{"id":40608,"date":"2026-03-31T09:51:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=40608"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:51:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:51:36","slug":"the-origin-of-triads-from-secret-societies-and-brotherhoods-to-global-criminal-networks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=40608","title":{"rendered":"The origin of triads, from secret societies and brotherhoods to global criminal networks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/03\/30\/06b600f4-06b1-4fbf-9e33-731d0d96cb3a_232bd9fe.jpg?itok=imSqqD90&amp;v=1774863983\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">One man\u2019s terrorist is another\u2019s freedom fighter, or so the saying goes. Similarly, the history of Hong Kong\u2019s triads is not merely a chronicle of crime, but a multilayered saga deeply intertwined with Chinese politics, migration and the city\u2019s unique position.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The journey from righteous secret societies to global criminal enterprises reveals much about the turbulent ebbs and flows of Chinese history.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">The conventional origin of triads lies in the resistance that followed the fall of <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">the Ming dynasty<\/span> (1368-1644), after the Manchu conquest of China that heralded <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">the Qing dynasty<\/span> (1644-1912). Out of this turmoil, societies dedicated to restoring Ming rule emerged.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Tiandihui, also known as the Heaven and Earth Society and Hongmen, is widely acknowledged by historians as the most direct predecessor to the triads. While popular legends say it was founded by surviving Ming loyalists in the Shaolin Temple, modern scholars suggest this was not the case.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">According to <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">The Origins of the Tiandihui: The Chinese Triads in Legend and History<\/em> (1994) by Baoqi Qin and Dian H. Murray, the society emerged in the 18th century as a mutual aid association among the urban poor and itinerant workers in the Fujian and Guangdong provinces.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The book argues that Tiandihui was formed around 1761-1762 as a fraternal organisation, mainly for self-protection. Political motives were secondary, or later, additions. The \u201canti-Qing\u201d narrative was a powerful unifying ideology, but their early activities were often local and defensive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/chinese-culture\/article\/3348407\/origin-triads-secret-societies-and-brotherhoods-global-criminal-networks?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One man\u2019s terrorist is another\u2019s freedom fighter, or so the saying goes. Similarly, the history of Hong Kong\u2019s triads is not merely a chronicle of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[19363,3265,899,10947,9856,507,19362,19361],"class_list":["post-40608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-brotherhoods","tag-criminal","tag-global","tag-networks","tag-origin","tag-secret","tag-societies","tag-triads","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}