution and secretly to betray the Revolution”.[26] The MCP and the Secret Societies during the early stage of the Emergency With the outbreak of the communist armed revolt and the declaration of the Emergency in June 1948, the Colonial Intelligence Committee reported that KMT influence over the ABH had virtually disappeared for the simple reason that the MCP was able to exert pressure on the ABH elements. The Anatomy of Communist Propaganda, a compilation of communist propaganda documents acquired by the police, did not reveal any reference to the secret societies as targets of communist propaganda.[27] There were no MCP policy statements or directives on MCP relationship with secret societies until October 1951. In that month, two directives pertaining to secret societies were issued. The first instructed that secret society elements should not be liquidated and that liquidation should be confined to those who were opposed to the MCP or were government spies. The other was an emphasis on the necessity of forging a united front which should include “irregular forms of mass organisations”.[28] The secret societies, in this respect, were considered one of the irregular mass organisations. It was apparent that based on these directives, the Selangor Secretariat of the MCP issued a pamphlet in November 1952. The pamphlet entitled “The Question of Secret Societies” was exclusively for party consumption. It was basically an appeal to the secret societies to join the MCP in a united front against British imperialism. At the same time, another pamphlet was also issued in October 1952. this pamphlet entitled “An Announcement to the Brethren of the Various Secret Societies” was specifically addressed to the ABH members. The MCP according to the pamphlet, admitted that it had clashed with the ABH because the latter was opposed to the trade unions.[29] This was an obvious reference to the clashes between the ABH-KMT coalition and the Perak Federation of Trade Unions in October 1946 and the assassination of ABH members on the eve of the

Emergency. Nevertheless, in view of the fact that the situation had changed, the MCP was prepared to overlook the “misunderstanding” and to call upon the ABH members to join the MCP united front since there could be no “fundamental differences” between the working class membership of the ABH and the MCP.[30] The following is an extract from the document on “Secret Societies and the Malayan Communist Party” released on 31 December 1054. It contained a summary of the approach adopted by the MCP to win over the secret societies. “…the secret societies were a greater and more deeply rooted force amongst the mass of the Chinese people than was communism, and that the previous approach by the MCP to the societies had been too uncompromising and that therefore it failed. The statement (Question of Secret Societies) explained further that the party should not aim at replacing the present leadership of the societies with its own men, but at gradually winning over as many of the societies’ members as possible, thus making the societies its allies in the revolutionary war. This, the statement admits will be a long term project and any attempt to accelerate it would lead to conflict and possibly the failure of MCP. The MCP’s policy towards the secret societies in future should therefore be guided by the following considerations: (a) Winning the sympathy of members who are not reactionaries (b) Winning, uniting and organising the large mass of workers and peasants who form the lower strata of the societies, but guarding against infiltration of undesirable elements into the masses organisations so formed. (c) Eliminating reactionary members of the societies, only if they are spies. (d) Non-interference with benevolent societies as long as there was no compulsion to induce the masses to join them; such societies should be penetrated and eventually controlled by masses executives. This however will be a long process. (e) No direct attacks should be made against the secret societies when they perform criminal acts but the masses encouraged to resist them with party backing.”[31] Response to the MCP Directives. It is difficult to gauge the success of the MCP in recruiting the secret society members. The recruitment exercise, in any case, was a long term project based on MCP’s intentions to penetrate mass organisations which included trade unions, student organisations and political parties. Secret societies, in fact, were given a lower priority than trade unions. The Registrar of Trade Unions in 1956 indicated that MCP interests were centred on trade union subversion A case in point was the Pan Malayan Rubber Workers Union which was organised by Tan Thuan Boon, a labour Party leader and a leading trade unionist who had connections with Lim Chin Seong, the founder of the Singapore Factory and Shop-Workers Union. It was reported that 13 branches of the PMRWU were managed by office-bearers from the masses executives of the MCP, active communist sympathisers and even members of secret societies.[32] It was not certain whether the involvement of secret societies was through the influence of MCP or they were union members who were also secret society elements. A police report indicated that the Union was highly regarded by the MCP as the

reactivation of the pre-Emergency rubber workers union which was an integral part of the PMFTU.[33] The involvement of secret society members in the PMRWU could not be interpreted as a sign of positive response to the MCP’s directives. Secret society collaboration with the MCP occurred only in a few isolated instances and collaboration with MCP personnel in the PMRWU was one such isolated occurrence. Even then, where collaboration was known, it was largely on an individual basis and available evidence indicated that it was mainly for “the purpose of collecting subscriptions, extortion or assassination with financial gain the principal motive”.[34] The only instance of collaboration on an organisation to organisation basis was in Penang where a branch of the MCP’s Penang Anti-British Alliance Society was in league with a local unit of the ABH. In this instance, ABH members were collecting funds in the name of the Anti-British Alliance, probably showing ABH’s intention to bolster its coercive influence to extort money from the Chinese Community.[35] It could be said that the ABH turned to the MCP whenever it was to its advantage. It was not in any way politically attuned to the aspirations of the MCP. MCP-ABH relationship lacked any consistency of purpose and frequently deteriorated into mutual enmity, fights and assassinations. In 1952 it was noted that the Anti-British Alliance was instructed not to enlist any more ABH members as they could not be trusted, and the MCP committee members who had arranged the collaboration was removed from office.[36] In conclusion, it could be conjectured that the tenuous relationship between the MCP and the secret societies, in particular the ABH was partly due to intensive police surveillance over the secret societies. The Banishment and Restricted Residence Enactments were frequently used against leaders of secret societies, particularly the ABH, to remove the menace. Since July 1953, sixty-six members of the ABH and twelve members of the Wah Kee were arrested and deported. [37] Most of these operated in Selangor while some were active in Negeri Sembilan, Perak and Penang, albeit on smaller scale. Nevertheless, the police admitted that it was difficult to identify whether those arrested were secret societies, communist sympathisers or communist terrorists. This was largely because both operated in a clandestine fashion and membership was secret.

ENDNOTES

[1] There are a few standard histories of Chinese secret societies in Malaya among which are: Blythe W.L. The Impact of Chinese Secret Societies in Malaya: A Historical Study, UOP, London, 1969 and Wynne M.L. Triad and Tabut: A Survey of the Origins and Diffusion of Chinese and Mohammedan Secret Societies in the Malay Peninsula, 1800-1935, Singapore 1941. [2] Dobree C.T. Notes on Secret Societies (undated) [3] Ibid p.10 [4] Ibid pp.13-17 [5] Ibid p.10

[6] Chee Fah was a popular gambling game during the Japanese Occupation. It was based on literary flower puzzles involving riddles with allusions to Chinese classical literature. Chee Fah is still popular among the Chinese in Kuala Lumpur. [7] Triad, Ang Bin Hoey and Kuomintang in Malaya, Labour Department, Selangor, ACA 10/47. [8] Registrar of Trade Union Files (RTU) 128/46. [9] “The Question of Secret Societies”, inssued by Selangor State Secretariat, MCP, Nov. 1952. [10] Review of Chinese Affairs, Nov. 1947, Pahang Secretariat Files 195/46. [11] Ibid [12] Ibid [13] Ibid [14] For a more detailed account of GLUs, see Leong Yee Fong, Labour and Trade Unionism in Colonial Malaya, 1930 – 1957, USM Press, 1999. [15] For a more detailed account of KMT-MCP rivalry, see Chui Kwei-Chiang, The Response of the Malayan Chinese to Political and Military Developments in China, 1945-1949, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang University, Oct.1977. [16] Review of chinese Affairs, Oct. 1947 [17] Ibid [18] Triad, Ang Bin Hoey, and Kuomintang in Malaya [19] Ibid [20] Ibibd [21] “Question of Secret Societies” [22] Triad, Ang Bin Hoey and Kuomintang [23] “An Open Letter to Compatriots of Various Nationalities in Malaya Regarding the Sitiawan Incident”, RTU (MU) 128/46. [24] Labour and Trade Unionism in Colonial Malaya, 193-1957 [25] “The Question of Secret Societies” [26] Ibid

[27] J.N. McHugh, The Anatomy of Communist Propaganda, July 1948 – December 1949, Published in December 1949) [28] Chinese Secret Societies and the MCP, prepared under the Instructions of the Federation Intelligence Committee, 31 Dec. 1954. [29] Ibid [30] Ibid [31] Ibid [32] “Memorandum of Reply by the Registrar of Trade Unions to Memorandum of Appeal on behalf of the Pan Malayan Rubber Workers Union, 10 July 1956, RTU 10/56. [33] Ibid [34] “Chinese Secret Societies and the MCP” [35] Ibid [36] Ibid [37] Ibid

http://www.scribd.com/document_downloads/40535?extension=txt&secret_password=

Sun Yatsen in Japan

2009-04-19T22:26:00.001-07:00

In 1905 there were about 5,000 Chinese students in Japan; by the follwing year there were 13,000. Japan was a logical choice for many Chinese seeking an education abroad because of its proximity, but the huge increase in the number of Chinese students studying in Japan was not only the result of ending the examinations, but also reflected the pride Asians felt after Japan astounded the world with tis crushing defear of Russia in 1905. Japan's development became a model for many Chinese.

In Japan at this time Chinese students encountered scores of Chinese revolutionaries exiled because of their anti-Manchu policies. One such revolutionary in exile was Sun Yat-sen, the man who later became known as the "Father of the Chinese Revolution." During the first decade of the twentieth century, there were no fewer than sixteen attempts to overthrow the Qing dynasty. Sun Yat-sen organized at least ten of those...

...In 1893 he began a practice in medicine on the Portuguese island of Macao, just outside of Hong Kong. It was in Macao that Sun organized his first secret socirty, the Xing Zhonghui (Revive China Society) with several like-minded iconoclastic Chinese. Intitially, he and his colleagues proposed the established of a constitutional monarchy for China, but as time passed they increasingly came to view the Manchus as the primary obastacle to progress...

...Sun claimed that it was difficult during the 1890's to gain sympathy and support for his organization among many Chinese since they were on the scene at the time other societies and apparently more effective leaders, such as Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, who competed for the reformers' support...

..In 1905 members of severl antidynastic organizations exiled in Japan allied with Chinese students in Tokyo for form the Tongmenhui (Alliance society), an antidynstaic, anti-imperealistic revolutionary group. Sun was chose to head the organization, whose goals were similar to those of the defunct Revive China Society. Many students blamed the Western imperealists for the Qing dynasty's problems. Thus one of the goals of this new group was to free China from Western enchroachment, a goal the Japanese supported wholeheartedly. Chinese revolutionaries received both protection and encouragement in Japan at a time when Japan itself was expanding its empire into China, competing with the West for Chinese territory...

Page 73

Sun's other major contribution to the course of the revolution was his ability to raise money from Chiense living overseas. His talent for finding the necessary funding was one of the main reasons Sun earned the title "Father of the Revolution," since he was actually in the United States when the revolution finally occured in October 1911...

Page 74

Modernization and revolution in China: from the Opium Wars to world power
By June M. Grasso, Jay P. Corrin, Michael Kort
Edition: 3, illustrated
Published by M.E. Sharpe, 2004
ISBN 0765614472, 9780765614476
353 pages

http://books.google.com/books?id=E5jfpX0QZdwC

Triad Documentary on Youtube

2009-04-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

Urban Dimensions of the Political Economy of Nanyang Ethnicity

2009-04-19T20:01:00.000-07:00

Southeast Asia's 'primate cities' are generally undergoing rapid urbanization and development. They represent symbolically and materially as well as existentially the focal center of Southeast Asian modernization, westernization and 'secularization' of traditional religious values. They also constitute the focal concern of Southeast Asian problems of social inequality, economic poverty and crowding. Population densities skyrocket in urban centers--making plainly visible to the average tourist the social diseases of poverty, ignorance, exploitation which , though epidemic in these concentrated and severely limited areas, are but the tip of an endemic iceberg which remain hidden under the triple canopy of the tropical countryside. Squatter 'villages' surround the periphery of these urban centers of national economic growth. If one takes a train from a small agricultural town to a major urban settlement, say Georgetown, and then on to Kuala Lumpur and to the final destination of downtown Singapore, one will have taken a train to ride through history from a pre-colonial setting to a 'post modern' synthetic paradise. As one travels the rail gamut from rural to urban, the pace of living and dying picks up--the range and availability of contemporary western manufactured commodities become greater, as does the cost of living, the average per capita income, the screens of opportunity of a better income. The city is the center of the global marketplace--where modernization, development, 'civilization' is much more evident. It is also the place where ethnic and political issues come into clear focus and the future gets played out once and for all. At the gateway to the city, there is no turning back.

The Chinese are a particularly important segment of any urban setting--they are conspicuous and prominent in their habits of living up to their common stereotype of 'cosmopolitanness' and business.

From small town to major metropolis in Southeast Asia, 'Chinese' will be found at its center 'minding their own business'. Whatever their agricultural ties to the countryside and even though they may be found carried wherever civilization may take them, Chinese never stray too far from the 'city'. Not too surprisingly, their fate is the future of the SEA city. It becomes important therefore to look in detail and depth at the character of these 'Chinatowns' which span the gamut between rural and urban, small and large and old and new. Like it or not, the fate of the Nanyang Chinese becomes played out upon an urban stage.

What is the urban dimension of the political economy of Nanyang ethnicity?…and what are its possible implications for modernization, development, poverty, inequality and the process of 'civilization'?

******

TRADE DIMENSIONS OF THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NANYANG ETHNICITY

The Nanyang Connection of the overseas Chinese of Southeast Asia is inextricably linked to their political economic success as a network of merchants, traders, middlemen and entrepreneurs. Historically this network expanded during the colonial period into an overseas, trans-national empire which culminated in political reverberations in 'old China'. Now their moment of monetary glory is waning--their moment in the marketplace of humankind as ephemeral as any. Since the end of WW11 their economic co-prosperity and 'peace' has been in decline in the face of burgeoning Nationalism, Nationalities and National Elites. In many nations of SEA their future has become one of ethnocide, genocide or enforced emigrations--their future has become as precarious and problematic as their past. The old colonial elite was replaced by a new nationalistic elite which is no longer sympathetic to the business and organizational qualities of the 'synthesizing' Chinese 'mind'. Now they are seen as either an obstacle to further progress as the Germans once saw the Jews, or else they are relegated into a post colonial latifundrial context of being merely the servants of development--as the White aristocrats viewed the Black Nursemaid. In the meantime the old colonial masters have simply turned their backs upon their plight, like they turned their backs upon all else 'colonial' except profits--now is the age of neo-colonialism.

But with the overseas Chinese, business is always business and money is the ritual religious guarantee of the success of future generations. Kong Xi Fai Cai--Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year to you. Business has become more than a means to some capitalistic end--it has become a way of life. If the West invented and developed the idea of capitalism, then they certainly stole it from the original Chinese creation of business--'the state of being busy'. And if it means in the final analysis that there remains a billion over miracle mouths to feed and nurture in the Chinese idiom, then that has merely become the economic side of the political coin of 'Chinese-ness'--Janus faced as it may be--the simple rectification of names and the never ending 'mandate of Heaven'. Meanwhile many more will be born and suffer and perish an untimely death. EAN--this is fate.

What is the Chinese virtuosity of business, the knack of squeezing a dollar out of fifteen cents which has made him/her a success and a threat throughout Southeast Asia? What is the political economy of 'Chineseness' which spells both paradise and doom in contemporary Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia has long been a maritime region where trade and transaction ruled supreme--what is the measure and method of Chinese political cultural adaptation to a Southeast Asian environment? What is the merchant dimension of the political economy of Nanyang ethnicity?

******

RURAL DIMENSIONS OF THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NANYANG ETHNICITY

Rubber and tin are Malaysia's leading export commodities. Southeast Asian political economy remains basically latifundian--agrarian inspite of the overemphasis of urban development. To find real, widespread poverty in Southeast Asia, one must venture off the beaten tourist track and get away from the short stops and hops of towns and cities--one must penetrate the real countryside to discover what it really means to remain poor and destitute in a multi-trillion dollar world economy. Unpleasant surprises await even the average urbanite of Southeast Asia brave new cities, who naively thinks he/she has seen it all.

The rural dimension is the other side of the coin of Chinese ethnicity--even though the Chinese remains always primarily a cosmopolitan city mouse, he always has connections with second country cousins who are hidden in the woodwork. The Chinese merchant maintains often long reaching vested interests in rural development. Indeed, they were historically the true pioneers and frontiersmen of the agricultural colonial economic development of Southeast Asia. The proud new National Bourgeoisie owe their debt of gratitude to their Chinese 'brethren under the skin--yellow or brown'. The countryside was the place where indigenous natives interacted with the global civilization via the Chinese middleman who developed his own kind of monopoly upon the real edge of modernity. This has been loosely referred to as the 'kongsi' or 'cheong tsu'. The Chinese secretly gains his/her strength in numbers which can be systematically well organized along many different lines--alone the Chinaman is at the mercy of the elements, but among his own kind he can move mountains and transact miracles, as long as there remains a profit of a bowl of broth in the morning, a bowl of noodles in the say, and a bowl of rice at night (not to mention a bowl of food to the spirits). "To classify a Chinese association according to is name is always misleading." (T'ien; 1953: 19)

What is the role of agricultural enterprise in Chinese ethnicity and what is the role of Chineseness in rural development--what is the rural dimension of the political economy of Nanyang ethnicity?

******

SOCIO CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NANYANG ETHNICITY

The Chinese 'kongsi' is given as the 'molecule' of Chinese social structure, and yet the only operative definition of 'kongsi' I have found is "a group of 2 or more unrelated persons of the same sex forming a household". (Barrington Kaye; 1960) The 'kongsi' however ill defined, is proffered by scholars as the 'secret' of Chinese organizational success in business, no matter whether this business is conducted in the city or countryside, on a plantation, mine, dock or shop, and yet the 'kongsi' itself remains only a polythetically described name for many different 'things' which have fallen under the stereotypical rubric of 'Chineseness'. My personal experience has taught me that kongsi has many different often totally unrelated realities, while it remains the 'basis' for the public 'Chinese Chamber of Commerce' or the private 'Chinese secret society'. Somehow it has accreted the quality of being automatic or somehow 'natural' in the ethnic Chinese stereotype, a part of a characteristic Chinese instinct for social organization like army ants.

And yet there remains something mysterious about the Chinese social organization in overseas communities which defies explanation, typifying what is stereotypically considered as characteristic 'Chineseness'. Ethnic group identity gains its strength from within, reinforced for survival from within as much or more than maintained negatively in structural political economic relationships from without. Indeed the Chinese can be said to fit 'comfortably' in a characteristic 'habitué' of being and doing which can be denoted loosely by the term of kongis--yet such as structure leaves unexplained the processes of time--historical contingency, human agency and circumstantial agency in the ongoing rise and demise of kongis social organizations. Such groups have a raison d'être which extend well beyond in time and place personality predispositions or characteriological sets shared in common by the individual members of such groupings. These groupings merge and function and then disintegrate with time, while new such groupings take their place, never exactly the same. The raison d'être is preeminently functional, practical, purposeful and arbitrarily instituted as any that every happened upon the face of the earth. The only thing natural about such organizations was their fictive origins among individuals without screens of opportunity, vulnerable in an alien environment, without makeshift family, strange and unfamiliar friends and distant partners for relationship. Such organizations were grass roots and sprung up in every suitable location which encourage the Chinese sojourner to begin thinking about once again taking up roots.

What ate the socio-structural dimensions of the political economy of Nanyang ethnicity?

******

ENTREPRENEURIAL DIMENSIONS OF THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NANYANG ETHNICITY

Entrepreneurship and political economic leadership is consistently downplayed as a critical factor in the make-up of Nanyang success. Factors underlying entrepreneurial success of the overseas Chinese are given as 'cultural agents' or factors which serve to make them ethnically outstanding vis-à-vis less entrepreneurially 'oriented' indigenes, this despite the fact that as a whole the Chinese have never had a surfeited community leadership which provided, historically and culturally, direction, sense of purpose as well as 'orientation' and continuity. In other words, such 'orientation' was never ever 'culturally given' or 'naturally innate' in the character of 'Chineseness' but has always been willfully provided and promoted by key individuals usually operating 'behind the scenes'.

Furthermore, ethnic comparisons of 'achievement motivation' and the pulling factors of an established, ambitious elite, tend to obscure the blatant class differences and tensions which exists as much within ethnic groups as between different ethnic groups. It becomes the political economic advantage of all elite leadership to promote an ethnic orientation which sustains their own wealth and power--ethnicity then becomes a strategic smoke screen hiding the inequality and class tensions behind political economic development.

Education remains the ticket for socio-economic mobility and 'success'--it remains the human oriented motor behind developmental 'progress' of human civilization. Education and 'achievement motivation' must somehow be positively correlated--a kind of mutual symbiosis between mind, matter and spirit. It is small wonder overseas Chinese value education so highly--wherever they may find themselves they are found to compete strongly with other ethnic groups for success in education. And yet the interrelationships between educational success, socio economic success, entrepreneurship, achievement motivation and leadership have yet to be thoroughly or finally elucidated, no matter how much they might be suggestive of some kind of causal determinacy.

What are the entrepreneurial, educational, leadership and socio-economic variables underlying the political economy of Nanyang ethnicity? A Marxist interpretation of class differences among the ethnic Chinese has yet to be written, though it may prove enlightening in this regard.

URBAN DIMENSIONS OF THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NANYANG ETHNICITY
Hugh M. Lewis
1989

http://www.lewismicropublishing.com/Publications/AnthropologicalEssays/UrbanDimensionsNanyangPoliticalEconomy.htm

Chinese in the United States / Development of Societies

2009-04-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

Until the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 Chinese living abroad were forced to wear a queue, as an expression of their loyalty to the Manchu Qing emperor. Photo in San Francisco Chinatown from 1910.[20]

The Chinese emigrants booked their passages on ships with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company (founded 1848) and the Occidental and Oriental Steamship Company (founded 1874). The money needed to fund their journey was mostly borrowed from relatives, district associations or from commercial lenders. Also, American employers of Chinese laborers also sent hiring agencies to China to pay for the Pacific voyage of those who were unable to borrow money. This "credit-ticket system" meant that the money advanced by the agencies to cover the cost of the passage was to be paid back by wages earned by the laborers later during their time in the U.S. The credit-ticket system had long been used by indentured migrants from South China who left to work in what Chinese called Nanyang (South Seas), the region to the south of China that included the Philippines, the former Dutch East Indies, the Malay Peninsula, and Borneo, Thailand, Indochina, and Burma. The Chinese who left for Australia also used the credit-ticket system.[21]

The entry of the Chinese into the U.S. was, to begin with, legal and uncomplicated and even had a formal judicial basis in 1868 with the signing of the Burlingame Treaty between the United States and China. But there were differences compared with the policy for European immigrants, in that if the Chinese migrants had children that were born in the USA, those children would automatically acquire American citizenship, but the immigrants themselves would remain as foreigners indefinitely. Unlike that with European immigrants the possibility of naturalization was withheld from them.[22]

Although the newcomers arrived in America after an already established small community of their fellow compatriots, they experienced many culture shocks in what to them was a strange country. The Chinese immigrants neither spoke and understood English nor were familiar with western culture and life; they often came from the rural lands in China and therefore had difficulty in adjusting to and finding their way around big towns like San Francisco. The racism which they had met from the European Americans from the outset of their arrival increased continuously to the turn of the century and prevented with lasting effect their assimilation into mainstream American society; this in turn led to the creation, cohesion and cooperation of many Chinese benevolent associations and societies whose existence in the U.S. remained far into the 20th century as a necessity both for support and survival for the Chinese in America. There were also many other reasons that laid within the Chinese themselves that had obstructed and hindered their assimilation, notably their appearance. Under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, Han Chinese men were forced under the threat of beheading to follow the Manchu custom of dressing including shaving the front of their heads and combing the remaining hair into a queue. Historically, to the Manchus, the policy was both an act of submission and, in practical terms, an identification aid of friend from foe. Because Chinnese immigrants returned as often as they could to China to see their family, they could not when in America cut off their often hated braids and then legally enter China again.[23

The first Chinese immigrants usually remained faithful to traditional Chinese beliefs, which were either Confucianism, ancestral worship, Buddhism or Daoism, while some others adhered to any of the various ecclesiastical religious doctrines. The number of the Chinese migrants who converted to Christianity remained at first low. They were mainly Protestants who had already been converted in China where foreign Christian missionaries (who had first come en mass in the 19th century) had strived for centuries to wholly Christianize the nation with relatively minor success. Christian missionaries had also worked in the Chinese communities and settlements in America, but nevertheless their religious message found few who were receptive. It was estimated that during the first wave until the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, less than 20 percent of Chinese immigrants had accepted Christian teachings. Their difficulty in being integrated was also exemplified by the end of the first wave in the mid-20th century when only a minority of Chinese living in the U.S. could speak English.[25]

Of the first wave of Chinese who came to America, few were women. In 1850, the Chinese community of San Francisco consisted of 4018 men and only 7 women. In 1855, women made up only two percent of the Chinese population in the U.S., and even in 1890 it had increased to only 4.8 percent. The lack of visibility of Chinese women in the general public was due partially to factors such as the cost of making the voyage when there was a lack of work opportunities for Chinese women in America, harsh working conditions and having the traditional female responsibility of looking after the children and extended family back in China. The only women who did go to America were usually the wives of merchants. Other factors were cultural in nature, such as having bound feet and not leaving the home. Another important consideration was that most Chinese men were worried that by bringing their wives and raising families in America they too would have been subjected to the same racial violence and discrimination which they themselves had faced. With the heavily uneven gender ratio, prostitution grew rapidly and the Chinese sex trade and trafficking became a lucrative business. From the documents of the 1870 U.S. Census, 61 percent of 3536 Chinese women in California had been classified as prostitutes as an occupation. The existence of Chinese prostitution was detected early, after which the police, legislature and popular press singled out Chinese prostitutes for criticism and were seen as further evidence of the depravity of the Chinese and the repression of their women by their patriarchal cultural values.[26]

Laws passed by the California state legislature in 1866 that sought to curb the brothels and missionary activity by the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches helped reduce the number of Chinese prostitutes and in the 1880 U.S. Census documents only 24 percent of 3171 Chinese women in California were classified as prostitutes. Many of these women married Chinese Christians and formed some of the earliest Chinese-American families in mainland America. Nevertheless, American legislation used the prostitution issue to make the immigration of Chinese women far more difficult. On March 3, 1875, in Washington, D.C., the United States Congress enacted the Page Act that forbade all Oriental women who were considered "obnoxious" by representatives of U.S. consulates at their origins of departure. In effect, this lead to American officials to class many women as prostitutes, who actually were not, which greatly reduced the opportunities for all Oriental women to enter the United States.[26]

Formation of Chinese American associations

Societies in pre-1911 revolutionary China were distinctively collectivist – they were composed of close networks of extended families, unions, clan associations and guilds, where people had a duty to protect and help one another. Soon after the first Chinese had settled in San Francisco respectable Chinese merchants – the most prominent members of the Chinese community of the time – made the first assiduous effort to form social and welfare organizations (Chinese: "Kongsi") in order to help immigrants to locate others from their native towns, socialize, receive monetary aid and raise voices in community affairs.[28] At first, these organizations only provided interpretation, lodgings and job finding services for newcomers. In 1849, the first Chinese merchants’ association was formed, but it did not last long. In less than a few years it petered out as its role was gradually replaced by a network of Chinese district and clan associations when more immigrants came in greater numbers.[28] Eventually some of the more prominent district associations merged to become the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (more commonly known as the "Chinese Six Companies" because of the original six founding associations).[29] It quickly became the most powerful and politically vocal organization to represent the Chinese not only in San Francisco but for the whole of California. In other large cities and regions in America similar associations were formed.[28]

The Chinese associations mediated disputes and soon began participating in the hospitality industry, lending, health, and education and funeral services. The last being especially significant for the Chinese community because many of the immigrants for religious reasons laid value to burial or cremation (including the scattering of ashes) in China. In the 1880s many of the city and regional associations united to form a national Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA), an umbrella organization, which defended the political rights and legal interests of the Chinese American community, particularly during times of anti-Chinese repression. By resisting overt discrimination enacted against them, the local chapters of the national CCBA helped to bring a number of cases to the courts from the municipal level to the Supreme Court to fight discriminatory legislation and treatment. The associations also took their cases to the press and worked with governmental institutions and the Chinese diplomatic missions to protect their rights. In the San Francisco Chinatown, birth site of the CCBA, formed in 1882, the CCBA had effectively assumed the function of an unofficial local governing body, which even used privately-hired police or guards for protection of inhabitants at the height of the anti-Chinese excesses.[30]
Officers of the Six Companies in San Francisco.[31]

Following a law enacted in New York, in 1933, in an attempt to evict Chinese from the laundry business, the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance was founded, rivalizing, on the left, to the CCBA.

A minority of the Chinese immigrants did not join the CCBA as they were outcasts or lacked the clan or family ties to join more prestigious Chinese surname associations, business guilds, or legitimate enterprises. As a result, they organized themselves into their own secret societies - called Tongs - for mutual support and protection of their members. These first tongs modeled themselves upon the triads, underground organizations dedicated to the overthrow of the Qing dynasty, and adopted their codes of brotherhood, loyalty, and patriotism.[32]

Marginalized, poor, low educational levels and lacking opportunities than the wealthier Chinese, the tongs (unlike the triads) had formed without any clear political motives and soon found themselves involved in lucrative criminal activities, including extortion, gambling, people smuggling, and prostitution. Prostitution proved to be an extremely profitable business for the tongs, due to the high male-to-female ratio among the early immigrants. The tongs would kidnap or purchase females (including babies) from China and smuggle them over the Pacific Ocean to work in brothels and similar establishments. The tongs constantly battled over territory, profits, and women in feuds known as the tong wars, occurring between the 1850s to the 1920s, notably in San Francisco, Cleveland and Los Angeles.[32

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_immigration_to_the_United_States

Secret Societies in Singapore

2009-04-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

Secret societies in Singapore (Chinese: 公司, Pinyin: gōngsī) are generally Chinese in origin. They have been largely eradicated as a security issue in the city state. However many smaller groups remain today which attempt to mimic societies of the past. The membership of these societies is largely adolescent, and sometimes includes non-Chinese Singaporeans.

Despite fading from contemporary Singaporean society, these secret societies hold great relevance to Singapore's modern history. The founding of the city state in 1819 saw the arrival of thousands of Chinese, thereby transplanting to Singapore social systems already present in China itself. Although the secret societies were commonly associated with violence, extortion and vice, they also played a part in building a social fabric for early Chinese migrants in Singapore. Ironically, they were given leeway to control the Chinese populace due to the hands-off policy adopted by the British colonials, who hoped to create stability.

Early origins

The concept of Secret societies came to Singapore with the arrival of the Chinese during the modern city's founding in 1819, although pre-existing Chinese, particularly the Peranakans, had been living in the area prior to that. These early groups, however, were largely assimilated into Malay society, and had abandoned many of the social structures of their origins.

The term for secret society, hui (Simplified Chinese: 会, Traditional Chinese: 會), is often interchangeable with terms like kongsi (公司, Pinyin: gōngsī) or Chinese clan (会馆, 會館, Pinyin: huìguǎn), all roughly translating to the meaning of "brotherhood". The term kongsi is more widely known in Southeast Asia, however, whereas in China, the secret societies were just simply known as hui or tong.

Over in China, the concept of brotherhood as a form of non-blood kinship has been a unifying force for centuries, with evidence of its existence dating back to the Warring States Period of 475-221 BC. Specific references are often made to the sworn brotherhood of Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

These forms of kinship were enforced through the taking of a blood oath, a process usually conducted only in times of strife, and therefore evokes a sense of rebellion against the wider social order. This sense of brotherhood is also associated with the concept of mutual aid, a key component dating back to the Tang Dynasty period from 618 to 907. Forms of aid often involved the pooling together of resources (including financial), or the loan of these resources, and were utilised for needs such as basic livelihood, the holding of a marriage, or financing and supporting political rebellion.

Individuals requiring such mutual aid were often economically or socially under-privileged. It was therefore common for these hui to be formed amongst the poorer, lower-class males of Chinese villages.

[edit] The first secret societies

The secret societies which formed in Singapore can be traced to mid-18th century Fujian province in China, with the local offshoots adopting an organisational structure mirroring the parent organization. The Hongman (洪門), the first secret society to be established in Singapore, traced its origins to the Heaven and Earth Society (Tiandihui) in Fujian.[citation needed]

[edit] Policing secret societies

Despite their founding principles of mutual assistance and bonding, secret societies have, over time, come to conjure up impressions of violence and disorder. This association, perhaps exaggerated, has been encouraged by law enforcement officers since their formation in the colonial era. This perception was strengthened by several factors, including the inability of the colony's administration to control their activities, the branding of arrested society members as "criminal gangsters" by the media and an upsurge in violent crime in the 1960s sparked by a few society members. These factors came together during the same period in which the country was trying to gain a foothold fresh from having attained political independence it did not foresee.

Several important riots in Malayan history prompted had earlier colonial government to respond umambiguosly. These riots include the Penang Riots of 1867 (which involved the Ghee Hin) and the Post Office Riots of 1876. The Societies Ordinance of 1889 was introduced as an attempt at suppression.

Reasons for the decline

In the early 19th century, secret societies posed a significant threat to law and order in Singapore. The early Chinese immigrants' clandestine activities and occasional turf wars proved too much of a problem for the British authorities. The British authorities were therefore obliged to curb the growing problem. They employed a number of methods, both on purpose and not, to check the growth of secret societies. This resulted in the decline of secret societies

[edit] Singapore becoming a Crown Colony

The transfer of authority over Singapore from the Indian Government to the colonial office in London is considered by most to be the most important factor that helped the British authority check the growth of secret societies. Elevation of Singapore to a crown Colony meant that London was willing to spend money and resources, and provide proper administrators that it was previously unprepared to do. Thus, Singapore was given a significantly larger priority and only with the transfer of power, could the authorities initiate the following changes.

[edit] Legislation of strict laws

The legislation of strict laws had an enormous effect in checking the growth of the secret societies. Two significant laws were passed in the 1860s.

* The first was the Peace Preservation Act (also known as the banishment act) of 1867, which gave the colonial government the power to detain and deport Chinese immigrants who were convicted of crime. This was a major weapon against the secret societies members as it created fear and deterred the immigrants from joining the secret societies. With this law, the power of the secret societies was significantly curtailed.
* In 1869, The Peace Preservation Act was amended, and the Dangerous Societies Suppression Ordinance was also enacted. This required that secret societies be registered. By requiring only the societies, and not the individual members, to be registered, the police attracted people to go to provide insight on the actual strength of the societies. 10 societies, 618 office bearers and 12371 members were registered in the first round of registrations. This Ordinace also accorded the colonial government the power to inspect any society that was deemed dangerous to public peace. This way the colonial government could monitor the activities of the secret societies closely. This prevented the Chinese immigrants from joining the secret societies, causing it to reduce in influence in Singapore in the 19th century.

[edit] Improvements to police force

In 1843, there were only 133 police personnel. Even if the army of 595 men was brought in, they were still no match for the Chinese Community consisting of 32132 people (most of whom were secret society members). Thomas Dunman, the first Commissioner of Police, wrote that his police force was underpaid and drew salaries lower than the average coolies. By 1865, there were 385 policemen to 50043 Chinese, but the ratio of policemen to Chinese was still too few to be effective. This was compounded by the fact that no one in the police force was qualified to deal with the Chinese. The officers' posts were held by Europeans while Indians made up the rank and file. No Chinese were employed because of their possible dealings with secret societies. Thus, the police force was ignorant of the language and ways of the Chinese, which was also the most volatile community. So ineffective was the police force that the wealthy had to hire private watchmen and carry personal arms to ensure their own safety.

However, after Singapore became a Crown Colony, large improvements made to the local police force. This was an important factor that helped check the growth of secret societies. The police force started to receive more funding, better equipment and proper training. All these made the police force a much more effective force than it previously was under the East India Company. Even more significant was the hiring of Chinese police officers who could understand and deal with the problems associated with the secret societies.

[edit] Establishment of Chinese Protectorate

The establishment of the Chinese Protectorate is yet another factor that led to the societies’ growth being checked. The first Chinese Protector, William Pickering maintained close contact with the Chinese immigrant community, and provided them with assistance. Being fluent in written and spoken Mandarin as well as in various Chinese dialect, Pickering looked after the welfare of the newly arrived coolies, prevented coolie abuse and kept track of the numbers of coolies leaving and arriving. Pickering also licensed coolie depots. To qualify for a license, the depots required a constant and plentiful supply of water and good ventiliation. He also visited the coolies to ask them in person what their connections in Singapore were, making sure they had someone to turn to during their stay.

This establishment of the Chinese Protectorate let the British sustain, for the first time in history, a satisfactory relationship with the Chinese community. Pickering was know affectionately to the Chinese as daiyan (大人), Cantonese for 'great man'. The Protectorate effectively became a legitimate alternative where migrants could come and try solve their problems, instead of putting it forward to the societies for a normally violent conclusion. It thus helped to deter many new immigrants from increasing the membership of secret societies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_societies_in_Singapore

Kongsi in SE Asia / Secret Societies in SE Asia

2009-04-19T19:25:00.000-07:00

Kongsi (Chinese: 公司; pinyin: gōngsī) or "clan halls", are benevolent organizations of popular origin found among overseas Chinese communities for individuals with the same surname. This type of social practice arose, it is held, several centuries ago in China. The Chinese word Kongsi is used in modern Chinese to mean a commercial "company".

The system of kongsi was utilized by Chinese throughout the diaspora to overcome economic difficulty, social ostracism, and oppression. In today's overseas Chinese communities throughout the world, this approach has been adapted to the modern environment, including political and legal factors. The kongsi is similar to modern business partnerships, but also draws on a deeper spirit of cooperation and consideration of mutual welfare.

It has been stated by some that the development and thriving of Chinese communities worldwide are the direct result of the kongsi concept. A vast number of Chinese-run firms and businesses were born as kongsi--many ending up as multinational conglomerates. In the Chinese spirit, derived in large part from Confucian ideals, these kongsi members or their descendants prefer not to boast so much of their wealth but to take pride in earning worldly and financial success through their work ethic and the combined efforts of many individuals devoted to group welfare.

Among the largest Kongsi was the Lanfang Kongsi, which organised the mostly Hakka Chinese miners who had settled in western Borneo and established a republic, the Lanfang Republic, in what is now the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan. [1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kongsi

Notable Kongsi

Ghee Hin Kongsi

The Ghee Hin Kongsi (simplified Chinese: 义兴公司; traditional Chinese: 義興公司; pinyin: yìxīng gōngsī) is a secret society in Singapore and Malaya, formed in 1820. Ghee Hin literally means "the rise of righteousness" in Chinese. The Ghee Hin often fought against the Hakka-dominated Hai San secret society.

Ghee Hin was initially dominated by the Cantonese, although Hokkiens formed the majority by 1860. Teochew, Hainanese, Hakka and Foochow form smaller minorities. Their main lodge was located in Lavender Street, which contained the ancestral tablets of important ex-members, before being donated to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital when it was torn down in 1892, following the Suppression of Secret Societies Ordinance.

The Ghee Hin were notorious for riots against Catholic Chinese in 1850 (killing over 500), as well as post offices in 1876, against a new, and more expensive, monopoly on post and remittances. The colonial government began to move towards surveillance, control, and finally suppression from 1890s onwards.

Ghee Hin and Hai San were the two secret societies that were involved in Perak civil war in the 19th century.

Hai San Secret Society

The Hai San (Chinese: 海山) Society which had its origins in Southern China[1] was a Penang-based Chinese secret society established around 1820 and in 1825 led by Low, Ah Chong[2] and Hoh Akow (also spelt Ho Ah Kow or Hok Ah Keow), its titular head. At that time the society's headquarters was located at Beach Street (Ujong Passir).[3]

Secret societies existed well before the establishment of the Hai San Society and their existence in Penang can be traced back to the founding of Penang (1799). Thomas John Newbold (1807-1850), an officer in the 23 Regiment, Madras Light Infantry, in Malacca (1832-1835) noted:

The secret fraternities in which they (the Chinese settlers) enroll themselves for mutual protection and support, prove powerful engines for political combinations, as the Dutch have repeatedly experienced during their long administration in Java and in the Malay States. In China itself, these societies are deemed so dangerous to the Government as to be interdicted under penalty of death. At Pinang in 1799, they set the administration in defiance and strong measures were necessary to reduce them to obedience. Even in the present-day, the ends of justice are frequently defeated both at Pinang, Malacca, and Singapore: by bribery, false swearing, and sometimes by open violence, owing to combinations of these fraternities, formed for the purpose of screening guilty members from detection and punishment. In European Settlements, they are under the general control of an officer, or headman styled "Capitan", who receives a salary from the Government and is responsible in some measure, for the orderly conduct of his countrymen, whose representative and official organ he is. Their interior affairs, disputes, and private interests are arranged by the heads of their respective "Kongsis" or fraternities.

[4]

Bolton et al making use of, among other things, an 1829 account by I. Pattullo, then Superintendent of Police and later Government Secretary, Notes on the Chinese of Pinang, Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, Singapore VIII (1854 and expanded in 1879) by J. D. Vaughan a Superintendent of Police at Penang, a Police Magistrate and Assistant Resident at Singapore and a Grandmaster of the Freemasons (1878 and 1879), and the Rule 11 (Appendix II) in the Rules of the Kian Tek (Toh Peh Kong) society dated 30 December 1844, suggest that the Hai San society started out mostly Cantonese and pro-Ghee Hin but by around 1854 had absorbed the Wah Sang society, become almost exclusively Hakka and anti-Ghee Hin.[5]

The Hai San society figure prominently in the Larut Wars of 1862-1873 and by that time was headed by Chung Keng Quee. At Larut, miners who were members of the Hai San society fought with miners who were members of the Ghee Hin society over the tin-rich fields of Kelian Pauh and Kelian Baru. The two warring factions also clashed in Selangor.[1]

The Hai San society was allied with the Penang-based Tokong or Tua Peh Kong society, members of whom financed the mining of tin in the Larut area.[1]

The incessant warfare between the Hai San and Ghee Hin brought tin mine production to a standstill. The fighting between the two societies was brought to an end with the signing of a treaty between the two parties in 1874, known as The Chinese Engagement.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hai_San_Secret_Society

Chinese American's / Tong Organizations

2009-04-19T19:12:00.000-07:00

In the United States, a tong (Chinese: 堂; Cantonese Yale: tong4; Pinyin: táng; literal: hall) is the term used for a type of secret society found among Chinese American immigrants. In the nineteenth century, when the tongs originated, few Chinese workers wished to emigrate to the USA. Although many stayed, most came with hopes of return to China. Although tongs were originally created for mutual support and protection, especially from other local ethnic groups hostile to the rapid Chinese immigration, their activities often flouted the law or became outright criminal. Tongs are descended from the Tiandihui, a secret society established to overthrow the Qing dynasty in China in the 18th century, and are similar to other groups worldwide that were also descended from the Tiandihui, known as hui, hongmen, triads, and tongs as well.

Some of the first tongs formed in the second half of the 19th century among the earliest immigrant Chinese American communities. Many were outcasts or lacked the clan or family ties to join more prestigious Chinese surname associations, business guilds, or legitimate enterprises. As a result, they banded together to form their own secret societies for protection. These first tongs followed the same patterns as the triads. The triad societies were underground organizations in British controlled areas that also existed for self help of members, but spoke of the overthrow of the Qing dynasty. Both groups adopted codes of brotherhood, loyalty, and patriotism.

Prostitution proved to be an extremely profitable business for the tongs, due to the high male-to-female ratio among the early immigrants. The tongs would kidnap or purchase females from China and smuggle them over the Pacific Ocean to work in brothels. The tongs constantly battled over territory, profits, and women in feuds known as the tong wars, occurring from the 1850s to the 1920s, notably in San Francisco, Cleveland, and Los Angeles.

These criminal enterprises eventually became involved in political activities as well. When Sun Yat-sen formed his Revive China Society, with the purpose of overthrowing the Qing dynasty, he found a receptive audience among many of the Tongs in addition to legitimate organizations. Many of the Tongs worked closely with organizations and contacts in China and provided funding to advance their political goals.

The 1930s was an era of decline in violent criminal activities in the Chinatowns. Due to the efforts of middle class or second-generation Chinese activists, and campaigning by Christian missionaries, prostitution was on the decline. Since the Chinatowns had become a major tourist attraction, the tongs had become less willing to see a decline in their revenues due to bloodshed and violence. The tongs had already spun off their operations into legitimate businesses, and organized themselves more professionally, and expanding their ranks to include legitimate merchants and businessmen.

Today in most American Chinatowns, if one can read Chinese, one can find clearly marked Tong halls. In the 1990s, many had affiliations with Chinese gangs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tong_(organization)

Notable Tongs in the United States

Hip Sing Association

The Hip Sing Association (traditional Chinese: 協勝公會; Cantonese Yale: Hip Sing Gung Wui) formerly known as the Hip Sing Tong (traditional Chinese: 協勝堂; Cantonese Yale: Hip Sing Tong) was a Chinese-American criminal organization based in New York's Chinatown during the early 20th century. They, along with their rivals the Four Brothers and the On Leong Tong, would be involved in the violent Tong wars for control of Chinatown during early 1900s. During the 1930s and 40s, the Hip Sings were involved in drug trafficking operations with the Kuomintang (KMT) and later the OPC. They would later establish chapters in Chinese-American communities throughout the United States in major cities such as Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco (the latter being subject to a major drug raid by authorities in 1996).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_Sing_Tong

On Leong Chinese Merchants Association

The On Leong Chinese Merchants Association (Chinese: 安良工商會; pinyin: Ānliáng Gōngshāng Huì) or simply Chinese Merchants Association, formerly known as the On Leong Tong (Chinese: 安良堂; pinyin: Ānliáng Táng), was a tong society operating out of its territory in Mott Street in New York's Chinatown. Established in November, 1893, the tong fought a violent war for control of Chinatown's rackets and businesses with the Hip Sing Tong. In recent years the Tong has been linked to the Ghost Shadows street gang led by Wing Yeung Chan. Currently, there are over 30,000 registered On Leong members, the majority of them with a commercial or industrial background.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Leong_Tong

Ying On Association

The Ying On Labor & Merchant Association (Chinese: 英端工商會) or simply Ying On Association is a historical Chinese American association that was established during the 1800s for the purpose of assisting members of the Chinese community when they were threatened by unfair and discriminatory business practices; for organizing social gathering places for the Chinese; and at times, for organizing funeral parlors for the dead who had no kin or family in America.

They were also involved in the criminal underworld of the Chinese community as one of the main Tongs that were created as a self-protection society in America for Chinese immigrants. While a legitimate business association today, it was heavily involved in criminal activities during its history, as were most.

The Ying On Association still exists today.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ying_On_Association

Opium and the Politics of Gangsterism in Nationalist China, 1927-1945

2009-04-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

By Jonathan Marshall

No political system can be adequately analyzed without
reference to the sources of power which supply the motor
force for political action. Traditional accounts of Republican
Chinese politics, in terms of shifting, competing personalist
cliques within the state bureaucracy, too often emphasize the
form and not the tools of conflict. Without a further
understanding of the sources of power which these cliques
sought to tap, the significance of much of the history of
Republican Chinese politics will be lost.

Opium was a key well-spring of power in the Republican
period. When properly tapped, the opium traffic — so large that
it supplied perhaps 5% of the Chinese population—provided a
vast pool of liquid profits with which to wage war or buy
organization and influence. By manipulating the traffic,
leaders could both penalize enemies (who also depended on its
profits) and extend their own political and economic
influence. Greater centralization of the traffic inevitably
meant greater centralization of national political power.

Opium impinged upon the whole fabric of China's
political economy, including peasant agriculture, provincial
warlordism, "bandit suppression," and intra-Guomindang
(KMT) political and military struggles. The national and local
bureaucracy was so dependent on profits from the traffic that
opium could not be eridicated without a near social
revolution.

Opium and the Politics of Gangsterism
in Nationalist China, 1927-1945 in Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 8, (July - September 1976) Page 1

Gustave Schlegel - primary source

2009-04-19T02:55:00.000-07:00

Gustave Schlegel
Thian Ti Hwui
The Hung-League
Heaven-earth –League
Gustave Schlegel – Interpreter for the Chinese Language to the government of Nethrelands India
Member of the Batavian Society of Arts and societies and of the Royal Insittue for the philology, geography and ethnology of Netherlands - India
It is a known fact that secret societies not only exist in China itself, but also with the Chinese in the colonies, where they hlead very often to a tacit resistance against the laws of the land, or even to revolt. In the spring of the year 1863, a lot of books were , very accidentally, found by the police in the house of a chinamans suspected of theft at padan which proved the existence of a secrt society at that place numbering about 200 members. These books, containing the laws, statues oath, mysteries of initiatin, catechism description of flags, symbols and secret signs etc, were placed officially into my hands for translation. Most of these books were at the time, quite unintelligible to me, and as …
As I hoped to be enabled, in that way, to find out the secrets of those societies.

Every person who has read anything of the secret societies in China, must have been struck with the resemblnance between them and the society of Freemasons
We believe that it was Dr Milne who first noted this resemblance in his paper on the Triadsociety.
Suggests link between Freemasons and Triads In antiquity, Chinese vases found in Egyptian tombs
“Freemasonary has, likewise, formerly been used as a cover for political conjurations in England; and there are surely perverted and bad people amongst masons too. We have, however, not to discuss at present what the Chinese Hungleague has done or does; but what it ought to do according to its own tents and teachings: that war and revolt is not its proper object the brother hood itself acknowledges
Oaths:
The so oft repeated “obey heaven and act righteously” accords well with the saying of the consititutoin book of the lodge Archimedes in Altenburg “Act as a man who is penetrated with the purest estemem fir equity and duty for god and man should act.”
From this it results clearly, that masonry is , and ought to be, cosmopolitic; and this is also recognised by masons.
The intimate union between eaven Earth and Man, was expressed by the symbol (triangle). According to the Shwoh-wan this symbol means ‘three united in one. It is composed of the character ru to enter, penetrate and yi one so that the symbol signifies three united, penetrated, blended into one.
With the Egyptians the equilateral triangle was explained so that one side expressed the male deity, the other side the female deity, and the base the created
Lots of siginigficance of the number 3. Also 5 and 7. 9 has significance as the highest
p.xxix We now come to the most important part of our introduction, viz, the comparison of the symbols of Masonry and of the Ung-league, which will give us many points of striking resemblance
The lodges of the freemasons and of the Hung-league are both square and perfectly oriented. With the principal gate or entrance towards the East. Now we will compare for a moment the old English apprecitce catechism and the Catechism of the Ung-league.
The 89th question in the former runs “ow broad rother?” (is the lodge)
“ow high brother”
“From earth to Heaven”
The 230 question of the Catechism of the ung-league runs:
“Ow high is the lodge?”
As high as one’s eyes can reach
And how broad
As broad as the two capitals and 13 prvices
The Chinese lodge is situated, like the Masonic lodge, towards the East. In the old Chinese light worship, the Est, as the source of all light, is sacred.
One of the greatest symbols is the lighting of lamps
We find back also in the ung-league the steel-yard, scales and foot-meausre as instruments to weigh and measure in a natural and symbolical sense, just as it is in masonry
So we mention, also the resemblance between the abbreviations of words in both societies. The masons following the Egyptian hierogliyphical system, which consists in abbreviatin the word with 3 points
“ In conclusiosn we do not think it improbable that the hung-league is the depositary of the old religion of the Chinese; consisting in the belief in a single and undivided god worshipped

Chapter 1 political history of the hung league
In the eyes of the present members of the ung league the tartars hae forfeited their claims and must therefore be exterminated. Theirs is a sacred war of righteousness against tyranny – of humanity against oppresiion and vice. If our supposition that the Ung-league has originated since antiquity is correct, they must have waged continually a war for the defence of righteous principles. For the same reason they will consider such a war righteous against every one who oppresses tehm, or whose government they think hurtful to the people, be they tartars, Mongols, Chinese or Europeans
The chineses annals afford many ullustrations of such fraternal bonds
It is impossible to tell with any certainty, whence the hungleague sprung. It may be that it was born of the system of clans, which gave the people the spirit of association. In antiquity the Chinese counted only one hundred families, and till the present day they do not possess many more names. When these families separated, each family as was natural, kept together. The members of each family having the same origin and name, would of course consider each other as brothers
There are lotsof pirates, who assume the name because iti s feared, but who do, in fact, not at all belondg to the league
Chapter 2 – The rituals of the lodge
Lots of pictures
Chapter 3
The government of the lodge – more pictures
Chapter 4 The affiliation of new members
New members for the heaven and earth-society are got in several ways.
A person may find some day in his house a chit of paper stamped wit the seal of the society, by which he is orderd to betake himself, at a certain hour to such a place.

Violenceis also used
Then lots of oaths
Part 5
Lawas and statues of the brotherhood
72 articles of laws of brotherhood
Section 2 21 articles of the regulations
Meeting with robbers and pirates
Section 3
Questions and answers (for recognition of other members)
Section 5 escret signs with wine cups
Section6
Secret signs at the dinner table
Section 7 – secret sings on smoking tobacco or opium
Section 10 – the original bases – recitations to show which lodge you belong to
Notes appendices and pictures – not useful

Sun Yat-sen's Establishing Contacts With Intelligentsia From Societies of Yangtze Area

2009-04-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

Sun Yat-sen, while preaching to overseas Chinese in Hawaii in Dec 1903, cited the humiliations of the Boxer Protocol and the 1900 defeat of Manchu government by 20,000 foreign soldiers. Sun Yat-sen called upon replicating USA's system in China. In the autumn of 1904, Sun Yat-sen adopted the combination of the republic and China in an article.

Also in autumn, Tang Jiyao, as one of 100 Yunnan Province overseas students, arrived in Japan where he changed his major to 'infantry' from 'sciences'.

In 1904, Tao Chengzhang returned to China and exerted his efforts in rebuilding secret societies in Zhejiang Prov. Tao Chengzhang & Gong Baoquan travelled across Zhejiang Province prefectures, and in Aug 1904, planned with Huang Xing & Cai Yuanpei for an uprising on Nov 16th [the birthday of Dowager Empress Cixi]. In Oct 1904, Tao, together with Gong Baoquan & Cai Yuanpei, established "Guang Fu Hui".Tao took charge of liaisons in five provinces of Southeast China. In Changsha of Hunan Province, Huang Xing and Zhang Ji persuaded Su Manshu into a stay as an English language teacher at "Enterprise School". Su Manshu just returned from a pilgrimage trip to South East Asia, with financing from his English language teacher Zhuang-xiang, i.e., a Spaniard priest who, at age of seventy year plus at the time, intended to marry his 20 year old daughter to the revolutionary-monk.

Also in Feb 1904, Russo-Japanese War broke out with a surprise attack on Port Arthur by the Japanese fleet. Manchu military officers, like Wu Peifu, were ordered to collaborate with Japanese in going to Manchuria for espionage against the Russians. Russians employed Chinese as spies as well, with one such spy execution documentary being played in the medical college where Lu Xun was attending. The next year, in Sept 1905, defeated on land and sea, Russia ceded to Japan Port Arthur, the southern portion of the Manchurian Railway, and the southern half of Sakhalin Island under the terms of the Treaty of Portsmouth.

In the winter of 1904, Restoration Society was established in Shanghai, with Cai Yuanpei made into the president as a result of Zhang Taiyan's imprisonment. Restoration Society proposed the slogan of "restoring our Han ethnicity and recovering our mountains and rivers".

In the spring of 1905, Sun Yat-sen visited Europe. In the spring, he knocked on the door of Wu ZHihui who had refused to see him while in Japan in 1901, thinking that Sun might just be a robinhood kind of figure. With Liu Chengyu's referral letter sent from San Francisco, Sun Yat-sen obtained invitation from overseas students in Brussels and Berlin. While Sun touted the role of secret societies, Zhu Hezhong alerted to the influences of students and soldiers in Hunan-Hubei provinces as well as the possible unrestrained ambitions of secret society members. After 3 day and 3 night talks, Sun Yat-sen was convinced by Zhu Hezhong. About 30 students held an oath, and later in 1905, called themselves the European Branch of "Allied Societies", with the inclusion of the students from Beulin and Paris area.

In March of 1905, Shanghai Cathay University dissolved over foreign lecturers' change of curriculum.

Manchu goverment dispatched five ministers on an inspection trip across European nations in 1905. On the original departure date, a revolutionary by the name of Wu Yue (from Tongcheng of Anhui Prov) died by exploding himself in the attempt of assassinating the five ministers at the train station. In the same year, Hu Ying (from Hunan Prov) and Wang Han (from Hubei Prov) followed Manchu "qin cai" [imperial inspector] Tie-liang all the way to the north, and Wang Han committed suicide after failing to find a chance to assassinate Tie-liang.

Formation Of "Allied Societies"
In July of 1905, Sun Yat-sen arrived in Japan from France. On July 28th, Huang Xing and Sun Yat-sen had a meeting in Fengleyuan Restaurant with the brokering by Japanese Gongqi Yinzang. Per Song Jiaoren diaries, Sun expressed worries about China falling into the chaos similar to post-Qin or post-Yuan eras. "Huang Xing Hui" held another meeting in regards to cooperation with Sun Yat-sen the next day. On 30th, 70 students went to Japan's black dragon society for a preparatory meeting during which Sun Yat-sen & Huang Xing made speeches. The meeting, at Huang Xing's suggestion, changed the society naming to "Chinese Allied Societies" from "Chinese Revolutionary Allied Societies". (Wang1 Rongzu stated that Japanese government had demanded that the word 'revolution' be taken out.) Gongqi Yinzang presented a roster form for attendents to sign. Cao Yabo, a Hunan native, broke the participants' hesitation by signing his name first. Sun Yat-sen's oath called for expelling of the Tartars and restoration of our China. On Aug 13th, Sun Yat-sen made a speech at a reception held by about 700 overseas students in Tokyo and called for establishment of republic via revolution. On Aug 20th of 1905 (solar calendar), Sun Yat-sen, who reportedly had spent idle time in Japan after losing his brave men in prior uprisings, was supported by Huang Xing for organizing "Tong Meng Hui" (i.e., 'Allied Society of China' or 'Revolutionary Alliance') in Japan. 30 clauses were chartered. Among 30 commissars, only two, including Sun Yat-sen, belonged to former "Xing Zhong Hui". Sun, age 39, was made into "premier", while Huang Xing, age 31, was secondary. Hu Hanming [age 26], Song Jiaoren [age 23], and Wang Jingwei [21] tacked on prominent posts. About 400 students joined the secret society. "Min Bao Newspaper" [i.e., The People's Journal] was launched on Nov 26th 1905.

Li Ao, the critic of KMT, claimed that it was Huang Xing who had saved Sun Yat-sen's political career in 1905. Do note that back in 1902, Zhang Taiyan & Gong Baoquan had visited Sun at Yokohama and later formed a rudimentary alliance. Li Dongfang's "Complete Biography of Chiang Kai-shek" pointed out that "Tong Meng Hui" expanded upon "Xing Zhong Hui" but incorporated Huang Xing & Song Jiaoren's "Hua Xing Hui", absorbed members from Cai Yuanpei & Gong Baoquan's "Guang Fu Hui" as well as "Ri [sun] Zhi [knowledge] Hui". ("Ri [sun] Zhi [knowledge]" apparently derived from Ming Dynasty remnant Gu Yanwu's article "Ri [sun] Zhi [knowledge] Lu [records]" in early Manchu Qing Dynasty.) Li Dongfang indiscriminately ascribed uprisings and assassinations by various organizations to "Tong Meng Hui", including: Wu Yue's attempted ssassination of five ministers in Peking in Aug 1905, Zhu Zhilong's death in Changsha in Oct 1906, Xu Xilin's assassination of En-ming in Anqing in May 1907 as well as Pingxiang-Liling-Liuyang Uprising in 1906, Huanggangzhen [Raoping of Guangdong] Uprising, Qinuuhu [Huizhou of Guangdong] Uprising, Qinzhou Uprising and Zhennanguan Uprising in 1907.

Tang Jiyao and about 40 Yunnan Province students also joined the "Tong Meng Hui". Tang Jiyao, who actively participated in revolutionary publications and societies, also joined Huang Fu's "Iron & Blood Great Men Society"" ['zhang fu hui'], i.e., a small circle of 41 cadet students who later became the nucleus of provincial military leaders during 1911 uprising. (Sun Yat-sen was said to have special instruction that 'zhang fu hui' membership be restricted and hidden for sake of infiltration into Manchu military establishment.)

Three months later, on Nov 26th, Sun first expounded his Three People-ism (i.e., Three People's Principles in regards to nationalism, civil rights and populace life) on newspaper "Min Bao". Sun Yat-sen first adopted the term "guomin geming" or 'national revolution' for distinction from "pingmin geming" or 'ordinary people/banditry revolution'.

With "Tong Meng Hui", Sun Yat-sen incorporated Huang Xing/Song Jiaoren's Hubei comrades and Zhang Binglin's Zhejiang comrades and made the revolution a multi-province movement. For the first time, revolutionary ranks included overseas students and intellectuals spanning multiple provinces other than professional chivalry fighters. "Tong Meng Hui", with the requirement of an oath to the heaven, had been touted as the turning point in China's revolution. Jiang Yongjing attributed multiple-province members recruited and disciplined in Japan to the success of domino-effect provincial independence during 1911 Xin Hai Revolution. Per Jiang Yongjing (page 41 of "Hundred Year Land-Sea Ebb History of KMT", 1993 edition, zhuanji wenxue publishing house, Taipei, Taiwan), "Tong Meng Hui" possessed 956 recorded names in the timeframe of 1905-1906, with majority members at age 20-25, and members came from all Chinese provinces except for Gansu Province. (Fu Guoyong claimed that Zhang Binglin's Zhejiang comrades joined Allied Society of China on individual basis since the leaders of the Restoration Society were all in Shanghai. "Tong Meng Hui", on Sept 8th 1905, dispatched Feng Ziyou to HK for taking over "China Daily" from Chen Shaobai. Chen Shaobai, i.e., prominent member of "Xing ZHong Hui" who launched the newspaper in 1899, left the political scene.)

http://www.imperialchina.org/Qing_Dynasty.html#guangfuhui

Chiang-Kai Shek and the Secret Societies in Japan

2009-04-18T10:16:00.000-07:00

In Japan, Chiang enrolled in 11th Session of Zhenwu Military Academy in 1908. Ding Zhongjiang stated that while practicing sword in Japan on one morning, Chiang was spotted by Chen Qimei, an activist in Sun Yat-sen's "Tong Meng Hui" organization. (Chen Qimei, inspired by his brother Chen Qicai's career success due to overseas studies in Japan, was sponsored for studies in a Tokyo police academy in Japan by his brother at age 30 in 1906 and thereafter joined the revolutionary movement.)

KMT records stated that Chiang Kai-shek, in 1908, for a second time, went to Japan where he joined "Society Of Alliance" ['tong men hui'] with Chen Qimei's referral and earnestly read Zou Rong's "Revolutionary Ranks" ['ge ming jun']. Li Ao pointed out that Chiang never went to Japan's infantry cadet academy for studies but served in 1910 as a second-class private in a Japanese field cannons column [i.e., the 19th Echelon of the Field Cannon Army of the 13th Japanese Division] after studies in Zhenwu Academy. (To rebut the deceit, Li Ao, in his book "Li Ao On Chiang Kai-shek, Book One", listed all Chinese graduates from Japan's infantry cadet academy from 1st Session to 10th Session to prove the non-existence of Chiang Kai-shek. Li Ao cited Li Zongren in pointing out Chiang Kai-shek's false claim as a 6th session graduate of the cadet. Note: Jiang Zuobin was 4th session graduate; Wang Zhaoji, Li Genyuan, Liu Chunhou [Liu Cunhou?], Luo Peijin, Yan Xishan, Sun Chuanfang, Lu Xiangting, Zhou Yinren, Tang Jiyao, Li Liejun, and Cheng Qian were 6th session graduates of Japan Cadet; Xu Shuzheng was 7th session graduate; Zhang Huizan was 8th session graduate; and Wang Boling & Zhang Qun were 10th session graduates.) Book "Biography Of Tang Jiyao" clearly provided the process of Japanese military school system, with internship a pre-requirement for entering the academy.

Li Ao pointed out that KMT records deliberately lied in stating that Chiang Kai-shek first met Sun Yat-sen in June 1910. Sun Yat-sen, after being expelled from Japan years ago, had a 15-day stopover in Japan before being sent away to Singapore by Japan in the summer of 1910. Meanwhile, Chen Qimei, being not in Japan for the whole year of 1910, would not be able to present Chiang to Sun at all. In Japan, Chiang also became the youngest of three sworn blood brothers with Chen Qimei & Huang Fu. However, Li Ao pointed out that Huang Fu's "Iron & Blood Great Men Society" ['zhang fu hui'], a small circle of cadet students who later became the nucleus of provincial military leaders during 1911 uprising, did not see Chiang Kai-shek on the roster. (Li Ao did not know that the pre-requirement of membership in 'zhang fu hui' would be the cadet identity.) Chiang Kai-shek, during the summer break in 1911, came back to Xikou-zhen Town, Fenghua-xian County, Zhejiang Prov to see his newly born son Jiang Jingguo who was born by Chiang's first wife Mao Fumei. KMT records stated that Jiang Jingguo was born on April 27th 1910 [March 18th 1910 per lunar calendar]. Li Ao pointed out that either Chiang Kai-shek had slipped back into China sometime in 1909 or satiric writer Jiang Nan's assassination death might be related to the description of deviation of Jiang Jingguo's personal appearances from that of his father.

In 1911, when Wuchang Uprising broke out, Chiang Kai-shek, at the request of Chen Qimei, immediately returned to Shanghai with Zhang Qun & Chen Xingshu by faking a leave of absence and then mailing uniforms back to his Japanese officer. In Shanghai, he joined the staff of Chen Qimei (Ch'en Ch'i-mei, aka Chen Yingshi) and organized 'dare-to-die column' for recovering Shanghai from Manchu rule. (Li Dongfang's "Complete Biography of Chiang Kai-shek" claimed that Chiang returned to China from Japan, met with Chen Qimei and was dispatched to Zhejiang Prov for preparatory work, then went back to Japan to report to his Japanese officer when vacation ran up, and did not leave for China till two months later, i.e., after Xin Hai Revolution. Further, Chiang had returned to China with about 120 students and cadet practitioners, with acquiesce of Japanese officers, per Li Dongfang.)

On Nov 3rd 1911, Chen Qimei was arrested by Manchu while leading the attack on Manchu's Shanghai Manufacturing Bureau. The next day, revolutionaries sacked the garrison and freed Chen. Chen's crony, later in a meeting, coerced Shanghai revolutionary factions into making Chen the governor-general by means of a display of firearms at the meeting. In Zhejiang Prov, on the morning of Nov 4th, Chiang, with five columns or 100 comrades, participated in attacking Manchu Governor Zeng-yun's office. A Manchu battalion chief, Gu Naibin, echoed the uprisng. Chiang later joined the Jiangsu-Zhejiang allied forces in attacking Jiangsu's provincial capital, i.e., Nanking.

In the Yangtze Delta, Restoration Society prevailed in the fights against Manchu, with numerous martyrs such as Xiong Chengji, Xu Xilin and Qiu Jin etc. Chiang Kai-shek, on Jan 14th 1912, was responsible for assassinating Tao Chengzhang the leader of Restoration Society. (Li Ao cited Deng Wenyi's "Chairman Chiang Kai-shek" in stating that Chiang Kai-shek, on Jan 14th 1912, personally shot Tao Chengzhang inside of Guangci Hospital at the order of Chen Qimei. Three days earlier, Tao Chengzhang received a letter from Sun Yat-sen demanding an explanation for Tao's 1909 accusations of 14 crimes. At the times of Chiang Kai-shek death in 1975 and Mao Tse-tung death in 1976, I read about an article in regards to Guangci Hospital murder. Shang Mingxuan pointed out that Chiang bought over a Restoration Society traitor called Wang Zhuqing for the job at 2:00 am on Jan 14th.)

Ding Zhongjiang's pro-KMT writing stated that i) Chiang Kai-shek later went overseas for an inspection tour and handed over the control of his army to Zhang Qun and that ii) Zhang Qun subsequently delivered the same army to Chen Qimei when Zhang Qun himself went to Britain for a tour of foreign industries. Chen Jieru's memoirs stated that Chiang Kai-shek quit his job in 1912 because the rank was too low for him. Jiang Huiguo mentioned that Chiang Kai-shek went into hiding in his Zhejiang hometown after the assassination of Tao Chengzhang.

Ding Zhongjiang stated that during the Second Revolution, both Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Qun returned to Shanghai from Japan and that Chiang Kai-shek called on his followers to support Chen Qimei as the commander-in-chief of 'Shanghai Army for Campaigning Against Yuan Shi-kai Imperial Enthronement'. During the Second Revolution War, in Shanghai, Chen Qimei ordered that Chiang Kai-shek attack the Gaochang-miao Weapons Depot which was guarded by Yuan Shi-kai's 1300 navy soldiers under Zheng Rucheng. Chiang Kai-shek attacked Gaochang-miao for few days in vain, and then rerouted towards Songjiang and attacked it in vain, either. Li Dongfang's "Complete Biography of Chiang Kai-shek" claimed that Chiang's mother had sold properties for providing financial support to Chiang Kai-shek, Niu Yongjian & Chen Qimei.

Second Revolution ended with the defeat of Li Liejun by Yuan Shi-kai's army and the loss of Nanchang in Jiangxi Prov on Aug 18th of 1913. In Anhui Prov, Yuan Shi-kai's crony, Ni Sichong, took over governor-general post on Aug 28th of 1913. In Jiangsu Prov, Zhang Xun sacked Nanking. In Shanghai area, Yuan Shi-kai conferred the post of "zhen shou shi" (i.e., garrison commissary) of Shanghai onto Zheng Rucheng, "zhen shou shi" of Songjiang onto Yang Shande, and governor-general of Fujian Prov onto Liu Guanxiong. In Guangdong Prov, Long Jiguang assumed governor-general post and Chen Jiongming fled on August 5th. In Sichuan Prov, Xiong Kewu declared independence on Aug 9th but resigned within one month. In Hunan Prov, Li Yuanhong recommended Tang Xiangming (Tang Hualong's brother) to Yuan Shi-kai for the governor-general post to have Tan Yankai and Zhao Hengti replaced on Oct 24th of 1913.

After the failure of the Second Revolution, Chiang Kai-shek & Zhang Qun left for Japan. Zhang Qun re-entered Japan's cadet in Tokyo to become the 10th session graduate in 1915. It was through Chen Qimei that Chiang Kai-shek first met Sun Yat-sen in early 1914. (Li Ao did list two speeches by Chiang Kai-shek to validate the timing of the first possible encounter between Chiang Kai-shek and Sun Yat-sen to be in Shanghai sometime in 1913. Before that, Chiang Kai-shek, for sake of elevating himself to the rank of Sun Yat-sen, made himself a sworn brother with both Zhang Jingjiang and Chen Qimei. Zhang Jingjiang [Chang Ching-chiang], in 1909, gained Sun Yat-sen's confidence by donating half of his Paris assets during the anti-Manchu revolutionary time period.)

On July 8th of 1914, in Japan, Sun Yat-sen re-organized his party into Chinese Revolutionary Party. Chen Qimei was the first to press his fingerprints on the personal allegiance form while some other revolutionaries were turned away by Sun Yat-sen's stringent demand. Chiang Kai-shek was No. 102 on the roll among 741 members who had registered from Dec 1913 to July 1914. Chiang was dispatched back to Shanghai for organizing rebellions. After Shanghai rebellion aborted, Chiang was sent to Manchuria for checking out the revolutionary movement, which turned out to be a scam by someone for obtaining revolutionary funding per Ding Zhongjiang. In Oct of 1915, Chen Qimei regrouped his forces for a rebellion. On Nov 10th, Zheng Rucheng was assassinated by Chen Qimei's men. On Dec 5th, uprising aborted when only one warship, Zhaohe-jian, echoed the rebels on the Huangpujiang River. Chen Qimei and Chiang Kai-shek slipped away when they heard Chen Guofu intentionally argued with French police downstairs. Chen Jieru memoirs claimed that Chiang Kai-shek believed that this aborted rebellion had helped propel the nationwide struggles against Yuan Shi-kai's imperial enthronement. Zhang Qun accepted a teaching job at Batavia in 1915 for making a living and would not return to China till Yuan Shi-kai's death the next year. Zhang Qun termed the struggle against Yuan Shi-kai imperial enthronement as the "Third Revolution". On March 22nd 1916, Yuan Shi-kai abandoned his emperor's title after about 81 days' enthronement. In April 1916, Chiang Kai-shek and Yang Hu went to join a rebellion in Jiangyin Battery of Jiangsu Prov. But on May 18th 1916, Chen Qimei was assassinated by Yuan Shi-kai's cronies after a setup by Li Haiqiu in luring Chen Qimei into a trap by means of asking Chen act as a guarantor of a mining enterprise in exchange for funding the revolutionary movement. Further details could be seen at "Struggles Against Yuan Shi-kai's Imperial Enthronement by Chinese Revolutionary Party".

After 1916, Chiang Kai-shek's intermediate career was shrouded in mystery and notoriety. Chiang was depicted as quite decadent, anything you could imagine what a Shanghai Bund rascal, speculator or broker would be. Chen Jieru memoirs claimed that Chiang Kai-shek had become decadent as a result of the death of Chen Qimei. Chen Jieru memoirs stated that Chiang Kai-shek, from 1917 to 1920, was "unemployed" in Shanghai; however, editor of the memoirs corrected this statement in pointing out that it did not conform with some historical writings. Zhang Qun claimed that he and Chiang Kai-shek served Sun Yat-sen as attaché inside of Sun Yat-sen's "grand marshal office" which was established on Aug 31st 1917 after Cheng Biguang's Navy escorted Sun Yat-sen to Canton from Shanghai. Available evidence would be a "grand marshal" entourage photo taken on March 3rd 1918, with Chiang Kai-shek inside. Chiang, from 1918 onward, had served Sun Yat-sen on and off. From March 1918 to June 1922, Chiang had been in active duty for one and half years, and participated in one real war, i.e., the Battle of Yongtai. In 1920, Chiang Kai-shek joined Zhang Jingjiang, Dai Jitao and Chen Guofu in trading stocks on Shanghai Bund, and declined Sun Yat-sen's invitations numerous times. Li Ao, after spending over two days sorting through Chiang Kai-shek's traces, pointed out that Chiang Kai-shek, for 14 times, from 7/31/1918 to 2/21/1924, had either quit the jobs or deserted the posts or resigned his work, with the first occurrence being 7/31/1918 quitting the "tactician" job under Chen Jiongming [after four month service] and the last occurrence being 2/21/1924 quitting the Whampoa academy preparatory committee due to Sun Yat-sen's plan [?] in assigning the "principal" job onto Xu Chongzhi.

To gain an glimpse of Chiang Kai-shek's past, one would have to rely upon "Chie Jieru's Memoirs", a book that was published in a different name entitled "I Had Been Chiang Kai-shek's Wife For Seven Years" (Solidarity Publishing House, July 2002, Peking, China, ISBN 7-80130-593-0). On the Shanghai Bund, Chiang Kai-shek, per Harold Isaacs, "came into contact with Yu Ya-ch'ing, then already a powerful comprador, and Chang Ching-chiang, a millionaire banker and dealer in bean curd and curios. Chiang also associated with Huang Ching-yung, one of Shanghai's notorious underworld leaders, and is generally believed to have become a member at this time of the most powerful secret society in Shanghai, known as the Green Circle ['qing bang']. Gangsters, bankers, military men, murderers, thieves, smugglers, and brothel-keepers helped draw the original lines of the portrait the world was to come to recognize as Chiang Kai-shek." Chiang Kai-shek, who went into financial entanglements with powerful richmen, would later be bailed out by those tutors or sponsors, to be shipped to Canton for service under Sun Yat-sen. Recent revelation of Chiang Kai-shek's private diaries, purportedly written during the Shanghai Bund time period, had quite some pages about his abortive fights against lust and sex. It is extremely difficult to make a linkage of this kind of decadent Chiang Kai-shek to a later political figure who instructed his elder son as to diligent studies of ancient Chinese classics (such as "shuo wen jie zi") in the private aspect and commanded the Whampoa Cadet Army in the public aspect. In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek forced Chen Jieru into a trip to USA for sake of marrying Song Meiling. Chen Jieru received warm welcome from governor of Hawaii and Chinese compatriots in US in almost all cities, but was denied assistance by China's diplomatic legation. After return to China, Chen Jieru spent her time in Shanghai till she fled to Chongqing in the aftermath of the Pacific War. Chen Jieru, in 1961, under the arrangement of CCP leader Zhou Enlai, migrated to HK where she authored the memoirs that was sold out by her dealer to Chiang Kai-shek's cronies. There could be a communist red hand in the publication of Chen Jieru's memoirs.

http://www.republicanchina.org/tragedy.html

Japanese Secret Societies and the Chinese Secret Societies.

2009-04-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

China's fate and fortune did not evolve by itself. Note that two countries that had both impacted China enormously would be Russia and Japan. The demise of the Republic of China on mainland China being attributed to the American sellout, though, the actual agents and saboteurs inside the American government were mostly implanted by Russians and the Comintern. The Russians provided the roubles that fomented the world revolution by violence in 20th century. Before the alliance with USSR, Sun Yat-sen was noted for his collusion with Japanese in opposing both Manchu court and Yuan Shi-kai's imperial enthronement. Significant in Chinese revolution would be the Japanese factor, as evidenced by the fact that the ceremony for the convention of Sun Yat-sen's "Tong Meng Hui" [i.e., 'Allied Society of China' or 'Revolutionary Alliance'] was first held inside the building of semi-governmental Japanese " Kokuryukai [black dragon society]". Japanese national policy, however, was to fund and support any Chinese faction and rivalry against the centralized regime for sake of creating chaos and turmoil in China. (Though, Mme Chiang Kai-shek, who personally met Dr Sun Yat-sen's Japanese friends in HK in early 1938 for war mediation, emphasized that among the 72 martyrs buried on Huanghuagang Hill would be one Japanese friend who participated in March 29th, 1911 uprising.)

...Sun Yat-sen left for Guangdong on Aug 2nd, with an intention to treat Guangdong Province as homebase; en route, at a stopover in Mawei of Fujian Prov, a Japanese consulate official informed Sun Yat-sen of the possible Long Jiguang conspiracy in Canton; Sun Yat-sen, together with Hu Hanmin, then changed ship to Taiwan; and thereafter, Sun Yat-sen secretly arrived in Japan and stayed in the home of Toyama Mitsuru, i.e., Japanese spiritual leader of "black dragon society", the successor to Genyosha a secret society. Documents dating to Sept 27th 1913 had shown that Sun Yat-sen was already contemplating on his new party. Chiang Kai-shek, i.e., Jiang Zhiqing, signed the enrolment form from Shanghai on Oct 29th. In July of 1914, Sun officially re-organized KMT into the so-called "Zhonghua Geming Dang", i.e., Chinese Revolutionary Party.

http://www.republicanchina.org/tragedy.html

The Black Dragon Society

The Black Dragon Society (Kyūjitai; 黑龍會; Shinjitai: 黒龍会 ,kokuryūkai?) was a prominent paramilitary, ultra-nationalist right-wing group in Japan.

The Kokuryūkai was founded in 1901 by Uchida Ryohei, and was descended from the Genyōsha. (Uchida was a follower of Genyōsha founder Mitsuru Toyama.) Its name is derived from the Amur River, called Heilongjiang or "Black Dragon River" in Chinese (黑龍江?), read as Kokuryū-kō in Japanese. Its public goal was to support efforts to drive the Russian Empire out of east Asia, south of the Amur River.

The Kokuryūkai initially made strenuous efforts to distance itself from the criminal elements of its predecessor, the Genyōsha. As a result, its membership included Cabinet Ministers and high-ranking military officers as well as professional secret agents. However, as time passed, it found the use of criminal activities to be a convenient 'means to an end' for many of its operations.

The Society published a journal, and operated an espionage training school, from which it dispatched agents to gather intelligence on Russian activities in Russia, Manchuria, Korea and China. It also pressured Japanese politicians to adopt a strong foreign policy. The Kokuryukai also supported Pan-Asianism, and lent financial support to revolutionaries such as Sun Yat-sen, and Emilio Aguinaldo.

During the Russo-Japanese War, annexation of Korea and Siberian Intervention, the Imperial Japanese Army made use of the Kokuryūkai network for espionage, sabotage and assassination. They organized Manchurian guerrillas against the Russians from the Chinese warlords and bandit chieftains in the region, the most important being Marshal Chang Tso-lin. The Black Dragons waged a very successful psychological warfare campaign in conjunction with the Japanese military, spreading disinformation and propaganda throughout the region. They also acted as interpreters for the Japanese army.

The Kokuryūkai assisted the Japanese spy, Colonel Motojiro Akashi. Akashi, who was not directly a member of the Black Dragons, ran successful operations in China, Manchuria, Siberia and established contacts throughout the Muslim world. These contacts in Central Asia were maintained through World War II. The Black Dragons also formed close contact and even alliances with Buddhist sects throughout Asia.

During the 1920s and 1930s, the Kokuryūkai evolved into more of a mainstream political organization, and publicly attacked liberal and leftist thought. Although it never had more than several dozen members at any one time during this period, the close ties of its membership to leading members of the government, military and powerful business leaders gave it a power and influence far greater than most other ultranationalist groups.

Initially directed only against Russia, in the 1930s, the Kokuryūkai expanded its activities around the world, and stationed agents in such diverse places as Ethiopia, Turkey, Morocco, throughout southeast Asia and South America, as well as Europe and the United States.

[edit] The Black Dragon Society and the Internment of Japanese-Americans

The Kokuryūkai was sensationalized by the yellow press and by American wartime propaganda, largely due to its villainous-sounding name of “Black Dragon Society”. Lurid novels and short stories connected it with all manner of nefarious criminal activity, and local government authorities in the United States found it convenient to use its supposed existence as an underground “fifth column” among Americans of Japanese descent as one of the excuses for the Japanese-American Internment during World War II.

The organization was mentioned as an influence on the black nationalist organizations which were convicted of sedition in 1942, most notably Mittie Maud Lena Gordon's Peace Movement for Ethiopia. The other two organizations said to be influenced were the Brotherhood of Liberty for the Black People of America and the Temple of Islam.[1]

On 27 March 1942 FBI agents arrested members of the Black Dragon Society in the San Joaquin Valley of California.[2]

The Kokuryūkai was officially disbanded by order of the American Occupation authorities in 1946. According to Brian Daizen Victoria's book Zen War Stories, the Black Dragon Society was reconstituted in 1961 as the Black Dragon Club (Kokuryū-Kurabu.) The Club never had more than 150 members to succeed in the goals of the former Black Dragon Society.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dragon_Society

Genyōsha

The Dark/Black Ocean Society (玄洋社 ,Gen'yōsha?) was an influential ultranationalist group and secret society active in Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa period Japan.

Foundation as the Koyōsha

Originally founded, as the “Koyōsha”, by Hiraoka Kotarō (1851-1906), a wealthy ex-samurai and mine-owner, with mining interests in Manchuria, Toyama Mitsuru, and other former samurai of the Fukuoka Domain, it agitated for a return to the old feudal Japanese order with special privileges and government stipends for the samurai class. [1] The Koyōsha participated in the various ex-samurai uprising in Kyūshū against the early Meiji government, but after the suppression of the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877, it abandoned its original goals, joined the Freedom and People's Rights Movement, and formed a political organization to agitate for a national parliament instead.

[edit] Foundation as the Gen'yōsha

In 1881, the Koyōsha changed its direction again. This time, the declared aims of the Gen'yōsha were honorable and noble: “to honor the Imperial Family, respect the Empire” and “to guard the rights of the people”. However, its true agenda was to agitate for Japanese military expansion and conquest of the Asian continent. The true agenda was reflected in its new name of Gen’yōsha, taken after the Genkainada strait which separates Japan from Korea. [2]

The tactics which the Gen'yōsha was prepared to use to achieve its goals was also far from noble. It began as a terrorist organization, and although it continued to recruit disaffected ex-samurai, it also attracted figures involved in organized crime to assist in its campaigns of violence and assassination against foreigners and liberal politicians. [3]

In 1889, the Gen'yōsha strongly criticized the unequal treaty revision plan drafted by foreign minister Okuma Shigenobu. A Gen'yōsha member threw a bomb which wounded him severely. [4] In the election of 1892, the Gen'yōsha mounted a campaign of intimidation and violence with the tacit support of the Matsukata administration to influence the outcome of the election.

One of the primary targets of the Gen'yōsha were the many Chinese secret societies, some of which were very hostile to Japan. However, the Chinese secret societies had a shared goal with the Gen'yōsha in wanting the overthrow of the Qing dynasty. [5] In 1881, Mitsuru Toyama sent over 100 men into China to gather information and to infiltrate these secret societies. One of the first and most detailed histories of the secret societies was written by Gen'yōsha member Hiraya Amane, who assisted in the establishment of the Gen'yōsha's Chinese headquarters in Hangzhou. The Gen'yōsha not only provided funds and weapons to the secret societies, but also arranged for refuge in Japan for leaders exposed by the Qing government. The Gen’yosha established a large network of brothels across China (and later throughout Southeast Asia) to provide meeting locations, and also to gather information. In addition to being a profitable side-business, the brothels provided opportunities to gather useful information for the later blackmail or subversion of patrons. However, although blackmail and bribery were often resorted to, more often information was obtained by employing prostitutes highly skilled in extracting information for their clients. The Gen'yōsha even established a training school for such agents in Sapporo in Hokkaidō.

Another sphere of Gen'yōsha activity was Korea. The Gen'yōsha established a task force to prepare detailed topographical survey maps of Korea in secret, in anticipation of a future Japanese invasion. The Gen'yōsha also actively supported the Donghak Movement, knowing that the uprising was likely to draw China and Japan into a war. The assassination of Queen Min of Korea in 1895 is believed to have been conducted by Gen'yosha members, at the instigation of the Japanese Minister in Seoul, Miura Goro.[6]

Originally ignored by the Japanese military, during the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War, both the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy found the Gen'yōsha’s extensive intelligence gathering network throughout East Asia to be invaluable. The Gen'yōsha network was also useful for the military in conducting sabotage activities behind enemy lines.

After the annexation of Korea in 1910, the Gen'yōsha continued to support efforts towards Pan-Asianism. Domestically, it formed a political party called the Dai Nippon Seianto (Greater Japan Production Party) to combat the influence of socialism in worker trade unions.

Towards its later years, the Gen'yōsha was far removed from its origins as a secret society, but had evolved almost to the mainstream of Japanese politics. A number of cabinet ministers and members of the Japanese Diet were known members, and mainstream political leaders, such as Hirota Koki and Nakano Seigo emerged from its ranks. It continued to exert considerable influence on the politics and foreign policy of Japan until the end of World War II.

The Gen'yōsha was disbanded by the American authorities during the Occupation of Japan.

[edit] Legacy

The Gen'yōsha was the forerunner of a number of organizations which inherited and developed its ideology. It also set the stage for the post-World War II ties between right-wing politicians and yakuza organized crime syndicates.

Although modern yakuza share many of Gen'yōsha's political and social philosophies, and although many of Gen'yōsha's members were drawn from yakuza ranks, the Gen'yōsha was primarily a political organization that often used criminal means to attain its goals, and was not a yakuza itself, as some authors have claimed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geny%C5%8Dsha

Sun-Joffe Manifesto / Soviet KMT cooperation

2009-04-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

(Jan. 26, 1923), joint statement issued at Shanghai by the Chinese Nationalist revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen and Adolf Joffe, representative of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, which provided the basis for cooperation between the Soviet Union and Sun’s Kuomintang, or Nationalist, Party.

In the negotiations that led to the signing of the manifesto, Sun agreed to the formation of a United Front between the small Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang. The Communists were to retain their Communist Party membership but would join the Kuomintang as individuals, thus constituting a “bloc within” the party. In return, the Soviet Union pledged military and political aid to the Kuomintang.

The Soviets were convinced that a bourgeois democratic revolution must occur in China before the country could be ready for socialism and that the occurrence of a bourgeois revolution in China would lead to the destruction of Western imperialism and thus would severely weaken the capitalist system. In the manifesto, therefore, Joffe agreed that the Soviets would support Sun’s program to reunify China and would renegotiate the unequal treaties forced on China by imperial Russia. Sun, however, agreed to a continued Russian presence in Outer Mongolia and to a recognition of Soviet rights to the Chinese Eastern Railway, which ran across Manchuria (Northeast Provinces) and connected Siberia with the Soviet warm-water port of Vladivostok.

Sun appointed his assistant Liao Chung-k’ai to accompany Joffe to Japan and to learn more about the Soviet system from him. Another assistant, Chiang Kai-shek, was sent to Moscow to study with Leon Trotsky and learn Soviet methods of military organization.

"Sun-Joffe Manifesto." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 18 Apr. 2009 .

Taiwan's Dirty Business

2009-04-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

Taiwan's Dirty Business

This article originally appeared in the April 1997 issue of ASIA, INC.

Triads have creamed off billions of dollars from infrastructure projects in the 1990s. The government has launched a high-profile crackdown. Corporate Taiwan will be more impressed when corrupt high-level legislators start going to jail.
The phone call woke Regis Chen at 2 a.m. Chen, the chairman of Taiwan's state-owned BES Engineering Corp., drowsily heard a monotone voice on the line. "Mr. Chen? It's time you bought coffins for yourself, your wife and your children. We offer the best coffins in Taiwan. Would you like to see them?" Jolted awake, the businessman yelled: "Who are you?" The line clicked dead.

Chen had few doubts about why he was being menaced that January 1994 morning. BES was bidding to build a $4 billion freeway in Hsipin, northern Taiwan. Its main rival was Chun Kuo Group, owned by Chen Ti-kuo, a politically connected tycoon known to be affiliated with the United Bamboo triad, Taiwan's largest and most feared secret society.

Chun Kuo wanted to make an unchallenged bid for the project, and thus set its own high price. But Regis Chen, a stubborn man with Buddhist ideals, wouldn't make way. "I refused to cooperate," he says. "Who pays [for inflated bids]? The country pays. So do the people."

His stand led to an 18-month blitz of intimidation. Only the day before the phone threat, a muscular young man had strutted into his office without an appointment. "A certain gang doesn't like you, Mr. Chen," snarled the tough. "They know your habits, your routines, where your wife works, where your children go to school. We can take care of all of you in 15 minutes."

Chen was forced to engage private bodyguards round the clock, and a couple of times sought police protection. He was especially distraught when he discovered that his subordinates were secretly cooperating with Chun Kuo. Chen eventually decided he was fighting a war he couldn't win and quit BES Engineering in July 1995.

Without any rival bids to contend with, Chun Kuo was awarded the freeway contract. Yet Chen Ti-kuo's victory was to prove his undoing. Parts of a tunnel on the Hsipin expressway collapsed in January 1996, leading to a government investigation into allegations that Chun Kuo had skimped on construction costs and bribed government officials. Chen was extradited in November from Singapore, where he had fled, and now is in jail.

Chen Ti-kuo's arrest was part of a high-profile campaign code-named Operation Chih Ping (Operation Clean Sweep) that authorities launched last August to flush out organized crime. Within a few months, the screws were tightened further with the passing of an Organized Crime Prevention Statute and an Anti-Hooligan Law. At stake, says Minister of Justice Liao Cheng-hao, is Taiwan's political and economic future: "Our goal is to destroy the organized criminals. We must succeed. If we don't, Taiwan will have no hope."

The United Bamboo is scuttling for cover, with many of its foot-soldiers either arrested or giving themselves up to police and its leaders in hiding in China, Hong Kong and Macau. Zhang An-lo (aka White Wolf), honorary godfather of the triad, lambasts the government's campaign. "These brothers may not use conventional or legal methods in the construction industry," Zhang admitted in an exclusive interview with Asia, Inc. in a five-star hotel suite in China. "But politicians involved in construction also rig bids. So why sweep the brothers out?"

Battle lines have been drawn. On one side is the Kuomintang (KMT), which has ruled Taiwan since Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's army fled there from mainland China in 1949. It is trying to discard its short, mainly shabby history in the island state and reinvent itself under President Lee Teng-hui as a model democratic party. On the other side are secret societies that have grown from often-honorable roots into parasitical billion-dollar empires.

To many of the KMT's critics, however, the anti-gang crackdown is purely cosmetic. The ruling party, they say, is too heavily indebted to the triads -- and has too many of them in its own ranks. Until recently, it needed them to mobilize votes. In return, the secret societies grew rich from gambling, loan-sharking and prostitution.

Even more lucrative were the rake-offs from infrastructure projects, where the web of political and business corruption is spun most thickly. United Bamboo's Zhang, who left Taiwan last December, alleges that politicians and construction conglomerates were rigging bids on public-works projects long before triads came on the scene, adding: "They're sweeping out the brothers while covering up their own crimes."

According to some estimates, Taiwan's triads and crooked officials and politicians together have siphoned off $26 billion in the past six years from public-works projects, around 30 percent of $87 billion spent by the government. Awash with cash, the secret societies have barged into other areas of Taiwan's business life. Last year, gunfire was exchanged by rival gangsters at a shareholders' meeting of Taiwan Pineapple Group, a major canned-food producer. Some companies also use triads to arbitrate disputes, rather than depend on a slow judicial process.

As a result, the rule of triads has become almost as powerful as the rule of law in corporate Taiwan. In the construction industry, businessmen not prepared to pay kickbacks lose out on contracts, or they end up working as subcontractors on thin margins. Sometimes, with public-works projects, so little money is left that quality and safety standards are seriously compromised.

Paul Kung, vice president of Pacific Construction, Taiwan's largest private-sector builder, says his company was regularly nudged out of the bidding for public-works projects by rivals controlled by the United Bamboo. "Our principle now is that if we believe the triads are involved, we don't want to be involved," says Kung. "We don't see this as a difficult principle, but as the right principle. We'd rather not be involved than cooperate with the triads."

While Kung welcomes Operation Chih Ping, others point out that the dragnet has failed to trawl in any national legislators with suspected underworld ties. Yet even by the government's own conservative estimates, 10 percent of the members of the national legislature have criminal links. (That figure rises to 20 percent for provincial legislators and up to 33 percent for all elected officials at county level.)

Lin Kuo-tung, the deputy commissioner of criminal investigation at the Bureau of Taiwan's National Police Administration, insists that nobody is being protected. His message to the triads: "We don't care what background you have, whether you're a KMT member or what -- if you've got a criminal background and we have evidence of it, we'll arrest you."

THE BAMBOO'S EARLY SHOOTS
White Wolf Zhang says the clock can't be turned back. "Many brothers are now in the stock, finance and construction industries," says the honorary godfather, who holds five bachelor's degrees, three from American universities and two earned while he served a 10-year sentence at the U.S. federal penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, for conspiring to buy heroin. "Many are now doing legitimate business. Where do you want them to go back to? To prostitution, to gambling and to numbers rackets?"

The United Bamboo was founded 40 years ago by a handful of teen-aged sons of senior officers in Chiang Kai-shek's KMT army who had encamped in Taiwan rather than be crushed by Mao Zedong's advancing Communists. Disenchanted by the humiliation of their fathers, the young rebels joined forces to fight other gangs along Bamboo Forest Road on the outskirts of Taipei.

During martial law imposed by President Chiang Kai-shek, and continued by his son Chiang Ching-kuo, the United Bamboo faced little official trouble as it branched into gambling dens and loan-sharking. A one-time leader, Chen Chi-li (aka Dry Duck), socialized with the sons of Chiang Ching-kuo, and earned the triad international infamy when he assassinated Taiwanese dissident Henry Liu in San Francisco in 1984. Underworld sources say Chen was trying to curry favor with the KMT and Taiwan's intelligence services and was not on United Bamboo business.

As the United Bamboo moved into construction projects in the 1990s, the sight of its foot-soldiers in their signature outfit of black suit, white shirt, black tie and sunglasses was enough to scare off many legitimate builders. At its peak in the early 1980s, United Bamboo had up to 40,000 members in Taiwan, but intermittent police crackdowns have cut the numbers to 10,000. Overseas cells operate in the U.S., Canada, Australia and Europe, and throughout Asia.

Unlike Japan's yakuza or Italy's Mafia, the United Bamboo does not have a strict rank-and-file. Twenty-four tongs are each led by a da ge or "big brother," with membership comprising gangland enforcers and individual businessmen. "In Taiwan, brothers may be businessmen," says Zhang. "Businessmen may be brothers." Many went to the same schools, learned from the same martial arts master, and ended up marrying each other's sisters.

Mutual benefits and obligations underpin these relationships. Brothers and businessmen may or may not do business with each other but they turn to each other in times of crisis. All pay homage to Zhang, who was "recognized" by Taiwan's triads as their "opinion leader" in 1995. In fact, he is held in such esteem that businessmen ask him to help settle disputes. To show their respect, many restaurants in Taichung in central Taiwan and in Taipei serve whiskies named "Dances with Wolves" and "Wolf Legend."

With his Italian silk-cut suits and ties, Zhang, 48, oozes sophisticated charm, switching between Chinese and English with an easy fluency. Only his business card suggests anything out of the ordinary: The silhouette of a wolf accompanies the legend "Wolf Zhang, president." President not of United Bamboo, that is, but of the Taiwan-based Strategy Group, an investment company with many ventures, including one in construction.

Before he left Taiwan, White Wolf was a popular figure on TV talk shows and in newspapers and magazines, acting as an advocate for all of Taiwan's secret societies. Now, under the Anti-Hooligan Law passed last December, anyone who is a member of a so-called hai dao bang pai (black society) can be arrested. "You shouldn't say that just because I'm a brother, I'm a criminal," says Zhang. "If I didn't commit a crime, I'm not a criminal."

Secret societies have been a tradition in Chinese culture for thousands of years, Zhang says, and Taiwan will never succeed in wiping them out. Neighborhoods are kept clean of petty crime, he continues, with violence meted out selectively, to deserving targets and not to ordinary members of the public.

Nor will he accept that Taiwan's triads can be compared to the Mafia as it operates in the U.S. or Italy. For a start, they do not deal in drugs, the godfather says, insisting that he was innocent of the heroin charges that landed him in jail. Zhang's associates say he was targeted by Taiwanese intelligence agents, aided by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, for forcing the KMT to admit its role in the slaying of Henry Liu.

"Yes, secret societies have been a part of Chinese history," says Taiwan's popular Minister of State Ma Ying-jeou. "They have their own justice. But that type of justice is part of an agricultural society. We are an industrial, commercial society today. You can't take justice into your own hands. The days of Robin Hood are over."

Taiwan's secret societies, according to Zhang, now are being made scapegoats by President Lee, though he had relied on them to help him to power in 1987 on Chiang Ching-kuo's death. Chao Yung-mau, a professor of political science at the National Taiwan University, agrees that Lee initially was indebted to the triads, but says he needed such allies when he inherited a party still dominated by the sons of mainlanders.

Lee, an indigenous Taiwanese, like 85 percent of the population of 21 million, swept away much of the Chiangs' repressive state apparatus and purged many family loyalists as part of a reform process that led to multi-party democracy. However, the KMT was more practiced in avoiding or rigging elections than it was in commanding popular support. To stave off a mounting challenge from the newly formed Democratic Progressive Party, the KMT enlisted bosses of indigenous Taiwanese triads (known as ge tous) who through bribery and intimidation could deliver the votes at precinct level.

In exchange for the allegiance of the secret societies, underworld sources say, Lee allowed them to get rich off public-works projects and land rezoning -- with much of the money recycled back to corrupt officials and politicians. But the United Bamboo itself started to become a political force, according to Zhang, rallying opposition to Lee's supposed backsliding on the once-hallowed goal of unification with the mainland. The attitude of KMT politicians was, he claims: "You can help me get elected. But if you run for elections, I don't like that." Until the government's anti-triad campaign, Zhang himself had been urged by his followers to run for Taiwan's legislature.

Joe Motheral, vice president of Parsons Overseas Co., a U.S.-based engineering consultancy with annual revenue worldwide of $1.5 billion, says corruption was much less of a problem when he arrived in Taiwan 16 years ago. "I thought the business environment was good then," says Motheral, who was involved in building the North-South Freeway, Taiwan's biggest road project of the time. Although he lauds Taiwan's shift to democracy, he says ruefully: "Decision-making was probably more clear with an authoritarian government."

DOLLARS VS. DEMOCRACY
Minister of State Ma admits that many politicians take money from tainted sources. "I believe in any democratic country you can't separate money and politics," he says. "If you want to be elected you need money." So much money is required to win public office that candidates are financially obligated to their backers. "They get elected and as a result they have IOUs," he says. "Not every elected official is this way. We have many good elected officials. Our goal is to sift out the bad elements."

Many voters came to expect hundreds of dollars, as well as being wined and dined, for casting their vote for the "right" candidate, who usually (though not always) stood on the KMT ticket. Triads soon padded their bank accounts from the commissions they received for distributing the largesse and mobilizing the vote, earning up to $4 million per county per election. By the early 1990s, many triad leaders were keen to run for election themselves.

The reasons were obvious. According to Justice Minister Liao, "buying" a county commissioner's seat sometimes generates better returns than playing the stock market. To win such a seat often requires giving away a lot of cash, sometimes up to $12 million, but the returns can be threefold.

Once a commissioner takes office, he and his backers can dole out infrastructure contracts at any price they like, in return for big inducements. An even more lucrative avenue is land rezoning. For instance, one ping (3.3 square meters) of industrial or mixed-use land in rural Taiwan could rise in value from $370 to $3,700 if re-labeled for residential development. In Taipei, land values could skyrocket from $111/ping to $15,000/ping on rezoning.

Justice Minister Liao says he is determined to crack down on vote buying. "Most voters have no notion that getting NT$500 or NT$1,000 is wrong," he says with frustration in his spacious guest room in the Ministry of Justice in Taipei. "We tried to arrest many voters. Now we realize we must catch the offending political candidates. We must seize their assets."

Corruption has been especially rampant at the county level, where ge tous have ruled with an iron fist. Particularly notorious was Cheng Tai-chi, council speaker for Pingtung county in southern Taiwan. Cheng and another councilor, Huang Ching-ping, shot dead a rival gangster. The pair were convicted in 1995, and are on Death Row awaiting the result of an appeal.

Before the murder, Cheng had terrorized Pingtung county with his "baseball" team, a group of bat-wielding thugs who attacked anybody who irked their paymaster. When police began to investigate a drug factory owned by Cheng, according to sources, he ordered the local police chief to his office and struck him in the face.

Taoyuan County Commissioner Liu Pang-you, though not a triad member, was equally rapacious, according to underworld sources, demanding a 5 percent kickback on all projects in his prosperous bailiwick. Along the way, he made some murderous enemies. At 8:20 a.m. last Nov. 21, two masked gunmen broke into Liu's mansion. They blindfolded Liu, three guests and five members of his household, tied their hands behind their backs and shot them. Only one survived.

CLEANUP OR WHITEWASH?
The Liu bloodbath -- for which investigators have yet to find a motive -- raised the stakes in the crackdown on political corruption. Two days afterward, the national assembly passed the Organized Crime Prevention Statute, which debarred anyone convicted of a gang-related crime from running for public office. Under the law, political parties face fines of up to $1.9 million if their candidates or elected officials are charged with gang-related offenses.

Already under way was Operation Chih Ping, launched on Aug. 30 with a pre-dawn raid on the home of Tsai Kuan-lun, leader of a notorious triad, the Four Seas Gang. As Tsai and a group of his bodyguards were being whisked by helicopter to Taiwan's Green Island prison, news footage of his arrest was played over and over on national TV. In the ensuing weeks, police hauled in other suspected gangsters, while the government shut down massage parlors and brothels on Taipei's Lin Sen North Road, the city's red-light district.

The campaign moved up a gear on Jan. 17, when more than 5,000 police officers made 420 arrests, swooping on triad members and other criminals. Deputy Commissioner Lin followed the day's developments from the National Police Administration's headquarters in Taipei. "The [triads] have lots of money," he told Asia, Inc. that day as he sipped oolong tea. "They use a company's name to bid for projects, to provide security and to control the construction industry in Taiwan." When a lieutenant rushed in with a list of those arrested, Lin beamed with satisfaction and patted the younger man on the back.

Other triad members were promised an amnesty if they turned themselves in by Feb. 12. Among the 1,300 brothers who have voluntarily renounced gangland ties were dozens of members of the United Bamboo, including the big brothers of the "Hsiao" (or Filial Piety) tong and the "Heaven" tong, both of which were active in construction bid-rigging.

Paul Lee, president of Global Construction International, is not impressed. "All the government is doing is grabbing a few people and saying the problem is fixed," says Lee, who returned to his native Taiwan in 1993 after studying and working in the U.S. "They are just putting on a show." He says it is not uncommon for winning bids for Taiwanese public-works projects to have a 50-percent built-in profit margin, compared with an average of 5 percent in the U.S.

Taiwan needs to award public construction projects on the basis of open, competitive bidding, says Lee, with both local and foreign builders invited to participate. Currently, foreign contractors are barred from bidding for most government projects and are limited to a few "international tenders." Lee insists: "To not change the system and just arrest these people -- you're not finding the root of the problem."

Michael Wang, vice president of Taiwan Pineapple, says some Taiwanese businessmen turn to the triads because they see them as being more effective at collecting debts than a civil court. "If we rely on the law, it'll take too long," Wang says. Even businessmen who would prefer to go to the police find themselves turning to the triads because the line between the two has become blurred, he says.

"Why do we rely on certain brothers?" Wang says. "Because we often are threatened by other brothers. That's the main reason companies in Taiwan need to rely on triads." Taiwan Pineapple created headlines in September 1996 when gangsters hired by shareholders on opposing sides of a proxy fight exchanged gunfire during an annual meeting. No one was injured, according to Wang.

Taiwan's respected Business Weekly magazine has documented 16 publicly listed companies that have recently turned to a "big brother" for protection in business disputes. Publisher James Jin says listed companies commonly enlist triads to help them gather the necessary votes in proxy fights. Even more companies, however, turn to the KMT or its legislators to arbitrate disputes, for a hefty fee. "In this environment, a normal businessman cannot do business," says Jin.

Regulators can do little to halt the infiltration of triads into listed companies, admits Pang Hsu-yung, deputy chairman of the Taiwan Securities and Exchange Commission. "If a triad uses a legal way to buy stock, we can't do anything about it," he says. "We can't stop them." Many listed companies, for instance, are turning to triad-owned security-guard services to ensure trouble is avoided at annual meetings. "The service the brothers offer may not be that bad," says Pang. "It allows meetings to run smoothly."

Just how serious is the government's anti-organized-crime campaign and will it succeed in cleaning up Taiwan? In his posh hotel suite in China, White Wolf Zhang is adamant: "They can't possibly succeed. If they really want to clean house, they'll have to sweep out their own people first. They can't do that."

Look at the level of people being arrested, says publisher Jin of Business Weekly. No national legislators, not even those with well-known triad ties, have been incriminated, though government officials say they are still gathering evidence. "They take who they can't control, those who have little connection with Lee Teng-hui, and sweep them aside and make them scapegoats," says Jin. "They hope this will decrease their burden -- of having a corrupt past -- for the next election."

BES Engineering's former chairman Regis Chen agrees: "The triads will be around for a long time." Now the chairman of Taipei Rapid Transit Corp., Taiwan's largest public-works project with contracts worth billions of dollars, Chen adds wryly: "That's why I own two bullet-proof vests."
© 1997 by Asia Inc. Ltd.

http://members.tripod.com/~orgcrime/taiwansdirtybusiness.htm

Henry Liu Assasination: Triad / Intel Connections

2009-04-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

Henry Liu (7 December 1932, Jingjiang, Jiangsu, China – 15 October 1984, Daly City, California, United States), often known by his pen name Chiang Nan, was a writer and journalist from Taiwan. He was a vocal critic of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party), then the single ruling party of the Republic of China on Taiwan, and was most famous for writing an unauthorized biography of Chiang Ching-kuo, former president of the Republic of China.[1] He later became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

On 15 October, 1984, Liu was shot to death in the garage of his home in Daly City, California.[1] His killers fled the country, returning to Taiwan. They did not face trial until the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered a tape made by chief hit man Chen Chi-li implicating Republic of China military intelligence in the killing, whereupon they began to pressure the government to bring Liu's killers to trial.[2] According to Chen's testimony at his trial in Taipei, Wang Hsi-ling of Kuomintang intelligence ordered the assassination.[3] A month after his conviction, Chen retracted this statement. However, Tung Kuei-sen, another one of the killers, corroborated this fact at his own trial in the United States in 1988, stating that the order for Liu's death had been given by the Taiwanese government. Despite having admitted to the killing, Tung was acquitted of murder, but convicted on unrelated drug dealing charges.[1][4] The assassination became a major political scandal in Taiwan and American officials were critical of the Kuomintang for orchestrating an assassination on United States soil.

Helen Liu, Henry Liu's wife, filed suit in United States federal district court against the Republic of China in the case Liu v. Republic of China, 892 F.2d 1419 (9th Cir. 1989), cert. dism'd, 497 U.S. 1058 (1990). The court held that the assassination took place under the orders of the Director of the Republic's Bureau of Intelligence of Ministry of National Defense, who was found to be acting "within the scope of his employment," thus accepting the legality of foreign government assassinations of U.S. citizens on U.S. soil.

The assassination was the subject of the book Fires of the Dragon by David E. Kaplan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Nan

Chen Chi-li (11 May 1943 – 4 October 2007), nicknamed King Duck, was a gangster from Taiwan, best known for heading the United Bamboo Gang.[1][3] His murder of dissident journalist Henry Liu in Daly City, California, USA, in 1984 has been described as "the most prominent example of the [Kuomintang]'s co-operation with gangsters in upholding its dictatorship".[4]

Early life and gang membership

Chen was born in Sichuan to a father of Hunan origin and a mother of Jiangsu origin; his father was a civil servant with the Republic of China government.[5] When the Kuomintang fled from mainland China at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, he followed his parents to Taiwan. There, he entered a school in which most of the students were born locally. As one of only three non-locals in his class, he became a frequent target of bullying; he and fellow students with roots in the mainland began to form gangs for their own protection.[2][6] He joined the United Bamboo Gang at age 14, after entering senior high school; it was at this time that he acquired his nickname of "Duck". While still a member of the gang, he went on to receive a bachelor's degree in engineering from Tam Kiang College (now Tamkang University), and served in the army as a lieutenant.[5][7] He became the head of the gang in April 1968; under his leadership, its membership would grow to over a hundred thousand, making it the largest gang in Taiwan.[6]

In 1970, he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail for aggravated assault; after his release, he was sent to the infamous rehabilitation centre on Green Island, off the coast of Taitung County, for another three-and-a-half years. Upon regaining his freedom in 1976, he turned his attention to business, establishing Cheng An Enterprise, which sold fire equipment; he grew CAE's market share to 70% in just three years, and soon expanded his activities to other industries such as electronics, stainless steel products, record production, nightclubs, and hydraulic engineering.[7] In 1983, he even started a gang-related magazine which reported on the activities of Taiwan's various criminal groups.[2]

[edit] Murder of Henry Liu

Chen claimed he received the order to kill Henry Liu on 14 August 1984, from KMT officials angered by Liu's authorship of a biography critical of Republic of China president Chiang Ching-kuo, the son of Chiang Kai-shek. They allegedly offered him a US$20,000 reward to carry out the murder, which he refused, instead agreeing to kill Liu without compensation out of "patriotism".[2][8] For one month afterwards, he received training at the intelligence bureau's school at Yanmingshan, outside of Taipei, where intelligence officials gave him details of Liu's schedule and movements. During his training period, he also met with Chiang Hsiao-wu, son of Chiang Ching-kuo, whom he stated personally approved the killing. He departed for the United States in September of that same year.[8] Chen and his associate Wu Tun had initially planned to murder Liu on their own by intercepting him at Fisherman's Wharf; after finding the area to be too crowded, they decided instead to attempt to attack him in his home, and enlisted the help of Tung Kuei-sen, a fellow United Bamboo Gang member who was also in the area. The three ambushed Liu in his garage on 15 October 1984, where Wu and Tung shot him; a few days after the killing, Chen, Wu, and Tung all flew back to Taiwan together.[9] Fearing that he would be betrayed, Chen left a tape with his associate, "Yellow Bird", in Houston, Texas, naming the officials behind the case. When the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation found the tape, they put immense pressure on the Taiwanese government to bring him to trial.[1][2]

At his 1985 trial in Taipei, Chen testified in more detail about the connection with the KMT, claiming that Wang Hsi-ling, a vice admiral in the Republic of China Navy and the head of Taiwan's military intelligence, ordered him to kill Liu because Liu was a double agent, spying for both Taiwan and mainland China. Chen claims he disobeyed the order and instructed his associates to "teach [Liu] a lesson" and avoid killing or crippling him.[10] Chen, Wang, and Wu were all sentenced to life in prison on 9 April 1985. Jerome Cohen, then a professor of law at Harvard University, attended an administrative hearing for Chen and Wu on behalf of Liu's widow Helen Liu; he derided the trial as a "well-rehearsed performance", stating that the two read their statements from notebooks, and implied that their testimonies had been coached by the Taiwanese government, who sought to portray Wang as a rogue officer acting alone, and avoid other intelligence officials being implicated.[8][11] Days after the trial, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by a vote of 387-2 a non-binding resolution calling on Taipei to extradite Chen and Wu to the United States to stand trial there; Taipei rejected the request.[12] Less than two months after his conviction, Chen retracted his accusations against Wang.[13]

Chen, Wang, and Wu were given clemency by the Taiwanese government and released in January 1991.[14] He and Wu were treated as "heroes" by the media and the public; Chen declared his intention to transform the United Bamboo Gang into a legitimate business enterprise, and established Chuan An Construction, which was successful not only in the booming construction industry on Taiwan, but also made large investments outside Taiwan as well, including an RMB10 billion resort project in Hunan's Moon Lake area.[7]

[edit] Exile and death

Five years after his release, Chen fled to Cambodia to avoid further organised crime-related charges in Taiwan under Operation Chih-ping, a police operation which sought to round up various gang figures. He had just been diagnosed with cancer, and his doctor had advised him to go somewhere relaxing and avoid stress.[7] He married Chen Yi-fan in a ceremony there in 1998.[5] In July 2000, he made news again after being arrested for illegal possession of firearms; the Cambodian police had moved against him after Taiwanese television stations broadcast images of him showing off his guns. Chen claimed the guns had been purchased for self-defense in the aftermath of the 1997 coup by Hun Sen.[15][16] He lived quite luxuriously in Cambodia, alone in his 2,600 m2 villa, while his wife and children remained in Taiwan.[1]

Chen was hospitalised at Hong Kong's St. Theresa Hospital in August 2007 due to the worsening of his pancreatic cancer; he remained there until his death in October of that same year. His body was flown back to Taiwan on 18 October.[2][17] Fellow Liu killer Wu Tun, with whom Chen had remained friends, helped to organise his funeral; over three thousand people came to pay their respects.[18][19] Among the mourners were major politicians from both the blue and green camps such as Wang Jin-pyng of the Kuomintang and Ker Chien-Ming of the Democratic Progressive Party, as well as various celebrities of whom the most prominent was popular singer Jay Chou; they suffered harsh criticism for their attendance, including a Taipei Times editorial, which characterised the politicians' presence as "revolting" and stated that Chou "should be ashamed, but we are not sure if he has the depth of character to feel it."[20] Chou, who showed up wearing sunglasses and left after only 20 minutes, had become acquainted with Chen through his son Baron Chen, with whom Chou had previously worked in the filming of Kung Fu Dunk.[21][22] Other attendees, including black-clad teenagers and those carrying knives and firearms, were turned away by the hundreds of police who came out to the funeral to maintain order.[3] A total of fourteen United Bamboo Gang members were arrested in connection with the funeral.[23]

Chen is survived by his wife, three sons, and three daughters.[18]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Chi-li

Vice-Admiral Wang Hsi-ling, also spelled Wang Shi-ling or Wong Hsi-ling, was the head of Republic of China Ministry of National Defense's intelligence bureau and the highest ranking officer in the military of the Republic of China ever court-martialed.[1][2]

Wang was implicated during the murder trial of United Bamboo Gang leader Chen Chi-li, when evidence arose Chen claimed that Wang had ordered him to go to Daly City, California to kill dissident journalist Henry Liu in 1984.[3] American officials travelled to Taiwan to interview him and administer a polygraph examination in February 1985; then-President Chiang Ching-kuo was at first reluctant, but on 8 February acceded to their demand. Wang denied that he had ordered Chen to kill Liu, stating he only wanted chen to "teach Liu a lesson", and further denied that his superiors had approved the killing. His three interviewers agree that they polygraph results showed both of his statements were false.[4] On 19 April 1985, he was sentenced to life in prison by a Taipei military tribunal; He could have faced the death penalty.[5] Less than a month later, Chen retracted all of his testimony implicating Wang.[1]

Wang was imprisoned at the Taiwan Garrison Command facility for political prisoners in Jingmei, Taipei County; his cell was reportedly equipped with a kitchen and a study, and his family was allowed to live with him.[6] He, Chen, and Chen's associate Wu Tun were granted clemency in 1991 and released from prison, having served less than six years of their life sentences.[7] It was never determined for whom Wang was covering up, though scholars agree that he was not the initiator of the plan. Later analysts suggest that Chiang's son Chiang Hsiao-wu ordered the killings.[4] However, as late as 2007, Republic of China officials continued to deny any connection of Chiang's to the case.[8]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Hsi-ling

Tung Kuei-sen

Tung Kuei-sen (1951 - 3 April 1991) was a member of the Taiwan-based United Bamboo Gang.[1] Along with Chen Chi-li and Wu Tun, he is best known for his murder of dissident journalist Henry Liu in Daly City, California in October 1984. Chen and Wu had initially planned to murder Liu on their own by intercepting him at Fisherman's Wharf; after finding the area to be too crowded, they decided instead to attempt to attack him in his home, and enlisted Tung's help. After murdering Liu, Tung flew back to Taiwan with Chen and Wu, but was forced to flee to Manila a few weeks later during Operation Cleansweep a nationwide anti-gang raid.[2] He fled Manila after being questioned by authorities there during an investigation of the contract murders of two Chinese Filipino families, going to Thailand, and then Brazil, where he was apprehended and in April 1986 extradited to New York City. He first stood trial in New York State on federal racketeering charges relating to a United Bamboo conspiracy to smuggle 660 pounds of heroin into the United States; however, he was acquitted of similar racketeering charges relating to Liu's murder due to his testimony that he shot Liu on orders from the Taiwan government, and not as part of a gang-related activity. As Brazil's extradition treaty with the United States specified that they would not extradite fugitives charged with crimes that could result in their execution, the prosecutor did not seek the death penalty. After the first trial, he was extradited from New York to California to stand trial for Liu's murder.[3] Like Chen, Tung stated that he had killed Liu for patriotic reasons. He was found guilty by a jury on 17 March 1988 after just 45 minutes of deliberations.[4] his sentence of 25 years to life for the murder and two years for the use of a firearm was passed on 12 May; the judge rejected a plea that his sentences be allowed to run concurrently, which could have seen him set free in just six years. According to prosecutors, he would not have been eligible for parole for 17 years and 8 months.[5] He was then sent to Pennsylvania to serve out his term for the drug charges. On 21 February 1991, he was attacked and stabbed by fellow prisoners at the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in Lewisburg; after a long struggle to recover from his wounds, he died on 3 April.[1][2]

Misc Triad Notes

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There is a distinction between what was known as The Triad society and what carries this name now.
It is generally accepted that the Triad Society was established in the seventeenth century A.D with its purpose of overthrowing the Manchu Qing Dynasty and restoring the Chinese Ming Dynasty.
One of the earliest names for the triads was the “hung men “ ( Hong) Hung commemorates in part a Chinese patriot who founded the Ming Dynasty. But a homonym of this word means red ( It is said that the first meeting of the society was at the RED flower pavilion and during one of their early meetings a sign from heaven was received in the sudden reddening of the sky. ) Other earlier societies have used the word red e.g. Red Eyebrows and the Red turban rebels who rose against the foreign Yuan Dynasty in the 14th Century.( This is not an Indian type turban but more like a head band and such red turbans still form part of triad ceremonial dress)
There are both Buddhist and Taoist influences that have been added throughout history. Today’s traids use many of the old ceremonies to instil loyalty in the followers and fear in the people they pray on. There is still a Hung Men society in Taiwan following the original traditions and they are open to the outside world ( I think they have a web site )

I'm not sure Fairbank meant that the Triads had an esoteric, secret alternative writing system used to hide meaning from outsiders / authorities (like a form of encryption or "security by obscurity".)

Rather I think he meant that the Triads had (and I'm sure still has) special symbols used for ritual, identification, or special purposes... more like gang signs or gang slang.

Take for example the character 洪 (Hóng) which is a common Triad surname. Notice the short form of the water radical (氵), which looks like "three dots" on the left of this character. This radical has a special meaning for Triads; in fact some scholars think the name Triad itself (Chinese: 三合会, sān hé huì) came from this "three dots".

So a ritual Triad character might be a "regular" character further adorned with "three dots", to make a "new" character with special Triad meaning. Of course this "new" character will not be in any dictionary.

Another ritual practice might be to add these "three dots" to a triad member's name when he dies (i.e., on his grave.) These adornments don't make any new characters per se, but signifies Triad association / respect to everyone.

There is a book called "Ritual and Mythology of the Chinese Triads" by Barend Terhaar which is pretty fascinating. You can read parts of the book on Google Books.

中國台灣致公黨

Amongst the Chinese emigrants in America I found an even more sleepy atmosphere then in the Philippines. I crossed the continent from San-Francisco to New York. On my way I stopped at various places for a few days—for ten days at the most—everywhere preaching that to save our mother-country from threatening destruction we must overthrow the Tai-Tsing dynasty, and that the duty of every Chinese citizen was to help to reconstruct China on a new democratic basis.
Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen
Although I spared no effort in this propaganda, the people to whom it was directed remained apathetic and little responsive to the ideas of the Chinese Revolution. At that time, however there were fairly widespread amongst the Chinese emigrants the so-called " Hung-Men " societies, although by my time they had been reduced to little more than mutual aid clubs. Their history is as follows. The supporters of the Ming dynasty 1 raised several rebellions against the Tai-Tsing dynasty, but always suffered defeat at the hands of the Imperial troops, and when, during the rule of Kan-Si, the Manchu dynasty reached the height of its strength, all the efforts of the supporters of the Ming dynasty proved to be doomed to failure. Some of them paid for their audacity with their lives, others managed to escape. Seeing the impossibility of overthrowing the Tai-Tsings, they seized then on the idea of nationalism and began preaching it, handing it down from generation to generation. Their main object in organising the " Hung-Men " societies was the overthrow of the Tai-Tsing dynasty and the restoration of the Ming dynasty. The idea of nationalism was for them an auxiliary. They carried on all their affairs in profound secret, avoiding Government officials and hiding also from the Chinese intellectuals, whom they looked upon as the eyes and ears of the Chinese Government. Knowing the psychology of the masses, the " Hung-Men " societies spread their nationalist ideas by means of various plays, which had a great effect amongst the people. In the ideas they spread abroad, everything was based on arousing discontent with one's position and with existing inequality, and preaching the necessity for revenge. Their passwords and watchwords were dirty and vulgar phrases, and Chinese intellectuals avoided them in disgust.
Party solidarity, which afforded them help when in trouble, and a certain co-ordination in their activities, proved very helpful for wanderers and for various Chinese prodigal sons. Their nationalist ideas helped them in their struggle against the hated Tai-Tsing dynasty, and consequently fed their hopes of a restoration of the Ming dynasty.

The Chinese people were in constant conflict with the Imperial officials, and never abandoned their opposition to the Tsing dynasty. The watchwords: " Down with Tsing ! " and "' Long live Ming ! " were near and dear to many Chinese. But the same cannot be said of our overseas emigrants, as they, being abroad in a free country, had no necessity to organise societies of a fighting character. Therefore in America the " Hung-Men " societies naturally lost their political colour, and became benefit clubs. Many members of the " Hung-Men " societies did not rightly understand the meaning and exact aims which their society pursued. When I approached them, during my stay in America, and asked them, why did they want to overthrow the Tsing dynasty and restore the Ming dynasty, very many were not able to give me any positive reply. Later, when our comrades had carried on a protracted revolutionary propaganda in America for several years, members of the " Hung-Men " societies at last realised they were old nationalist revolutionaries.
Although my stay in America was of little importance for the further destinies of the Chinese Revolution, it nevertheless aroused fears and misgivings on the part of the Imperial Government.
1. Overthrown by the Manchu Tai-Tsing dynasty in 1644.
Memoirs of a Chinese Revolutionary, A Programme of National reconstruction for China by Sun-Yat-Sen with a frontispiece portrait of the author (Topical Press). New York : Ams Press, 1970, reprinted from the edition of 1927, London. SBN : 404-06305-5. hc 254 pp. pp. 190-192.

Hongmen Offices Address

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國際洪門中華民國總會
02-25580221
台北市大同區延平北路二段70號2摟
http://www.hungmen.org.tw

Domain Name: hungmen.org.tw
Registrant:
國際洪門中華民國總會
Hung Men International
11F-1,NO.19,Nan-Gin E. Rd., Sec.3 Taipei, Taiwan
南京東路三段19號11樓1

Contact:
DAVID LIU liu489@yahoo.com.tw
TEL: 02-25083390
FAX: 02-25084880

Record expires on 2010-07-06 (YYYY-MM-DD)
Record created on 2004-07-06 (YYYY-MM-DD)

Domain servers in listed order:
ns1.coowo.com 218.32.192.60
ns2.coowo.com 218.32.192.61

Registration Service Provider: SEEDNET

Yale info on Qing archives- http://www.library.yale.edu/eastasian/cn/archives.html

2009-04-18T07:12:00.000-07:00

Archives for Chinese Studies

1. Overview of Chinese Archives

Chinese archives : an introductory guide
Call# CD2031 Y438 1996 (LC), East Asia Library Reference. Also available in the SML Stacks and Starr Reference Room.
Introduction to national and local archives in China (including archives in Taiwan).

State and economy in Republican China: A handbook for scholars HC427.8 S73 2000 (LC)+ East Asia Library Reference. A survey of archives and documents related to the economic history of Republican China. Also including a selected list of related reference works.

2. Major Archives in China/Taiwan

In mainland China, 中国第一历史档案馆 (The First Historical Archives of China), has the central government archives from Ming and Qing dynasties; it has an online catalog. 中国第二历史档案馆 (The Second Historical Archives of China), containing government archives from the Republican era (1912-1949). 外交部档案馆 (Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs) opened to the public part of the PRC diplomatic archives from 1949-1955.

In Taiwan, 故宮博物院 (National Palace Museum, in Taiwan) has the archives from the Qing period; its catalog, Qing dai wen xian dang an zong mu 清代文獻檔案總目 (Call# DS754 K75) is available in the East Asia Library Reference and the SML Stacks. 中研院近史所檔案館（Modern Chinese Archives in Academia Sinica), containing diplomatic and economic archives from the late Qing and early Republican governments. 國史館 holds the government archives from the Republican period as well as the current Taiwan government.

3. China-related Archives in North America

Yale Library Finding Aid Database for finding unpublished manuscripts and archives related to China in the Yale collections.

To find other China-related archives in the U.S., readers may search databases such as: ArchiveGrid, ArchivesUSA, or WorldCat.

4. Published Archives

Chinese Archives and Documents on CD-ROM has full text of the archives from the Qing and the Republican period as well as documents associated with the Chinese Communists.

Search Orbis for other published Chinese archives.

The Tian di hui Coinage

2009-04-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

Most of the relics of the Tien Ti Hui were destroyed by the Qing (Ch'ing) Government after the insurrections was suppressed. They continued to suffer from damage or fall into oblivion after repeated turmoils of China's society. And as a result, very few of the Tien Ti Hui coins had survived till this day. This coin is an exception.

This "P'ing Tsing Sheng Pao" coin is large as the five cash. The colour of this cash is very strange to me, I find that those 'P'ing Tsing cash that I have seen before were made of brass, but this cash was made of copper. I hardly to identify it.
"P'ing Tsing" coins were occasionally unearthed in the provinces of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, Hunan and Hupeh. They were commonly known as the "Taiping Tien Kuo" coins before. But, their colour and inscriptions are different from the "Taiping" coins.
Inscriptions bearing on the obverse of this coin are Chinese characters "Ping Tsing Sheng Pao", reading from top to bottom and right to left, with the meaning of "The victorious currency of conquering the Ch'ing government". [The characters "Tsing" and "Qing or Ch'ing " are homonyms in Chinese. Their meanings could be borrowed between each other in Chinese literature.] Inscriptions on the reverse are Chinese characters "Hou Ying" [rear corps]. Other inscriptions bearing on the reverse of "P'ing Tsing" coins included several kinds, such as "Chien Ying" [front corps], "Tso Ying" [left corps], "Yu Ying" [right corps], "Chung Ying" [central corps], and "Yu Lin Chun" [army for the imperial use only], etc.

More about the P'ing Tsing Sheng Pao Coin

In april, 1854, leader of "Sam Ho Hui"[Triads], Chen Kai led a revolt of peasants in Fo Shan of Kwangtung province. When Chen started out on their western expedition from Kwangtung to Kwangsi province, another armed force organized by Li Wen Mou , a former acter of Kwangtung opera, in San Yuan Li of Canton, advanced to join them together. They attacked "Wu Ch'ou" and took the city.

In August, 1855, Chen Kai announced the establishment of the "Ta Cheng Kuo" and proclaimed himself as "Chen Nan Wang" in Sin Ch'ou of Kwangsi province. The Chen's imperial title is "Hung Te". Chen had cast coins too, but I don't know what kind copper cash he had cast. Some source suggested that Chen Kai minted "Hung Te T'ung Pao", but actually "Hung Te" coins were Vietnamese coins.
At the end of 1856, No.2 of "Ta Cheng Kuo", Li Wen Mou proclaimed himself as "P'ing Tsing Wang" and captured Liu Ch'ou . Li cast "P'ing Tsing Sheng Pao" coins and organized opera to celebrate his victory. In May 1858, Li Wen Mou was killed during the breaking of Liu Ch'ou city under the Ching troops onslaught. I think it was why "P'ing Tsing" coins were found few in number.

Another story about the "P'ing Tsing" coins

In 1853, as the great success of the "Taiping Tien Kuo" revolution, the Hsien Feng Emperor found that the "Taiping" rebel had directly influenced the whole country, he orderd to raise the militia force along the Yangtze River districts. Tseng Kuo Fan , a vice-president of the Board of Rite,who detested the Taiping, was ordered to organised the Hunan army. Tseng's army generals were natives of Hunan province. All the solders were recruited by each of the regimental commanders themselves in order to ensure obedience. All the solders were answerable only to his commander and Tseng Kuo Fan. In March 1854, Tseng's troops became the biggest militia force in China, including 17000 solders.

In April 1854, Tseng's troops attacked Yao Ch'ou from Changsha. He was defeated in his attempt to captured the city and even worse, he lost one more city Tsing Chiang . On April 28, as Tseng laid siege to Tsing Chiang, his navy met the Taiping strong bombardment and the tow ropes of his boats were cut by the special squad of Taiping troops. At the same time, Tseng's army was also lost on land. He erected a banner which read: Those who go past this banner will be executed". But, it did not help, his solders went on to flee and passed the banner with a detour. Tseng felt shame at failing in the battle. He jumped into the water and saved by his attendents. As Taiping force was too weak in Hunan, Tseng got a chance to rebuilt his troops and captured Yao Ch'ou at the same year. "Taiping Tien Kuo" cast the "P'ing Tsing Sheng Pao" coins for commemoration to mark the victory in Tsing Chiang.

Tien Ti Hui

In the beginning of the eighteenth century, the economic condition of China was not so good. While the land and wealth gradually concentrated to minority of people, majority of Chinese became ever more impoverished. After the Opium War of 1839 to 1842, the condition was even worse with the Treaty of Nanking. The whole country's trade and industry were more or less affected by the western impact. The additional foreign influences intensified the inherent contradiction in Chinese society. Those poor people had nothing and were not able to get the necessaries of life. The only increase was the opium smokers. Furthermore, there was famine in large area of Kwangsi and Hunan provinces for several successive years. The poor people were deserving or needing help and sympathy, but they had been abandoned by the government. They organised the secret societies to help themselves.

During the early 1840s, there were so many uprisings of the lower level members, such as the urban or rural labourers, peasants and handicraft workers in Kwangtung, Hunan and neighbouring provinces. Most of these rebels were initiated and organized by the popular secret societies such as the Pai Lien Chiao ("White Lotus") and Tien Li Chiao (Heaven and Earth Society) which had spread throughout the southern provinces of China. The Tien Ti Hui , also known as the San Ho Hui (Triads), was a secret society of a popular, anti-dynastic nature, whose members included handicraft workers, peasants, urban and rural labourers and vagrants.
The Tien Ti Hui had existed for a long time, as a representation of popular dissent to the Qing government. About the beginning of the Tien Ti Hui, Chinese scholars have not come to an identical view. Some sources suggested that the Tien Ti Hui was begun in the thirteenth year of the Kang Hsi reign (1674AD), and the other sources said that the Tien Ti Hui was organised in the twenty-sixth year of the Chien Long reign (1761AD) of the Qing dynasty.
According to the information printed on the book "Luo Ergang and the Taiping Tien Kuo History", an official report from the Kwangsi governor Cheng Lin to the Chia Ch'ing Emperor in the sixteenth year of the Chia Ch'ing reign (1811AD).
[ ]
The report mentioned about the arrest of Li Tien Pao , leader of the Tien Ti Hui in Kwangsi province. This showing the Tien Ti Hui activities at less could be traced back to the beginning of nineteenth century.

Bibliography

1. 1988. ISBN 7-208-00196-0 / K.47
2. Chester L. Krause and Clifford Mishler Colin R. Bruce II. : Standard catalog of World Coins 1991, 18th edition.
3. 1994, ISBN 7-5000-5469-6.
4. The Taiping Revolution, Foreign languages press, Peking, 1976.
5. ¤d®a¾s¡G¤¤°ê³f¹ô¥vºõn, 1986
6. Luo Ergang and the Taiping Tien Kuo History, Szuchuan Provincial Social and Scientific College Press 1987.
7. ¤¤°ê¾ú¥N¹ô³f A History of Chinese Currency (16th Century BC - 20th Century AD), 1983 Jointly Published by Xinhua (New China) Publishing House N.C.N. Limited M.A.O. Management Group Ltd. ISBN 962 7094 01 3
8. ±i§@Ä£ ¡G¤¤°ê¾ú¥v«KÄý¡A¤H¥Á¥Xª©ªÀ , 1992, (Zhong Guo Lishi Bianlan) ISBN 7-01-000308-4/k.53.

http://ykleungn.tripod.com/pingcsp.htm

The Shanghai Triad and the KMT

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Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, the island of Taiwan was given over to China or, more precisely, its putative government, the Nationalists or Kuomintang. The Kuomintang would subsequently become stranded on the island which they ruled for more than 50 years.
The rise to power of China's Nationalist movement was closely linked with Shanghai’s eminence as an international drug capital. During the chaotic 1920s, warlord struggles for power and money accelerated the disruption and impoverishment of the country. Among the groups trying to reestablish a centralized state was the Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist party, whose objectives were at first more progressive than those of most of the warlord competition. In 1924 the KMT under Sun Yat-sen allied itself with the fledgling Chinese Communist party in order to strengthen itself politically and promote badly needed reforms.

Sun Yat-sen in 1911
However, as Chiang Kai-shek gained power within the party after Sun's death in 1925, he began to break with the Communists and move toward an alliance with more conservative groups. During the Northern Expedition of 1926-1928 Chiang's KMT armies defeated warlord rivals thereby gaining support from the many people who demanded both an end to the chaos of warlordism and social reforms.

Chiang Kai-shek in 1920s
Yet the way in which Chiang took control compromised most of the KMT's progressive ideals. Struggles with warlords often ended in coalition and support in the countryside was sought from the old ruling class, the gentry, so that the need for social reform was ignored. Although Chiang never attained power over the entire country, the Nationalists did become established in China's major coastal cities, which remained their primary base of support until the Japanese invasion of 1937.
Foremost among these coastal cities was Shanghai, which had been an important Chinese center for the opium traffic since the 1840s, when Britain's victory in the Opium War opened the port to foreign trade and the establishment of foreign-controlled areas or concessions.

Shanghai in the 1920s

Chiang's control of Shanghai was made possible with the aid of two main groups: the wealthy and the criminal. Wealthy merchants and foreign capitalists supported the KMT with the understanding that there would be no reforms that threatened their interests. The Shanghai criminal organizations were dominated by two secret society groups called the Green Gang and the Red Gang. During the nineteenth century the Red and Green Gangs had drawn their membership from people involved in transporting grain and smuggling salt along the Grand Canal, China's primary north-south inland waterway. However, after 1911 these groups had shifted their activities to the cities of central China, and in particular to Shanghai, China largest and most industrialized city.
A young leader of the Green Gang, Tu Yueh-sheng, was to become one of Shanghai's most influential citizens. Tu, narcotics overlord and anti-Japanese patriot, began his career in Shanghai’s French Settlement, a noted center of illicit activities where criminals were permitted to operate freely. In exchange for tax profits on vice, the French turned the administration of the settlement over to the gangs. Tu became the protege of a man known as Pockmarked Huang, who was the chief of detectives in the French concession and a major Green Gang leader.

Tu Yueh-sheng

(1881-1951)
Prior to 1918 Shanghai’s opium traffic had been based in the British concession, under the control of Swatow Chinese. However, after a 1918 crackdown on opium by the British authorities, the opium traffic was taken over by the Green Gang operating from the French concession. During the 1920s Tu Yueh-sheng unified the competing gangster organizations involved in the drug traffic and extended his influence from the French Settlement out to the more prosperous International Settlement. In the early 1920s Tu, known as the Opium King, was behind the production of 'anti-opium' pills, a supposed 'cure' for opium addiction that contained heroin, which sold by the million, so that one time the Shanghai syndicate was importing 10 tons of heroin annually from the West.

The leaders of the Green Gang in 1920s

(Tu Yueh-sheng on right)
Tu became one of the "Big Three" among the Shanghai gangsters. This unholy triumvirate controlled the city's underworld in early 1927, when Chiang's Northern Expedition forces were approaching. In late February 1927 labor unions allied with the KMT had moved against warlord control and foreign economic domination and begun a general strike, planning to welcome Chiang's armies to a liberated Shanghai. For his part, Chiang Kai-shek was actively courting the support of wealthy conservative and foreign businessmen; a strong united labour movement was a major impediment. Consequently, in late February, Chiang's forces delayed their advance toward the city, hoping that reprisals by the British-run International Settlement police and the Chinese garrison commander would break the strike and destroy its leadership.

12 April 1927 Shanghai purge
Tu and the Green Gang solved the problem for Chiang Kai-shek. On April 12, 1927, the gangsters initiated a vicious crackdown on the local Communist party organizers and labour activists. During the subsequent 'reign of terror', the city's Communist party and labour movement was destroyed. This pact with the Kuomintang strengthened the Green Gang's grip on official power, so that Tu was given a seemingly free hand to operate throughout Nationalist China.

Following the Geneva Convention ban in 1928 on the marketing of heroin, the Shanghai traffickers set up their own refineries. They were so successful that in 1934 the Shanghai municipal council received a report that heroin was being more widely used than opium, and by then Shanghai had become a major exporter to the United States.

Tu's dominance of Shanghai had allowed the Kuomintang to destroy the communists in that city, but it had also forged an alliance between the Kuomintang and the drugs trade. The Ministry of Finance became dependent on the flow of funds from drug trafficking and yet it was never enough.

In May 1935, while pursuing Communist troops in Yunnan, Chiang Kai-shek saw the opportunity to harvest the much-needed opium revenues from that province for the national treasury. By the end of the summer, the positioning of Kuomintang forces in Yunnan had brought the province into alignment with the Nationalists. The generalissimo followed similar tactics elsewhere to entrench Kuomintang authority and gain greater control over the opium business in the southwest and the Yangtze basin.

By mid-July 1935, Chiang had turned most of the opium enterprises over to his ally, Tu Yueh-sheng. The Kuomintang jurisdiction in 1935 did not lead to opium suppression but brought instead stricter regulation of cultivation and sale, with the government monopoly providing revenue for Chiang from the city workers and poor farmers who "would rather go without food than without opium.”
The Kuomintang's opium was sent down to Shanghai, where Tu supervised a comprehensive narcotics distribution network, whilst controlling all aspects of life from underworld operations to local government and municipal finances. As head of the Chung Wai Bank and chairman of the board of directors of the Commercial Bank of China, he easily financed his illicit dealings. Tu Yueh-sheng was now by far the most powerful man in China, and the Government itself had to count with his power. And in July 1935, Tu became a key member of the new Opium Suppression Commission, a tool that enabled him to ruthlessly suppress all independent operators under government sanction.

Chung Wai Bank

Avenue Edouard VII, Shanghai

Japanese troops enter Shanghai in 1937
When the Japanese invaded Shanghai in 1937, Tu Yueh-sheng pulled out and subsequently settled down in Chungking, where he became known as a great philanthropist and headed several relief societies.

In January 1942 the time was ripe for Tu Yueh-sheng to again go into action in his particular line of business. Smuggling between occupied and Free China had become so lucrative a business that the Chungking government decided to step in and control it. It was arranged for Tu Yueh-sheng to manage this trade with the enemy through the firing lines, and five banks were ordered to finance Tu's new organization to the tune of 150 million Chinese national dollars.

Tu Yueh-sheng's cartel had crumbled when the underworld fled Shanghai. After World War II, as the Chinese revolution gathered momentum in the late 1940s, Shanghai's gangsters realized it was only a matter of time until the Communist forces would occupy the city. As most of the city's gangsters had participated in the 1927 massacre of Communist supporters, almost the entire underworld migrated en masse to Hong Kong from 1947 to 1950. This massive influx of thousands of China's toughest criminals was too much for Hong Kong police to handle, and organized crime flourished on an unprecedented scale. The Green Gang syndicate was a national organization, and its Hong Kong branch served as a welcoming committee. However, local gang leaders turned the situation to their advantage, and in the case of the Green Gang usurped the authority of their Shanghai bosses.

Following World War II, the Green Gang fell under the control of a Nationalist army lieutenant general, Kot Siu-wong. Kot had set up a new alliance, the Hong Fat Shan, in Guangzhou in the late 1940s as an anti-communist action group. The Hong Fat Shan subsequently became known as the “14K Society”. 14K members moved first to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao after the communist takeover of the mainland in 1949, and then dispersed further to Thailand, San Francisco, Vancouver, Manchester and Perth Australia.

The "one-armed master chemist and his seven Green Gang disciples" escaped in 1949 from Shanghai to Hong Kong, where they trained the colony's chemists in the arts of heroin refining. This enabled Hong Kong to become a pivotal centre for the heroin trade in 1950s. The 14K was able to link the Kuomintang-controlled highlands of the Golden Triangle to the distribution channels of the USA and Europe.

Tu Yueh-sheng also retreated to Hong Kong in 1949, where he died, aged 70, in 1951.

Tu Yueh-sheng

Chen Yi
Following the Japanese surrender of Formosa (Taiwan) to the control of the Kuomintang in 1945, Chiang Kai-shek sent Chen Yi to act as his governor. The new governor proved not to be the saviour that the Formosans were expecting as he set about a carpetbagging campaign of influence-peddling and pillage that would flavour Taiwan politics to the present day. One item of interest was the fate of the (Japanese) Narcotics Monopoly stocks. Although the Japanese government had not published narcotics figures since 1935, we can use these to guess the stockpiles remaining.

It is a matter of record that at the end of 1934 the Taiwan Monopoly Bureau carried over a stockpile of 67,000 kgs of raw opium and 19,000 kgs of prepared opium. At the end of 1935 it carried over a stockpile of 424,500 kgs of coca leaves, 6,060 kgs of crude morphine, and 1,250 kgs of crude cocaine. Ten years later Chen Yi announced that the Japanese had surrendered only 4,374 kgs of opium and "a small quantity" of cocaine. These narcotics stocks, he said, had been promptly divided into three parts; some had been released to the local Bureau of Health, some had been sent to Nanking for use in the Army medical services, and the balance had been destroyed. Henceforth, he said, the manufacture of cocaine and coca derivatives would be given up. His agents had also assumed control of the coca plantations in Taichung and near Taitung.

The Kuomintang, after their defeat by the Communists in 1949, fled in two directions. One group, led by Chiang Kai-shek, escaped south from Shanghai and via Hong Kong to settle in Formosa (Taiwan); the other group, led by General Lee, escaped through Yunnan to settle in northern Thailand and Burma.

The intention was to retake China from Mao and the Communists in a two-pronged attack. This never took place, but the remnants of the army in Thailand developed the heroin trade. They were useful to the Thai government, and to the West, who were pleased to have a fiercely anti-communist and well-armed group patrolling the northern borders. They turned a blind eye to the heroin trade, which consequently expanded.

Kuomintang base in Burma in 1950s

With CIA support, the Kuomintang remained in Burma until 1961, when a Burmese army offensive drove them into Laos and Thailand. By this time, however, the Kuomintang had expanded Shan State opium production by almost 1,000 percent-from less than 40 tons after World War 11 to an estimated three hundred to four hundred tons by 1962.

Shan heroin refinery in Thailand
From bases in northern Thailand the Kuomintang continued to send huge mule caravans into the Shan States to bring out the opium harvest. Until 1971, over twenty years after the CIA first began supporting Kuomintang troops in the Golden Triangle region, these Kuomintang caravans controlled almost a third of the world's total illicit opium supply and a growing share of Southeast Asia's thriving heroin business.
The Hong Kong-based '14K' triad, with its strong links to the old Shanghai Green Gang and Nationalist officers, was able to link the Kuomintang-controlled highlands of the Golden Triangle to the distribution channels of the USA and Europe.

Whether the Kuomintang in Taiwan had any connection with this trade remains an open question. However, it can be assumed that Taipei had little incentive to risk the American aid that flowed in after the Korean War, and the American supply contracts that flooded in during the Vietnam War, launching Taiwan on its 'economic miracle'.

In the early 1990s, Taiwan came to notice as a transit point for Asian drug trafficking organizations moving heroin to the Western Hemisphere. The largest heroin seizure on record is the nearly half-ton of heroin that U.S. authorities discovered in Hayward, California in 1991. The drugs, which originated in China, had transited Taiwan en route to the United States.

On 10 May 1993, Taiwanese policemen raided a fishing vessel entering Tungkang Harbour, 10 kilometers south of Kaohsiung, where they seized 336 kilograms of pure heroin smuggled from the Chinese mainland, with an estimated retail price of NT$10 billion (US$337 million). This was the largest single heroin seizure in Taiwan's history, and resulted in Taiwan being added to the Majors List in 1995.

Taiwan's role as transit point for drugs destined for the United States, however, has changed radically in the past few years. More stringent law enforcement procedures, together with improved customs inspection and surveillance methods, have all but cut off serious flows of heroin from Taiwan to the United States. At the same time, the opening of major container ports in southern China has diminished Taiwan's importance for the drug trade.

1) The Shanghai uprising against the Manchu was consisting of two parts, Li Xiehe's Zhenjiang revolutionaries derived from GUANGHUHUI society, and Chen Qimei's revolutionaries affiliated with Sun Yat-sen. Chen Lifu memoirs clearly stated that Chen Qimei, his uncle, did not join the green gang. Fact was that Li Xiehe's faction was much stronger than Chen's. Chen became a governor-general only after his crony brandished a weapon at the joint session to coerce Li Xiehe followers. After the revolution, Tao Chengzhang was killed by Chiang Kai-shek. Cai Yuanpei and Zhejiang revolutionaries very much abandoned armed wing of its organization.

2) The 1927 purge was more the work of somebody who revived a society called GONGJINGHUI, an organization from pre-1911 time period, from Wuchang area. Since communists blended themselves inside the KMT organizations, you could not tell who was a communist and who was not. Chen brothers came up with an idea, i.e., to set up opposing societies for workers, peasants, women, students and merchants. Once the opposing identity was out, communist-controlled organizations went into a countercharge against the new societies. In Shanghai, GONGJINGHUI organized new workers' unions. After a matter of 1-2 weeks, secret communists all jumped out of hiding to show off their ideologies. Hence, it became possible for the purge to be launched.

3) Communist collusion with gangs. This is something communists would not talk about, and hope it nailed to coffin for ever. The truth was that Chinese communist leader in Shanghai, Wang1 Shouhua, was enrolled in Du's gang. It was after Du invited Wang1 into his place, asked him to choose loyalty between the gang or the communists, that Du ordered Wang1 killed. - Tell me: Why would a "great" Chinese communist leader, with private car and chauffeur, go to Du's residency? For what? Wang1 was a member of the Du Yuesheng gang. Not the Chen brothers or Chiang.

http://www.takaoclub.com/opium/postjapan.htm

University of Hong Kong Powerpoint on Triads (w/ photos)

2009-04-18T06:49:00.000-07:00

University of Hong Kong Powerpoint on Triads (w/ photos)

Traditional Triad Organization

2009-04-18T06:43:00.001-07:00

Source

Triad Oaths / Origin of 14k Triad Chiang Kai Shek link

2009-04-18T06:37:00.000-07:00

Triad origin mythology holds that when they recruited thousands of people to their cause, including Sun Yat-Sen, the Qing Dynasty was finally defeated. Whatever the cause of the collapse of the Qing, and whatever the triad's involvement, when it at last fell, triad societies no longer had a dedicated cause and so realigned their purposes. Some became (and in fact had been already) devoted strictly to criminal activities. Others were martial associations. Still others were like labor unions and trading associations. Many were some combination of all of these. Joining a Triad did not mean that you were a criminal, and there were many advantages to membership. The greatest advantage was that by joining the Triad you were joining an international fraternity of like-minded individuals who could then offer assistance and protection to you when necessary. Just like people who put down their fraternity affiliation on a resume these days in the hopes that their prospective employer also happens to be a Phi Beta Kappa.

It is important to note that the Triads are not synonymous with Chinese criminal syndicates. That is to say, not all syndicate members or criminals are automatically triad members. On the other hand, all triad members are criminals, if only because membership alone is considered a criminal offence under Hong Kong's 1994 Organized & Serious Crimes Ordinance. But even though everyone who is part of a triad is breaking the law through membership alone, most triad members are not otherwise criminally active. So membership in a given Triad may be estimated at 20,000, but only 2000 of those would be designated as 'active' -- i.e., engaged in criminal activity. On the other hand, a small street-level gang may have no Triad affiliation at all. Children who grow up to enter a street gang have usually made some triad contacts and it is likely they would join for the protection and status membership provides. When it comes right down to it, it's just like the fact that not all Republicans are NRA members, and vice versa, even though there is a very strong relationship between the two.

The triads then are not at all like the Mafia. The Mafia is known for strong familial ties, and a rigid pyramidal hierarchy. Triads on the other hand, are loose affiliations in the extreme. Although there is an hierarchy to Triad leadership, those lower on the ladder have much more freedom of lateral movement. In fact, rarely are the movements and activities of smaller gangs directed by the leaders of a triad. Triad members do not typically have to secure permission from the head of a triad in order to engage in a criminal activity, even if the activity involves partnering with people who are not members of the triad or are even in fact members of a different triad. So how does it all work, then?

Joining a triad can be a great advantage to a person who wishes to engage in criminal activity. Immediately upon entering a triad, they will have greater access to resources and be able to more easily partner with other members of the triad to pull off their money-making schemes. Not only that, claiming membership in a large criminal fraternity backs up an individual criminal and increases his status. Victims of extortion are much less likely to protest when they feel that the powerful and mysterious triads, who have tentacles all over the world, are leaning on them, as opposed to just feeling picked on by some 14 year old punk without much in the way of future prospects. The street punks themselves find greater self-respect in the fanciful idea that they belong to a fraternity of noble warriors whose history extends back hundreds of years. Although there is not necessarily a direct benefit to senior members of triad fraternities from the actions of junior members, benefits do move upward especially through monetary and other gifts given by junior triad members to their seniors on special occasions such as the Chinese New Year and other holidays.

Although triads originated in China, Hong Kong is the undisputed capital. Triad activity is most concentrated there. Triads do have international scope, however, with members in nearly every country in the world, especially strong in China, southeast Asia, and the United States. Triad criminal activity includes but is not limited to street-level crime like gambling, extortion, and prostitution, and international activities such as narcotics trafficking, counterfeiting, and smuggling goods and people.

In Hong Kong, it is estimated that there are 50 triad societies with a total membership of at least 80,000. Of these societies, about fifteen are criminally active. What follows is a list of the largest triads operating in Hong Kong:

Sun Yee On: The largest triad in Hong Kong with an estimated 25,000 members. In addition to activities in Hong Kong, intelligence reports since 1994 seem to indicate that they dominate the government of Guangdong Province on the mainland.

Wo Group: There are around nine subgroups in this triad grouping with a total membership of around 20,000. Different subgroups have been known to 'specialize' in different activities, the Wo Shing Yee controls dockworkers, the Wo On Lok specializes in loan-sharking, the Wo Hop To runs protection rackets, and so on. The original Wo group triad was the Wo Shing Wo, and it is the longest established triad in Hong Kong.

14K Triad: Also with roughly 20,000 members, the 14K originated with the fight by the Guomintang against communism. Chiang Kai-Shek ordered that a league of all triad societies be established and used to fight communist forces using guerrilla tactics. The '14' in the name refers to the address of the original headquarters of this effort. There are over thirty subgroups to the 14K, and it remains one of the most powerful triads internationally.

Big Circle Gang: Former Red Army Guards and PLA soldiers form a sort of loose affiliation of gangs, though they are not technically a triad society. They enter Hong Kong illegally and are known for violent armed robberies of jewelry stores, banks, and gold dealers. Often they are equipped with military weaponry such as assault rifles and grenade launchers. The name may derive from re-education detention camps in China to which Red Guards have been sent or escaped from, and which are marked on maps by a large circle.

Triad Organization

At its most basic level, the heirarchy of triad members matters little except in each individual relationship between two members, each based on ties between the 'Dai-Lo,' or big brother, and 'Sai-Lo', or little brother. The big brothers give work, protection, and advice to the younger brothers, who give loyalty, support, and money in exchange. In many cases, this is the only relationship that matters.

But there is a triad heirarchy. It is not really known to what extent it is still used. Most analysts agree the lower level ranks are still commonly in place, but how many triad groups use the more complicated higher rankings and to what extent cannot be accurately measured. Along with the names of each rank, triad ranks also have numbers, all beginning with the number 4, which represents the four oceans which were said to surround China in ancient times, and so signifies the universe as a whole.

489: At the top of the triad hierarchy is the man known as Mountain Lord, First Route Marshal, or Dragon Head. The Dragon Head is an elected position, and the person in this position has final responisibility for the triad organization as a whole, including arbitrating conflict within various branches, and guiding the general direction the organization should be taking. His word is law. He is sometimes referred to as a 21 (4+8+9), the character for which reflects the symbol for 'hung,' as used to represent the Hung Society as a whole.

438: Below the Dragon Head are a number of positions of equal rank: The Assistant Mountain Lord, the Incense Master, and the Vanguard. The assistant acts as the Dragon Head's proxy in his absence, and is often conferred with by the Dragon Head for important decisions. The Incense Master and Vanguard officiate over triad rituals, in this respect they are extremely important in preserving the rituals and ensuring that they remain potent symbols of the triads history and power. In this regard, the number 438 becomes 15 (4+3+8), which further breaks down into 3 X 5: 3 symbolizing creation, and 5 symbolizing longevity. Of course, all this numerological massaging is suspect at best. Although these are common explanations for the rank numbers, it is more likely that the numbers had some significance as part of the ancient mystery rites from which triads developed, long ago, significance which has long been forgotten and supplanted by explanations based on more recent triad history and numerology.

426: The Red Pole. Red Poles were originally military unit leaders, they are now gang leaders. A Red Pole may have around fifty men under his command. He is the one who takes care of the messy aspects of triad life, if pressure needs to be put on, if someone needs to be rubbed out, the Red Pole is called and he carries out the assignment with his men.

415: At the same level as the Red Pole is the White Paper Fan, or administrativie officer. The White Paper Fan is responsible for keeping the books, investing the money, determining legal strategy, and so on. Typically highly educated and not a fighter, but may consult with a Red Pole on strategy.

432: The Straw Sandal, also at the same rank in a triad organization as Red Poles and White Paper Fans, is the triad messenger. Someone need a ransom notice? The Straw Sandal delivers. He also organizes branch meetings and gang fights.

49: At the bottom of the triad hierarchy are the 49s. Almost all triad members belong to this category. They are the footsoldiers of organized crime. 49 becomes 36 (4 X 9), the number of oaths a new recruit must swear before joining the triad.

According to recent police reports, many triads organize themselves out of Red Poles and 49s. The Red Poles might each be branch leaders. A council of Red Poles presides over the triad as a whole, with one of the Red Poles being elected as Chairperson, another as Treasurer. Most of the other ranks have fallen into disuse.

Triad Initiation Ceremonies

Elements of triad initiation are derived from all aspects of the history of triad societies. The ritualized aspect derives in part from when triads were more like cults. The swearing of absolute secrecy comes from their tradition of anti-government activities. Initiation fees are paid, dating from practices in place when triads were more similar to trade-guilds or cooperatives. Each element of the initiation ceremony represents some aspect of the myth and occasionally the reality of triad origins.

The initiation ceremony as it was practiced as recently as twenty years ago could take six hours to complete. These days, however, triad officials have little time to conduct such elaborate ceremonies, and fewer and fewer people even know the proper way to conduct one. Instead, new recruits are given a quick, fifteen minute ceremony in which they must swear the thirty-six oaths, and really that's about it. The longer ceremonies may still occasionally be conducted for promotions.

It begins, then, with entrance into the triad lodge. The lodge is not a fixed space, rather it is wherever the ceremony is set up. It could be someone's basement, or even an alleyway. As a result, the layout of the ceremonial chamber is adapted to meet the needs of the situation. The recruit is summoned to the lodge by a notice written on red paper or a strip of bamboo. The recruit must remove his shoes and socks, and bare his chest before entering. The Incense Master and the Vanguard preside over the ceremony.

Upon entering the lodge, there are three archways or gates through which the initiate must pass. In front of the first, on which a warning is written which reads, 'On entering the door, do not proceed further if you are not loyal,' the initiate does a ritual dance, then passes through. The archway itself is made of crossed swords, and entering the archway is called 'Passing the Mountain of Knives.' On the other side the Vanguard records information about his membership (of course, no written records are kept). The second gate is named the 'Loyalty and Righteousness Hall.' A sign on the arch declares 'Before the gate of loyalty and righteousness all men are equal.' After passing through this second arch, the initiate pays his initiation fee, handing it over in a little red envelope. Past the third gate is the 'Heaven and Earth Circle,' and a sign on the arch states, 'Through the Heaven and Earth Circle are Born the Hung Heroes.' The recruit must pass through the third arch, then the 'Heaven and Earth Circle' itself, a bamboo hoop. Passing through the hoop represents a sort of rebirth into triad society. On the other side of the Circle the initiate enters the main hall and must then navigate through a series of episodes symbolizing the history of the triads, with names like 'The Stepping Stones,' 'The Two Plank Bridge,' and 'The Fiery Pit.' Senior triad officials stand on either side, observing the progress of the initiate through the ritual.

At last, the initiate stands before the triad altar at the end of the hall, where senior triad leaders recite some triad poetry to him. Believe it or not, there are books full of triad poetry, kept carefully guarded and secreted away by some triad members. After the poetry slam, the initiate washes his face, removes his clothes, and is given white robes and straw sandals to wear. His old life washed away, he is now prepared for his rebirth as a triad member. In front of the altar, he swears the thirty-six oaths, and binds the oaths with blood -- usually a cock is killed and its blood dripped into a bowl of wine. Then yellow paper is burned and its ash added to the blood wine, and it is tasted by the initiate. The bowl is broken to illustrate what becomes of traitors. The recruit is now a 49. The ceremony ends with a trip to a restaurant for a feast of celebration.

The elaborate ceremony instills respect and fear of the institution into new triad recruits. As long as a sense of awe and respect fills his heart, he will be loyal. But ever since the crackdown on triads in Hong Kong, elaborate initiation ceremonies are a dying breed. Sometimes the new recruit may nowadays forgo the entire ceremony, instead swearing to an altar to Guan Yu, the God of War. Although Guan Yu is worshipped by all triads (and police) in Hong Kong, he actually does not figure in the original initiation ceremony, which adheres strictly to symbolism derived from the triad origin myths, in which Guan Yu does not play a part.

The Thirty-Six Oaths

I found many sources for the thirty-six oaths, each one differing widely from the other. The most legitimate list I could find comes from W.P. Morgan's Triad Societies in Hong Kong, written in 1960, and reprinted below. These days the oath-taking is much abbreviated, but this list can be considered a list of traditional Triad oaths, which the so-called honorable Triad men would follow.

1. After having entered the Hung gates I must treat the parents and relatives of my sworn brothers as my own kin. I shall suffer death by five thunderbolts if I do not keep this oath.
2. I shall assist my sworn brothers to bury their parents and brothers by offering financial or physical assistance. I shall be killed by five thunderbolts if I pretend to have no knowledge of their troubles.
3. When Hung brothers visit my house, I shall provide them with board and lodging. I shall be killed by myriads of knives if I treat them as strangers.
4. I will always acknowledge my Hung brothers when they identify themselves. If I ignore them I will be killed by myriads of swords.
5. I shall not disclose the secrets of the Hung family, not even to my parents, brothers, or wife. I shall never disclose the secrets for money. I will be killed by myriads of swords if I do so.
6. I shall never betray my sworn brothers. If, through a misunderstanding, I have caused the arrest of one of my brothers I must release him immediately. If I break this oath I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
7. I will offer financial assistance to sworn brothers who are in trouble in order that they may pay their passage fee, etc. If I break this oath I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
8. I must never cause harm or bring trouble to my sworn brothers or Incense Master. If I do so I will be killed by myriads of swords.
9. I must never commit any indecent assaults on the wives, sisters, or daughters, of my sworn brothers. I shall be killed by five thunderbolts if I break this oath.
10. I shall never embezzle cash or property from my sworn brothers. If I break this oath I will be killed by myriads of swords.
11. I will take good care of the wives or children of sworn brothers entrusted to my keeping. If I do not I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
12. If I have supplied false particulars about myself for the purpose of joining the Hung family I shall be killed by five thunderbolts.
13. If I should change my mind and deny my membership of the Hung family I will be killed by myriads of swords.
14. If I rob a sworn brother or assist an outsider to do so I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
15. If I should take advantage of a sworn brother or force unfair business deals upon him I will be killed by myriads of swords.
16. If I knowingly convert my sworn brother's cash or property to my own use I shall be killed by five thunderbolts.
17. If I have wrongly taken a sworn brother's cash or property during a robbery I must return them to him. If I do not I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
18. If I am arrested after committing an offence I must accept my punishment an not try to place blame on my sworn brothers. If I do so I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
19. If any of my sworn brothers are killed, or arrested, or have departed to some other place, I will assist their wives and children who may be in need. If I pretend to have no knowledge of their difficulties I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
20. When any of my sworn brothers have been assaulted or blamed by others, I must come forward and help him if he is in the right or advise him to desist if he is wrong. If he has been repeatedly insulted by others I shall inform our other brothers and arrange to help him physically or financially. If I do not keep this oath I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
21. If it comes to my knowledge that the Government is seeking any of my sworn brothers who has come from other provinces or from overseas, I shall immediately inform him in order that he may make his escape. If I break this oath I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
22. I must not conspire with outsiders to cheat my sworn brothers at gambling. If I do so I will be killed by myriads of swords.
23. I shall not cause discord amongst my sworn brothers by spreading false reports about any of them. If I do so I will be killed by myriads of swords.
24. I shall not appoint myself as Incense Master without authority. After entering the Hung gates for three years the loyal and faithful ones may be promoted by the Incense Master with the support of his sworn brothers. I shall be killed by five thunderbolts if I make any unauthorized promotions myself.
25. If my natural brothers are involved in a dispute or law suit with my sworn brothers I must not help either party against the other but must attempt to have the matter settled amicably. If I break this oath I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
26. After entering the Hung gates I must forget any previous grudges I may have borne against my sworn brothers. If I do not do so I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
27. I must not trespass upon the territory occupied by my sworn brothers. I shall be killed by five thunderbolts if I pretend to have no knowledge of my brothers' rights in such matters.
28. I must not covet or seek to share any property or cash obtained by my sworn brothers. If I have such ideas I will be killed.
29. I must not disclose any address where my sworn brothers keep their wealth nor must I conspire to make wrong use of such knowledge. If I do so I will be killed by myriads of swords.
30. I must not give support to outsiders if so doing is against the interests of any of my sworn brothers. If I do not keep this oath I will be killed by myriads of swords.
31. I must not take advantage of the Hung brotherhood in order to opress or take violent or unreasonable advantage of others. I must be content and honest. If I break this oath I will be killed by five thunderbolts.
32. I shall be killed by five thunderbolts if I behave indecently towards small children of my sworn brothers' families.
33. If any of my sworn brothers has committed a big offence I must not inform upon them to the Government for the purposes of obtaining a reward. I shall be killed by five thunderbolts if I break this oath.
34. I must not take to myself the wives and concubines of my sworn brothers nor commit adultery with them. If I do so I will be killed by myriads of swords.
35. I must never reveal Hung secrets or signs when speaking to outsiders. If I do so I will be killed by myriads of swords.
36. After entering the Hung gates I shall be loyal and faithful and shall endeavour to overthrow Ch'ing and restore Ming by co-ordinating my efforts with those of my sworn brethren even though my brethren and I may not be in the same professions. Our common aim is to avenge our Five Ancestors.

http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/cinema/archives/triads.php

Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen on the Hongmen

2009-04-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

Amongst the Chinese emigrants in America I found an even more sleepy atmosphere then in the Philippines. I crossed the continent from San-Francisco to New York. On my way I stopped at various places for a few days—for ten days at the most—everywhere preaching that to save our mother-country from threatening destruction we must overthrow the Tai-Tsing dynasty, and that the duty of every Chinese citizen was to help to reconstruct China on a new democratic basis.
Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen
Although I spared no effort in this propaganda, the people to whom it was directed remained apathetic and little responsive to the ideas of the Chinese Revolution. At that time, however there were fairly widespread amongst the Chinese emigrants the so-called " Hung-Men " societies, although by my time they had been reduced to little more than mutual aid clubs. Their history is as follows. The supporters of the Ming dynasty 1 raised several rebellions against the Tai-Tsing dynasty, but always suffered defeat at the hands of the Imperial troops, and when, during the rule of Kan-Si, the Manchu dynasty reached the height of its strength, all the efforts of the supporters of the Ming dynasty proved to be doomed to failure. Some of them paid for their audacity with their lives, others managed to escape. Seeing the impossibility of overthrowing the Tai-Tsings, they seized then on the idea of nationalism and began preaching it, handing it down from generation to generation. Their main object in organising the " Hung-Men " societies was the overthrow of the Tai-Tsing dynasty and the restoration of the Ming dynasty. The idea of nationalism was for them an auxiliary. They carried on all their affairs in profound secret, avoiding Government officials and hiding also from the Chinese intellectuals, whom they looked upon as the eyes and ears of the Chinese Government. Knowing the psychology of the masses, the " Hung-Men " societies spread their nationalist ideas by means of various plays, which had a great effect amongst the people. In the ideas they spread abroad, everything was based on arousing discontent with one's position and with existing inequality, and preaching the necessity for revenge. Their passwords and watchwords were dirty and vulgar phrases, and Chinese intellectuals avoided them in disgust.
Party solidarity, which afforded them help when in trouble, and a certain co-ordination in their activities, proved very helpful for wanderers and for various Chinese prodigal sons. Their nationalist ideas helped them in their struggle against the hated Tai-Tsing dynasty, and consequently fed their hopes of a restoration of the Ming dynasty.

The Chinese people were in constant conflict with the Imperial officials, and never abandoned their opposition to the Tsing dynasty. The watchwords: " Down with Tsing ! " and "' Long live Ming ! " were near and dear to many Chinese. But the same cannot be said of our overseas emigrants, as they, being abroad in a free country, had no necessity to organise societies of a fighting character. Therefore in America the " Hung-Men " societies naturally lost their political colour, and became benefit clubs. Many members of the " Hung-Men " societies did not rightly understand the meaning and exact aims which their society pursued. When I approached them, during my stay in America, and asked them, why did they want to overthrow the Tsing dynasty and restore the Ming dynasty, very many were not able to give me any positive reply. Later, when our comrades had carried on a protracted revolutionary propaganda in America for several years, members of the " Hung-Men " societies at last realised they were old nationalist revolutionaries.
Although my stay in America was of little importance for the further destinies of the Chinese Revolution, it nevertheless aroused fears and misgivings on the part of the Imperial Government.
1. Overthrown by the Manchu Tai-Tsing dynasty in 1644.

Memoirs of a Chinese Revolutionary, A Programme of National reconstruction for China by Sun-Yat-Sen with a frontispiece portrait of the author (Topical Press). New York : Ams Press, 1970, reprinted from the edition of 1927, London. SBN : 404-06305-5. hc 254 pp. pp. 190-192.

Dian Murray - origins

2009-04-18T03:20:00.001-07:00

Dian Murray: The origins of the Tiandihui
Standford UP Stanford alifornia, 1994
P1” Iwas discomforted by indication that the tiandihui members I encountered were more atively involved in the struggle for eonomi surial than in political struggle
Intro
“One of the most exiting developments for historians of hina during the last twenty years has been the opening of arhives on both Taiwan and the hinese mainland rih in material on the eonomy and society of the late imperial period Among the newly revealed panoramas of daily life, scholars have been afforded preious glimpses of the late-eighteenth and early nineteenth entury sojourners ,,, who were instrumental in founding and spreading the heaven and earth society ,,,
Now, however, with the opening of qing dynasty arhives, and speifially, with aess to the palae memorial olletions in the first historial arhives in Beijing and the national museum in taibei, we are able to determine the irumstanes under whih the tiandihui emerged in zhangxhou prefecture, Fujian as well as the ways in whih it spread throughout hina in the period before the opium war and thereafter to suh distant plaes as southeast asia and the united states These memorials , as we will see in the first two hapters of this study, reveal the tian di hui as a multisurname fraternity that was transmitted throughout south hina by an emigrant society
However, some of this information is dubious as it was obtained by polie under torture, and may have been extracted from innocent people
In any event, one thing is lear, the view of the tiandihui as a mutual aid society that emerges ffrom rhival documents stands in marked ontrast to the view that has prevailed throughout muh of the twentieth entury , to wit that it was reated by zheng henggong(Kongxinga) or other loyalists of the seventeenth entury for the purpose of “overthrowing the qing and restoring the Ming” Histories that espouse Ming loyalism as the raison d’etre of the Tiandihui tend to be based on internally generated soures and in particular on its reation myth, “the Xilu legend”
These hypotheses are now being hallenged by scholars of the Mutual Aid shool
Beginnings:
The eighteenth entury
Founded at the Guanyinting (goddess of mery pavilion) Gaoxi township, in Zhangpu ounty, Zhangzhou prfeture, Fujian provine, sometimes in 1761 or 1762

Southeast maroregion – hakka and hokkien
Maily ommerial region due to its oastline – difficult to farm under ming and gets worse under qing
P7
“to give some indication of the magnitude of the problem, in 1751 fujian provine had an estimated 7,736155 inhabitants about 1,500,00 of whom lived in the two largest prefectures Zhangzhou and quanzhou The sueeding years saw a population explosion that pushed the late eighteenth or early nineteenth entury figure beyond even the 1953 ensus’ estimate of 131 million in terms of land d tenure, this meant that whereas in 1571, the average landholding in zhangzhou was estimated at 50 mu per person, by 1812 the figure had shrunk to 093, well below the 40 mu needed for bare subsistene “
Zhangpu, home of tiandihui was hit very hard
“Whenever the people of zhangzhou or quanzhou got hungry, pirates emerged”
People turned to kinship patterns for protection and survival, from land, landlords and pirates
Religious societies in Fujian allowed their premises to be used
“Loal religious societies organized for the support of loal deities or ancestor worship, often finaned theses feuds and allowed their temples to be used as the headquarters for feud operations”
P13“One lous of early ativity was Taiwan, where the prevalene of sworn brotherhood s was noted by Ji Qiguang
P14 “A new phase began after the qing had ompleted their territorial onquest in 1683, when opponents of the new government, now driven underground, ombined the techniques of sworn fraternity and rebellion to ontinue resistane Soiety formation flourished as these rebels began to bbase pro-ming uprisings on foundations of blood brotherhood
P20 “The opportunity to “rise-up” was not the only thing that indued people to join the tian dihui during the early period Self interest surely guided some”
“The Western Historiography”
P89 “uriously enough, it was foreigners, not hinese who first beame interested in then tiandihui in its own right Their interest was partial rather thatn sholarlyand their fous omtemporary rather than historiaal As ivil servants of the Duth, British and Frenh governments, their task was to deal with the overseas hinese ommuniteis of Southesat Asia Theses ommunities werwe often more under the ontrol of societies rather than of their respeive olonialgovernments, and onsequently, ivil servants tried to learn as muh as they ould about them Some went as far as to join them and participate in ther initiation eremoneies Others gleaned their knowledge thogroug the handling and proessing of offenders arrested within their bailiwicks
It was also westerners and not hinese who first applied the term seret societies to these organisations
P90
The western diovery of seret societies in hina at a time of widespread suspicion of this darker side of masonry aused freemasons to seize on the find to prove that theirs was a honourable order that had originated in antiquity, as a resultwhen European ivil servants enountrered the tian dihui and its offshoots in asia , they immediately foused on the similarities between the seert societies of east and west Freemason intellectuals rated the myth that the hinese and masoni orders werr desendant of a ommon anestor
“The nineteenth –entury environment of the European olonial officials was one in whih seret societies dominated the intellectual landsape Foremost among these was the order of Freemason, whih had ommanded the membership of suh luminaries as Benjamin Franklin, Frederik the Great of Prussia, Wolfgang Mozart, and Voltare Many of the ivil servants werew members themselves and the rest were ertainly aware of the Freemasons existene

2009-04-18T02:39:00.001-07:00

Dutch article

2009-04-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

Myth in the Shape of History: Elusive Triad Leaders
Barend Ter Haar
From the very first mention of the Triads in Chinese historical sources, which was
in the aftermath of the Lin Shuangwen ^!Ü rebellion of 1786-1787, on Taiwan,
Chinese authorities have been plagued by references to important Triad leaders whom
they were unable to track down. More curious still, even well-informed Triad members
were unable to give much pertinent Information äs to the precise whereabouts of
these absent leaders. Even those Triad teachers who were arrested in 1787 — which
according to the present state of Triad scholarship, was only a few decades after the
first Triad group had been founded — were remarkably uninformative about the
earliest Triad leaders and their teachings.
Although our understanding of the Triad phenomenon has increased considerably
since the mid-1970s, thanks to the increased availability of detailed sources, we
should not lose sight of the very severe limitations of these same sources. Even the
archival materials are never first-hand accounts by Triad members, but rather are
reports, in Classical Chinese (äs used in the memorials and other official documents)
and bureaucratic Mandarin (guanhua Hfifj), by non-participants, describing what they
themselves had seen or otherwise summarising Information obtained during extensive
interrogations. In the latter instance, the questioning of witnesses and suspects
always took place under psychic duress, and accompanying physical stress, caused
by the circumstances of arrest and imprisonment and different degrees of torture.
Furthermore, the people questioned usually spoke a different language to their interrogators
(even in northern China language differences are considerable) and almost
invariably came from a very different social and cultural backgrounds. This means
that our archival materials are rarely recorded in the languages which Triad members
actually spoke, the only exception being when literati or other higher-educated people
were interrogated.
Some Historiography
Between 1786 and 1787, a rebellion led by a certain Lin Shuangwen engulfed large
parts of Taiwan. Despite some initial successes, the rebellion was rapidly repressed
(Ownby 1996: 55-81; Cai 1987: 66-122; Qin 1998: 238-274). The authorities' subsequent
investigations into the origins of Lin's ideological and organisational background
extended to the Chinese mainland and lasted several years, before they were "successfully"
concluded — just how successful the Qing officials really were is an issue
that will be addressed below. What is certain is that from this moment onwards, the
Qing authorilies were aware of a network of secret societies, mainly along China's
southeastern coastline, but also spreading rapidly both inland and overseas, whose
members were bound by blood covenants, a symbolic System based on the number
three (which included recognition signals using three fingers), and the common family
name Hong ?ji. They originally called themselves the Heaven and Earth Gathering
19
Chinese Triads: Perspectives on Histories, Identities, and Spheres oflmpact
(Tiandihui f^iiii^), which can also be translated äs Heaven and Earth Society, but are
better known today äs Triads.
The word 'Triad' is an early-nineteenth Century rendering of several Chinese
terms, which though based on a misunderstanding of their meaning, is actually quite
appropriate. These terms were true autonyms, having been chosen by the groups
themselves. They were Three Dot Gathering (Sandianhui Hjä zs), Three Unions Gathering
(Sanhehui H'n'z?) and Three River Society (Sanhehui ΞΐΜζ?)· All three names
referred to the three drops of water that make up the radical of the Chinese character
for the family name Hong fä. This family name was shared by all those who had
taken part in a Triad blood covenant ritual (Ter Haar 1998: 15-19). Western observers,
however, assumed that the reference was to the trinity of Heaven, Earth and Gathering
(tiandihui, with 'gathering' [hui] replacing the more common 'man' [ren A]), hence
their free rendering of these names äs Triads. Since then, the name has become a general
label for organised Chinese crime and has come to be identified, certainly in the
West, äs representing the epitome of a "typically Chinese" form of exclusionist, corporate
group. In the following paper, however, the term should be taken to refer to a
specific ritual and mythological tradition, rather than a type of social group.
In the course of the twentieth Century, several different opinions have been
expressed regarding the origins of the Triads. Until the 1970s, the dominant view was
based on Triad foundation accounts — usually mid-nineteenth Century versions. This
view (with Luo Xianglin §?!Μ^, Xiao Yishan f f— [JL| and Luo Ergang ^ ΜΗΊ äs three
of the most serious scholarly representatives), argued that the Triads originated from
the remnants of Ming loyalist fighters, acting against the Manchu-Qing rulers, who
had äs their central aim the restoration of the former Ming dynasty under the Zhu
imperial family.
On the basis of extensive studies of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century
archival materials, Qing scholars in Taiwan (mainly Zhuang Jifa £Εΐ^ j£) and also
mainland China (such äs Cai Shaoqing H4?ÜP and Qin Baoqui [Chen Baoqi]|!J^lni)
have concluded that this earlier view can no longer be maintained. They trace the
origins of the Triads back to the activities of the monk, Wan Tixi, in the Zhangzhou
region of southern Fujian. A very specific location has even been identified äs the
actual place where the first Triad group was convened. This research has been introduced
in the West, and considerably refined, by Dian Murray and David Ownby.1
Even more recently, however, this archive-based paradigm has itself come under
attack by scholars who have unearthed local historical sources which in their
view prove that a specific Buddhist monastery in southern Fujian should be seen äs
the ultimate place of origin of the Triads. A link is also made with specific local Ming
loyalist traditions of southern Fujian. This view had already been proposed by Weng
Tongwen f|(Wj £ in the early 1980s, but Luo Zhao §?£?, Zeng Wuyue f 5ΐ& and He
Zhiqing üiplf have since provided an impressive amount of supporting evidence
from inscriptions, ritual manuals, manuscripts on local history, and so forth (Ter Haar
1998: 402-415).
1 For a survey of the historiography äs summarised, all too briefly, above, see Dian H. Murray,
in collaboration with Qin Baoqi (1994: 89-150) and Ownby (1996:7-11).
20
Myth in the shape of History: Eluswe Triad Leaders
In the course of our investigation, I will argue that despite some fundamental
differences, these approaches still share one important assumption, namely that at
least one of the existing sources documenting Triad origins — whether it be foundation
accounts, archival materials or local epigraphical and manuscript sources — contains
reliable historical information concerning Triad founders and the earliest Triad teachers.
However, I have proposed elsewhere that instead of seeing these leaders and teachers
äs "real" historical figures, we should see them rather äs mythical saviours from a
mid-Qing oral messianic tradition. Here I wish to extend this Interpretation to several
other elusive leaders of mid-nineteenth Century Triad uprisings and demonstrate that
certain figures who are commonly seen äs "real" should really be reinterpreted instead
äs mythical figures.
The Demonological Messianic Paradigm
Triad lore has been influenced in a number of ways by a pervasive, but little-studied,
demonological messianic paradigm. This paradigm was and is mainly transmitted in
oral form. It is characterised by the idea of apocalyptic disasters äs being caused by
demonic beings, which furthermore can only be combated by demonological means.
Central to these demonological countermeasures is the use of violence, which may
take the form of amulets, weapons or even actual armies. The latter are huge in size,
and comprise divine soldiers led by divine generals, who are liminal figures between
the world of the living and the realm of the dead. These divine armies are five in
number, one in the centre and one for each direction of the compass. Such armies may
be represented symbolically by flags and coloured pieces of cloth or paper, or may be
conceived in a very literal manner äs real-life armies. Since these generals and soldiers
are themselves of demonic origin, they have retained a propensity to violence, which
can be turned against other demonic beings by means of the performance of
appropriate sacrifices and rituals. The ultimate leadership of these divine armies and
their generals is provided by a prince (functioning äs a saviour or messiah), who is
descended from a past imperial family and is destined to rule again over the Allunder-
Heaven (tianxia ^T").
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the demonic threat in this
messianic paradigm was repeatedly identified äs Manchu barbarians, äs well äs the
more usual cast of demonic beings traditionally responsible for causing plagues, war
and so forth. Other characteristic features of the paradigm during this period include:
the young age of the saviour, who is offen identified äs a Luminous King (rningwang
Β^ΞΕ); his family name Zhu ^ and his descent from the Ming B£| imperial family; the
assistance of one or more divine generals with the family name Li ^ (among others);
the symbolic significance of certain designated numbers, especially nine (jiu %) and
ten thousand (wem Jj); the sound 'hang' äs part of the names of the saviour and/or his
generals, or eise carrying füll meaning, äs in the forms 'red' (hang H) or 'flood-like'
(hang $t); references to fruit symbolising eternal youth, especially peaches (tao M),
and plums (U S); the idea of an ideal land in the west; the conquest of an imperial
capital (Nanjing or Beijing) äs a place of refuge from apocalyptic disasters; the use of
different forms of violence to deal with the demonic threat; and auspicious dates
containing the cyclical characters yin jlTand mao J/p. Whereas the more Buddhist-
21
Chinese Triads: Perspectives on Histories, Jdentities, and Spheres oflmpact
prescribe forms of internalised devotion augmented by non-violent ritual acts, the
demonological messianic paradigm is purely ritualistic and extremely violent (Ter
Harr 1998: 224-262).
The paradigm was the messianic counterpart of the more general demonological
orientation of pre-modern Chinese religious culture, which defined a whole ränge of
threats to both individuals and collectivities in demonological terms. Intrusions and
disturbances, among them disease, were not caused by moral flaws (an important
alternative explanatory paradigm), but by the acts of demonic beings (gui j|,), including
bandits, rebels and barbarians, which had to be combated accordingly. This violent
and ongoing struggle took place on a symbolic or mythic plane, äs well äs in the
mundane world of everyday experiences (Feuchtwang 1992; Ter Haar 1996/7: 54-88).
A crucial point is the complete realism invested in the different elements of this
demonological messianic paradigm by their audiences. The princes who acted äs
saviours in this demonological messianic paradigm, together with their divine generals
and their armies, plus their advisors, were perceived äs real people in most respects,
and researchers have tended to adopt this traditional perspective, irrespective of the
sources they are investigating. Thus, in the same way that both the direct audiences of
these messianic teachings and the authorities combating them were constantly misled
by the authenticity of the different accounts of these figures, so too have modern
scholars been inclined to take them äs being more real than they ever were.
The predominantly oral transmission of the messianic demonological paradigm
makes it difficult to track down its impact in any precise way, but it certainly played
a role in a whole series of incidents and rebellions throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth
and twentieth centuries. Elsewhere I have argued that even the Heavenly Kingdom of
Great Peace was strongly influenced by this paradigm and äs recently äs 1980-1981,
ideas from the demonological messianic paradigm were taken up by a local teacher in
Hunan who had been inspired by one of the few texts in the paradigm, the Classic of
the Five Lords (wugongjing JL^££).2 Although this text has been banned since the time
of the northern Song right up to the present day, its influence continued to be
widespread and even extended into Vietnam during the late-nineteenth Century.
Elusive Triad Leaders
Early Triad lore was influenced by the demonological messianic paradigm in a very
fundamental way, especially in relation to the central position of the Luminous King,
who is identified äs both a young Zhu prince from the former imperial house of the
Ming dynasty, and also äs a saviour whose personal names include Zhu Jiutao ifUl
tt, Zhu Hongzhu /fcH1r, Li Kaihua ^3f?E, and other variants containing the hang
sound, which may simultaneously be incorporated into the personal names of the
divine generals who are said to assist him. Other crucial elements from the paradigm
include the centrality of auspicious numbers (especially ten thousand [wem.]); the hang
sound (äs occurring in the common family name Hong, and a variety of other contexts
2 For further references on this text, see Ter Haar (1998: 225-226). For evidence on its influence in
Vietnam, see Hue-Tan Ho Tai (1983).
22
Myth in the shape of History: Elusive Tnad Leaders
such äs 'flood-like' and 'red'); the Identification of a barbarian (Manchu) threat to the
Han-Chinese nation; the importance of eternal-youth symbolism; Sichuan (the land
in the West) äs a place of provenance for the saviour; the importance of a fixed date
(the jiayin Φ 1|Γ date); and possibly the prospect of a safe haven in the form of the City
of Willows. Conspicuously absent are apocalyptic disasters (except for the barbarian
invasions) and the notion of an immediate threat (Ter Haar 1998: 263-305).
Despite these striking similarities between Triad lore and the demonological
messianic paradigm, we only find clear evidence of an acutely messianic Interpretation
in a few early Triad incidents. Otherwise, the messianic message was rapidly routinized
and its politico-religious dimensions highlighted. The belief in the advent of a new
ruler, ordained by Heaven itself, provided the Triads with an independent source of
politico-religious legitimacy by establishing their own channel to Heaven. The
demonological dimension of the messianic paradigm was retained in the very explicit
definition of barbarians äs a major threat that needed to be driven away, not by normal
military means, but using the same exorcist methods that were employed against
demons (ghosts orgui). The so-called Tive Houses' that make up the Triads äs a whole,
were originally the divine armies of the five directions, which were now projected
onto the Chinese nation in a very concrete way, äs is customary in the demonological
messianic paradigm. The City of Willows also retained its original messianic
connotation of a city of last refuge, besides becoming an alternative conception of the
altar fable.
Once we recognise the importance of the demonological messianic paradigm
in the development of Triad lore, we can begin to look at a number of elusive Triad
leaders in a different way. Clearly, these were not strictly historical figures, but actors
in quite a different type of scenario. Even though this scenario had lost its messianic
significance (that is, its eschatological dimensions and the notion of salvation by a
saviour), it nevertheless preserved its politico-religious connotations, namely a belief
in the advent of a better ruler than the present one.
Take for example, the mysterious figure of Wan Tiqi 7TÜä2 (Wan Tixi Jj ÜH,
Wan Tuxi ^J j^lf), who is identified in later Triad lore äs Wan Yunlong 7TS jfe- He first
appears in the aftermath of the Lin Shuangwen uprising from 1786-1787. Qing officials
traced him back to a monk who had been active in the 1760s and 1770s in the Raozhou
area of northeastern Guangdong (a region where a local language close to the Minnan
language of southern Fujian is spoken). By 1787 he was already dead.
At present, most scholars, both in China and abroad, tend to accept this
identification äs historically correct. However, the evidence for this identification
largely stems from one official memorial, which was based on extensive interrogations
of crucial witnesses under torture and long after the death of the historical monk in
question (Ter Haar 1998: 20-21, 356). Furthermore, the purported pupils of this monk
seemed to have a very limited knowledge of Triad lore. They did not even possess (let
alone understand) those bits of Triad lore that were certainly known to the Qing
authorities by around 1787 — this was Information based on the confession of the
peddler Yan Yan and a written Triad covenant found in Taiwan (Ter Haar 1998: 9-21).
Nor were they aware of any other aspects of Triad lore which we now know were in
circulation at that time — this included material from another written Triad covenant
23
Chinese Triads: Perspectives on Histories, Identities, and Spheres oflmpaci
and also the alleged aim of the Triads to be working towards the restoration of the
Ming Dynasty (Ter Haar 1998: 265). The fact that the people who "identified" Wan
Tixi äs a specific historical figure did so under torture and knew far too little about
Triad lore to be seen äs reliable witnesses, suggests that they simply superimposed
the mythological Wan figure — or rather, the little that the interrogating Qing
authorities "knew" about this figure — onto a real person whom they had indeed
known, but who was already dead by this time.
When we take the name(s) of the Wan figure, we find that the name Wan can be
traced to the demonological messianic paradigm, äs documented in several eighteenth
Century cases. The significance of the word Tixi, and its variants, Tixi and Tuxi —
evidently all three are derived from a single local name or term — has yet to be clarified,
but later sources refer to this figure äs Wan Yunlong or Wan Cloud Dragon, with
obvious auspicious connotations. However, in the course of the interrogations that
followed in the aftermath of the Lin Shuangwen uprising, the Wan figure was identified
by the Qing authorities with monk Hong. This identification is incorrect and all later
Triad lore clearly distinguishes between these two figures. Monk Hong was another
mythical figure, being the personification of the /zong-element in the messianic
demonological paradigm and no doubt inspired by the fact that the Ming founder,
Zhu Yuanzhang jfcjnlf", had been a monk himself (with the reign title Hongwu $£ϋζ)
(Ter Haar 1998: 269).
Wan Tixi (Yunlong) and Monk Hong, äs well äs the young Ming prince with
the family name Zhu (and varying personal names), continued to appear in the
confessions of Triad members, together with other figures from Triad lore. The Qing
authorities and Triad members alike tried to locate these persons, but always without
success.3 Just how real these figures were, becomes particularly clear during the Triad
uprisings of the early 1850s. Although the documentation of their religious and
ideological dimensions is rather limited in the otherwise abundant Qing official
archives, there can be little doubt about their overall Triad background and the role of
Triad lore here.4
3 The reference in Ter Haar (1998: 254-265) stems precisely from this discourse. The struggle by
the Triad adherents to give meaning to their political and narrative lore is also discussed in Ter
Haar (1998: 337-334,423-433).
4 Many of the official memorials mention that the rebels were organised in halls (tang) with
typical Triad names. The same sources recorded that booklets, seals, maps, amulets, flags and
the like were confiscated from the rebels. Luo Ergang (1981:356-359) discusses a group of Triad
objects undoubtedly going back to the mid-nineteenth Century. Sadly, his analysis does not
allow a more precise identification of their background. For the somewhat disputed Triad
background of the Li Yuanfa rebellion of 1849-1850, see the evidence in Qingdai dang'an shüiao
congkao (1979: 80-81 and passim); Song and Wang (1987: 449-451) discuss the Triad aspect of
this rebellion and similar Hunan rebellions. Guo (1987: 463-464) discusses some PRC
historiography. The capture of statues does not fit normal Triad paraphernalia. Cai Shaoqing
(1985: 350-362) argues that he belonged to the new religious group Green-blue Lotus Teachings
(qinglian jiao). Nonetheless, the titles Vanguard and Iron Board, äs well äs the presence of a flag
carrying the name Wan Yunlong suggest a Triad background.
24
Myth in the shape of History: Elusive Tnad Leaders
For the Triad participants in these rebellions, the principal actors mentioned in
Triad foundation narratives were certainly significant since they carried the names of
at least some of these figures on their flags. In a sense, their struggle with the Qing
authorities continued (rather than re-enacted) the struggle of the first Triad group of
128 "righteous heroes," under the leadership of Wan Yunlong, against Qing forces.
That particular struggle had ended in defeat and the disappearance of the young
Ming prince. Now, it was hoped that he would reappear. Although I do not wish to
claim that these uprisings were solely motivated by this kind of political Interpretation,
its influence should not be underestimated. The fact that the rebels did not co-operate
to attain their aims fits the localised nature of individual Triad networks, and also the
passive nature of their expectations. Like many other messianic groups, they expected
major events — in this case the reappearance of the young Ming prince from the Zhu
family — to take place of themselves. For their part, they had merely to create the
local groundwork, by defeating the Qing forces and avenging the death of Wan Yunlong
äs described in their foundation narrative. That other motivations, including the possibility
of avenging themselves against local power holders, also played an important
role in these Triad uprisings, is not in contradiction with the politico-religious
motivations.
The 1850s and 1860s were highly tense years for the Qing administration, who
were struggling to defeat the politico-religious movement known äs the Heavenly
Kingdom of Great Peace — the so-called Taiping Rebellion (1851-1864) — inspired
and (partly) led by Hong Xiuquan jätf!^. Besides this uprising, they also faced a
spate of quite separate acts of violence and even outright rebellion, spread across
southern China.5 Triad-inspired uprisings were extremely prominent among them,
and some lasted throughout the 1850s into the early 1860s. To us, these rebellions
show the continuing importance of political interpretations of Triad lore and the survival
of elements from the former demonological messianic paradigm.
Qing officials were particularly worried by the frequent references to a 'Great
Peace' (Taiping ^fc^) in these Triad rebellions, a theme which has also puzzled many
modern historians. The confusion, both then and now, derives from an insufficient
understanding of Triad lore, in which Great Peace is a rather common term, denoting
the perfect rule by a Zhu prince of the former Ming dynasty. Apart from being used
quite explicitly in this sense, the term is also symbolically employed in a variety of
contexts to denote one of the stations in the Triad Initiation journey, the geographical
location of the Shaolin ti?ffi Monastery (though only in early Triad lore), and the mountain
retreat of the monk, Wan Yunlong (in mature Triad lore) (Ter Haar 1998:126,281-
283, 302). Although it can be argued that the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace and
the Triads ultimately arose from the same demonological messianic tradition, they
developed in different ways and by the time that the first Triad societies appeared,
they were only connected superficially. Similarities between the two were not, äs far
5 Good surveys are Fang and Cui (1985: 363-385); Song and Wang (1987: 440-457); Guo (1987:
463-492). For a nationalist historian's point of view, see Xiao (1986:1-35). On Triad uprisings in
Guangdong, see Wakeman (1966) and Wakeman (1972) in Chesneaux (1972: 29-48).
25
Chinese Triads: Perspectives on Histories, Identities, and Spheres oflmpact
as we know, the result of direct influences and the concurrence of the term 'Great
Peace/ should not be taken as evidence of the ideological subjugation of Triad groups
using this term to the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace movement.
In 1851, the prefect of Hengzhou in southern Hunan rounded up a Triad group
under a certain Zuo Jiafa TxM.'ßk, and seized typical Triad paraphernalia such as flags,
yellow cloth (with its imperial or Taoist ritual connotations), one or more wooden
seals, lay-out maps (zhentu |^|H, which may have been maps of the Triad altar in the
form of the City of Willows), "false" certificates and so forth. The authorities also
confiscated blood covenants of mutual Support in which three leading figures are
mentioned: Zhu Jiutao j^^Mf or the 'King of Great Peace, Li Dan ^^J- or the 'King
who Levels the Ground' (pingdi wang ^Ufe ΞΕ), and Zhang Tianzuo 31£l5f Ιέ, who has
the additional titles of 'Lord of the Red Pine Tree' and King of Xuguang. Li Dan also
goes by the alternative names of Ronghua/Yunhuai ^φ / zjfi> and is identified by
Zuo as the instigator of the intended uprising, under the ultimate leadership of Zhu
Jiutao (Taiping tianguo wenxian shiliao ji 1982: 312-323).
First of all, we should note that most of these names are meaningful. To begin
with, Zhu Jiutao ('nine waves') is homophonous with the name Zhu Jiutao ('nine
peaches') from the demonological messianic paradigm and early Triad lore. Li Dan,
on the other hand, means Li 'cinnabar' or '[immortality] pill', while his alternative
names, Li Ronghua/Yunhuai, are curiously reminiscent of the names of one of the
messianic saviours in the Ma Chaozhu incident of 1747, in Hubei province, who was
called Li Rongjue/Yongjue ^i^Sf / 7JCÜ. At the same time, Li Dan's designation as
King who Levels the Ground, also recalls similar titles of previous bandit chiefs and
rebels (Zheng 1983: 106). Zhang Tianzuo, on the other hand, means Zhang 'Heaven
assists/ while his nickname, Lord of the Red Pine Tree, refers to his profession as an
itinerant medicine seller. I am unable to make sense of his second nickname. None of
these three persons were ever arrested, but taken together their names can be read as
references to long life and good health, two typical concerns of the demonological
messianic paradigm and its Triad derivative.
Apart from these names, our sources also reveal some other interesting details.
For example, one confession explains that "The King of Great Peace would enter the
Yongan prefectural city in a coach." This underlines the belief in Zhu Jiutao, or the
King of Great Peace, as a saviour, albeit a political one. Zhu Jiutao was said to come
from Old Mount Wan, in Guangdong, which in early Triad lore was a place of renewal
and a base for action against Qing imperial rule. Old Mount Wan was also
written on one of the confiscated flags. Taken together, this evidence suggests that
these particular Triad adherents actually viewed their own struggle as a continuation
of the armed struggle of the very first Triad group, against Qing forces, as recounted
in their foundation account, and that this interpretations sustained their firm belief in
the advent of the Zhu figure.
Against the background of what we know of Triad lore from early nineteenthcentury
Guangxi, the references to the Old Mount Wan and Zhu Jiutao are especially
interesting, because they go back to the early days of Triad narrative lore. Elsewhere,
these names had long since disappeared, with Zhu Jiutao becoming Zhu Hongying
and Zhu Hongzhu. The Qing authorities never succeeded in Clearing up the precise
26
Myth in the shape of History: Elusive Triad Leaders
nature of these references, but they consistently interpreted them äs denoting real
people and real places, with modern historians following suite.
In 1852, another Triad rebellion broke out, this time in Nanning (Guangxi
province), supposedly led by Zhu Hongying ^$£ΐ£ and Hu Youlu iS^fü. The Triad
forces were made up from the combined membership of a number of different halls,
such äs the Stabilising Righteousness Hall (Anyi Tang ^cJ^CilD, the Public Righteousness
Hall (Gongyi Tang ^JüC^sC) and others (Taiping Tianguo geming shicji quanxi nongmin
qiyi ziliao 1978:403 and passim). This collective was active in the border region of Hunan
and Guangxi until 1855, when an attempt was made to join the Heavenly Kingdom
forces further north. They were successfully blocked by Qing forces, split into two
groups and were routed. Zhu Hongying was never captured and it was assumed that
he died in battle.6
However, Zhu Hongying (Zhu 'Martial Heroic') is one of the two names under
which the Ming saviour prince is worshipped in mature Triad lore, which should be
sufficient to raise some doubts about his true identity, especially äs different texts
refer to him by alternative names. These include Zhu Shenghong ^ISÄ (Zhu
'Flourishing Martiality'), Zhu Shenghong ^|cj!££[ (Zhu 'Victorious Redness') and Zhu
Hongying %&Μ. (Zhu 'Red Heroic'), in the same section of text, and elsewhere, Zhu
Shixiong /fctft^ (Zhu 'Hero of the World') of the Public Righteousness Hall (Taiping
Tianguo geming shicji quanxi nongmin qiyi ziliao 1978:403,404,405). Although it is possible
that these variants may reflect misunderstandings on the part of the recorders, they
are certainly meaningful in terms of Triad lore.
The participants in the rebellion of 1852 wore red turbans (scarves around their
heads), which was a common practice among bandits and rebels äs well äs ritual
specialists, signifying that they possessed a special life force (Ter Haar 1998:115-116).
One of their flags bore the legend 'Great Peace Heavenly Virtue' (Taiping tiande ^^p^t
ί§) (Taiping tianguo gening shicji quanxi nongmin qiyi ziliao 1968: 409), while other flags
carried the names of those participating in the uprising such äs 'Public Righteousness
Hall' and 'General Liu of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace.' Finally, they had a
yellow flag bearing the name 'Zhu Hongying,' without further qualifications (Taiping
tianguo gening shiqi quanxi nongmin qiyi ziliao 1978:412-414). This last flag is especially
important, since we know that it is one of the flags traditionally used in Triad initiation
rituals. What is more, this flag, unlike the others bearing a personal name, simply
carries the füll name but no military title, which makes it unlikely that the flag was
intended for a real general in the rebel army. But even though 'Zhu Hongying' was
never caught, Qing sources always refer to him äs real person of flesh and blood.
During the Red Turban uprisings in Guangdong (which lasted into the 1860s),
a proclamation was posted bearing the name of a certain Wan Dahong 7Tλ JA (alterna-
6 A modern summary is given in Taiping tianguo geming shiqi quanxi nongmin qiyi zilaio
(1978: 401) plus a selection of source materials (pp. 401-448). Guo (1987: 465) discusses some
PRC historiography. Lu Baoqian (1975: 8, note 59) quotes a local gazetteer which Claims that
Zhu stayed in hiding among the Yao and was only arrested in 1874.
27
Chinese Triads: Perspectives on Histories, Mentities, and Spheres oflmpact
tively cited äs Wan Suihong Jj ^i^)·7 As in the case of Zhu Hongying, this figure
again remains completely obscure in the historical record, in contrast to the real leaders
of the rebellion, such äs Chen Kai I^JF/ who are well documented (Wakeman 1998:
139-148). If, on the other hand, one turns to Triad lore, we find two figures with very
similar names. The family name, Wan, could have come from the above-mentioned
Wan Yunlong, while the two variants of his personal name, Dahong and Suihong,
could be derived from Hong Dasui ^^C^, who is alternatively known äs Fang Dahong
JT ifcSc . The latter was a general of one of the Five Houses in the very first Triad society
and is ultimately descended from the above-mentioned Monk Hong (Ter Haar 1998:
270). Clearly, the evidence suggests that Wan Dahong (Wan Suihong) was actually a
combination of these two mythical figures.
The following example is little known, and its precise affiliation is äs yet unclear
to me. Nonetheless, it shows the importance of narratives about the past to these
rebellious groups. In late 1850, a band of rebels, who were on their way to assist another
group of (Triad?) rebels, was defeated in Wengyuan county (Guangdong province).
One of the rebel leaders was identified äs someone called Zhu Honghao ^tt-§· ('Zhu
with the Red Signal' or the 'Red Signal of Zhu'). This name sounds suspiciously like a
Triad figure or may possibly refer to a red signal flag carrying the name Zhu. According
to the historical sources, Zhu Honghao was killed in the fighting but government
forces succeeded in capturing a rebel banner, which was called the 'Great Lord Flag'
(taigong qi ;fc^ffi)· Surviving rebels confessed that they worshipped the flag before
each act of plunder. They "prayed and announced [their plans] to it beforehand, and
when one had a request, it was immediately responsive." The rebels believed that the
flag had been handed down to them from a certain 'First Lad' Li Shao (Lishao Yilang
^έπ^ΒΡ)/ who had been a Taoist priest and was also well-versed in amulets and
spells. His flag had been transmitted over the generations and members of the society
worshipped the Li family äs their patriarch. At the time of their capture, they had
been led by Li Yuanbaoke/qiao (?) ^τπ£τΒ/ who had already been apprehended.
His name is certainly meaningful, since it can be translated äs 'Li Primal Treasure
Shell.'8 The meaning of the term 'shell' is unclear to me, but references to precious
objects are typical of the demonological messianic paradigm. Sadly for us, Qing officials
were not interested in obtaining further details, though they were certainly extremely
surprised about the continued cohesion of this particular group despite the death of
their purported leader.9 Of course, we may well wonder whether this leader was ever
alive in the first place!
7 This is quoted in Xiao Yishan (1936/1986: 6-7). Wan Dahong is also mentioned in an early list
of Heavenly Kingdom leaders, preserved in the manuscript collection of the British Museum
Or. 8207.
8 See Ter Haar (1998: 259, 310-312, 317) for more on treasures.
9 This document is found in "Daoguang dengdi huizhong fanqing douzheng shiliao," in Lishi
dang'an (1996 [2]: 37).
28
Myth in the shape of History: Elusive Triad Leaders
Concluding Remarks
When read against the background of the demonological messianic paradigm in its
Triad form, the references to Monks Wan and Hong, the Zhu Jiutao figure from Old
Mount Wan, Zhu Hongying, and other rebel leaders are quite clearly derived from a
coherent body of politico-religious narrative lore. This lore provided its adherents
with an independent path to Heaven äs the source of all politico-religious authority,
whether or not this involved an act of rebellion. What is also demonstrated by the
examples given above, is the fact that even though most of these rebellions were probably
not directly caused by political motives, they were certainly legitimated in this
way in the eyes of their participants.
Once a Triad foundation narrative was activated from the account of the very
first Triad group's pre-history and foundation, it became a script for political action
and its audience fully accepted its Contents äs authentic or real. This audience consisted
of both Triad adherents and their Qing opponents. Because the Qing officials
took these claims literally, their written records treated these protagonists äs real people,
thereby giving a kind of quasi-historical substance to these figures which has proven
exceedingly difficult for modern historians to unravel.
Ultimately, all the sources that are commonly used to study Triad history and
Triad lore — be they foundation narratives, archival materials or other forms of documentary
evidence — go back to infernal, religiously-inspired Triad accounts of their
past, present and future. As a result, the 'true' origins of the Triads will probably
remain forever hidden in the mists of time. This should not worry us too much, since
we can still make quite a number of concrete observations about the nature of the
Triads and their ritual and narrative lore, thanks to the ongoing research by Chinese,
Western and Japanese scholars.
References
Cai Shaoqing 1987 Zhongguo jingdai huidangshi yanjiu. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju,.
Chesneaux, J. (ed.) 1972 Populär Movements and Secret Sodeties in China, 1840-1950.
Stanford: Stanford University Press.
-1985 "Taiping tianguo geming qiartxi Lei Zaihao he Li Yuanfa qiyi de jige wenti," in
Taiping tianguo xuekan (2 vols.). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
Fang Zhiguang and Cui Zhiqing 1985 "Guangxi tiandi hui qiyi yu taiping tianguo de
xingqi", Taiping tianguo xuekan, Vol. 2, Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 363-385.
Feuchtwang, Stephen 1992 The Imperial Metaphor: Populär Religion in China. London:
Routledge.
Guo Yuming 1987 "Taiping tianguo shiqi huidang yundong yanjiu zongshu," Taiping
tianguo xuekan, Vol. 5, Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 463-492.
29
Chinese Triads: Perspectives on Histories, Identities, and Splieres oflmpact
Hue-Tan Ho Tai 1983 Mülenarism and Peasant Politics in Vietnam. Harvard University Press.
Lu Baoqian 1975 Lun wancjing liangguang de tiandihui zhengquan. Taipei: Zhongyang
yanjiuyuan jindaishi yanjisuo.
Luo Ergang 1981 "Rucheng xian faxian de wan yunlong lingqi deng wenwu." Taiping
tainguo shi congkoa jiaji. Shanghai: Sanlian.
Murray, Dian H., in collaboration with Qin Baoqi 1994 The Origins ofthe Tiandihui: The
Chinese Triads in Legend and History. Stanford University Press.
Ownby, David 1996 Brotherhoods and Secret Societies in Early and Mid-Qing China.
Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Qin Baoqi 1998 Qing qianqi tiandihui yanjiu. Beijing: Zhingguo remin daxue.
Qingdai dang'an shiliao congkao (1979). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
Song Yaping and Wang Chengren 1987 "Shilun Taiping tianguo geming chuqi de hunan
huidang," in Taiping tianguo xuekan, Vol. 4, Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
Taiping tianguo geming shiai quanxi nongmin qiyi züaio (1978). Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
Taiping tianguo shiliao ji (1982). Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue.
Ter Harr, Barend J. 1996-1997 "China's Inner Demons: The Political Impact of the
Demonological Paradigm", China Information, Volume XI, no.s 2/3.
-1998 Ritual and Mythology ofthe Chinese Triads: Creating and Identity. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Wakeman, Frederick 1966 Strangers at the Gate: Social Disorder in South China 1849-
1861. Berkeley: University of California Press.
— 1972, "The secret Societies of Kwangtung, 1800-1856" in Chesneaux (ed.) Populär
Movements and Secret Societies in China, 1840-1950. Stanford: Stanford University Press,
29-48.
Xiao Yishan 1986 Qingdai tongshi. First edition 1936; new edition, Taipei: Shangwu
yinshuguan; re-reprint Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
Zheng Guangan 1983 "'Chuogeng lu' zhong defuji shi ji nongmin qiyi de zhang'ge,"
Zhongguo nongmin zhangzhengshi yanjiu, III, 106.
30
Myth in the shape of History: Elusive Triad Leaders
Zhongguodiyi dang'anguaneds. 1996 "Daoguang sanshinian qinzhenfu zhenya
guangdong dengdihuizhong fanqing douzhen shi liao", Lishi dang'an, 35-40.
31

Triad blogger

2009-04-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

Triads In Taiwan: the Dragon Rears an Ugly Head
There was a graphic public demonstration of the power of organized crime in Taiwan yesterday as 10,000 gangsters showed up to thumb their noses at the police at the funeral of "Mosquito Brother."

The funeral began at 12:30pm and drew to a close at 2:30pm. After the funeral service, Hsu's ashes were brought to Taipei County's Chinpaosan cemetery. Thousands of gangsters walked behind Hsu's hearse in a procession that stretched for about 10km along Minquan E. Rd, temporarily blocking traffic. Hundreds of family members and gang members waited at the cemetery for the funeral procession to arrive.

Police set up roadblocks around the cemetery. They also said the funeral services affected the surrounding area, and inconvenienced the nearly 50,000 junior high school graduates in the city who were taking their high school entrance exams yesterday.

My things have certainly changed since the go-go days of the 1990s, when President Lee Teng-hui attended the funeral of a prominent gangster in the same part of town, as I recall.

Not.

Lots of people write paeans to the "low crime" of Japan and Taiwan. Few foreigners ever really come into contact with the rampant crime in those two countries since they do not stay for long nor come to any understanding of the way those societies actually work. But here was an extraordinary surfacing of the underworld that deserves closer attention. For every mugging that doesn't happen in Taiwan or Japan, there's an act of extortion or a con game that doesn't happen in the US. Crime, like everything else, is cultural.

My friend Nikola Pazderic writes perceptively on the 1990s, the KMT's use of Triads in ruling Taiwan, and Taiwan's gang atmosphere here. He notes:

During the postwar era, this pattern found expression in the public sphere vis-à-vis crime; for crime provided an official cause for state control of local areas, a control enforced through the unofficial alliance of government and local, criminal ("black society") gangs. Yet, following the November 21, 1996 murder of Taoyuan County Chief Liu Bangyou and eight others (including two county councilors and two other Taoyuan County Government officials at Liu's official residence) and the December 3, 1996 discovery of feminist activist Peng Wanru's raped and naked corpse in a Kaohsiung County field, the chaos, sickness and danger appeared as an overwhelming and unstoppable tide(1). For following the execution-style killing (believed ordered by black society Mafioso involved in the construction industry), many began to fear that Taiwan would become a "little Sicily"-- rendering its vitally important emergent status as a democratic state lost; and, after the death of Peng Wanru, an admired reformer who advocated that at least one fourth of all Democratic Progressive Party candidates be women, women across the island felt their fears about the safety of the streets, in general, and taxis, in particular, to be demonstrated for all to see. (Peng was last seen in a taxi, a vehicle that serves as a sign-- despite the professional demeanor of most drivers-- of regardless individualism, lawless social relations, aggressive male domination and unrestricted urban migration). Moreover, the deaths proved what people beholden to the ways of emergent, middle class life already believed: namely, that the social conditions from which they sprang, including the long-time alliance of government and organized crime and the actions of uncontrolled capitalists required continued and aggressive cleansing and re-ordering.
The 1990s were also the era of Lo Fu-chu, the self-proclaimed "spiritual head" of the island's organized crime syndicates. Asiaweek reported:

Indeed, the skeptics point to another development to bolster their claims that the anti-corruption effort is but window-dressing. Legislator Lo Fu-chu, widely suspected of being the godfather of the same gang that kidnapped lawmaker Liao, recently cut a deal with the legislature�s KMT caucus and was appointed co-chairman of the assembly�s Justice Committee.
Here's another Asiaweek story from 2000 on the gangland past of one of the island's billionaires. This story gives a different take on the emergence of Taiwan's gangs than most:

Sheen was born on the mainland in 1947, eldest son of an officer in the Kuomintang army. He moved to Taiwan the following year as the KMT forces, led by Chiang Kai-shek, began to retreat from the advances of Mao Zedong's communists. The KMT regulars were not popular in Taiwan, where many natives considered them an invading force. Children like Sheen were ready targets for the animosity. Weak and scrawny, Sheen formed a gang with other "mainlanders" for protection. Over time, similar groups, often started by the sons of KMT military fathers, morphed into Taiwan's biggest and most notorious crime syndicates. The triad tradition of secret societies goes back hundreds of years among Chinese, but the strongest organizations in Taiwan today are typically less than 50 years old.
Fortunate those days are long past, eh?

*sigh*

possible journal article

2009-04-17T10:49:00.001-07:00

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Journal Article

Blood Brothers: The Criminal Underworld of Asia
Journal Crime, Law and Social Change
Publisher Springer Netherlands
ISSN 0925-4994 (Print) 1573-0751 (Online)
Issue Volume 41, Number 3 / April, 2004
DOI 10.1023/B:CRIS.0000024474.78810.66
Pages 293-296
Subject Collection Humanities, Social Sciences and Law
SpringerLink Date Tuesday, November 02, 2004
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Blood Brothers: The Criminal Underworld of Asia
Hua-Lun Huang1

(1) Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, P.O. Box 40198, Lafeyette, LA, 7-504-0198

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JSTOR possible

2009-04-17T10:42:00.001-07:00

Asian Affairs: An American Review
Issue: Volume 35, Number 2 / Summer 2008
Pages: 59 - 82
URL: Linking Options
DOI: 10.3200/AAFS.35.2.59-82

The Politics of Controlling Heidao and Corruption in Taiwan

Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo

Abstract:

The author examines the relationship between the Taiwanese government and organized crime. He argues that the government is relatively weak vis-à-vis organized crime, which has traditionally infiltrated the political system through elections and bureaucratic corruption. The weak anticrime apparatus and civil servants' and politicians' lack of ethical behavior provide fertile ground for political corruption to persist. Clean government's defenders include most prosecutors, court judges, media professionals, and social activists. But civil servants need to be educated on the values of public accountability, financial propriety, and personal ethics. Anticorruption bodies should be reformed, and a single authority should be vested with the necessary legal authority to curb graft in the private and public sectors. To improve its democratic image, Taiwan must consolidate its governmental capacity to control domestic crime and destroy the coalition between the heidao, money politics, and bureaucratic corruption.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Keywords:

anticrime apparatus, corruption, money politics, organized crime

Taipei Times 2002 Military Ceremony article

2009-04-17T10:37:00.000-07:00

Published on Taipei Timeshttp://www.taipeitimes.com/News/local/archives/2002/02/20/124613
Hung Men Society holds ceremony to honor new leadersBy Sandy HuangSTAFF REPORTER Wednesday, Feb 20, 2002, Page 2
Members of a secret society yesterday held a ceremony at the Taipei Armed Forces Hero House (國軍英雄館) to honor its fifth president and other of the society's members.
Around 250 members, including several high-ranking retired generals such as General O Yen-wei (歐陽位) and General Yin Ke-fan (應克范), attended the event yesterday and witnessed the handing-over ceremony of the Chinese Hung Men Society's (中華洪門) new officials.
"It's a great honor to serve as the society's president," said Tu Yi-fei (杜一飛), the new head of the group. "And it's my goal to strengthen the sense of community among society members and lead the Hung Men Society to engage in more work for the welfare and benefit of the public."
As a private organization, the society has long been mysterious due to its low profile, yet it boasts a remarkable membership.
According to Huang Chao-sheng (黃照勝), society secretary general, there are approximately 30,000 members in Taiwan and tens of thousands more across the globe.
Founded more than 300 years ago, "Hung Men members have contributed much to the writing of Chinese history since national father Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) led the revolution against the Qing dynasty and founded the Republic of China."
Like the Green Gang, another well-known secret society, the Chinese Hung Men Society was involved in Sun's efforts to subvert the Qing dynasty at the turn of the century and was later involved in Chiang Kai-shek's (蔣介石) struggle from the 1920s.
"And after the nationalists came to Taiwan, Hung Men members continued to contribute and support the government's work in developing Taiwan," Huang said.
The society's goals have also changed with the times.
"Anti-communism had been Hung Men's mission," Huang said. "And now the ultimate mission of the society is to work on a unified China.
"Hung Men members will continue to uphold the spirit of righteousness and loyalty, the spirits valued most by Hung Men."
According to a society magazine published last December, many high-profile politicians act as advisers to the group. These figures include former New Party lawmaker Elmer Fung (馮滬祥), PFP legislators Lee Ching-an (李慶安), Chou Hsi-wei (周錫瑋), and Lin Yu-fang (林郁芳) and KMT legislators Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順), Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝), Apollo Chen (陳學聖), Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠), Mu Min-chu (穆閩珠) and James Chen (陳健治).
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