Secret Societies: Inside the World's Most Notorious Organizations (24 page)

The first appearance of an actual triad society occurred in 1644 when Manchu invaders overthrew the Ming emperor and launched the Ch'ing dynasty. A group of 133 Buddhist monks, united by a blood oath to restore the Ming dynasty, fought a guerrilla war against the Manchu for many years, but their resistance proved futile. In 1674, all but five of the fighters were captured and brutally murdered, and the monastery that served as their headquarters was destroyed.

The term triad is derived from the three-sided symbol used by the Hung Mun. The sides signify Heaven, Earth and Man.

The remaining monks, united in hatred of the invaders, vowed revenge. Forming a secret group dedicated to annihilating the Manchu, they chose a triangle as their emblem, with the three sides representing Heaven, Earth and Man, the essential elements of the Chinese universe. The choice of a triangle carried other implications as well. Chinese culture pays special attention to the significance of numbers, and the numeral 3 is assumed to hold special powers, especially among the criminal element. Extortion rates, for example, are often calculated by three. While the surviving five monks, known today as the Five Ancestors, called their organization the Hung Mun, or Heaven and Earth Society, its more familiar title (in the West) was based on the three-sided symbol. Thus the term
triad
, used almost exclusively by Westerners. Resident Chinese usually refer to the organizations as
hei she hui
, literally translated as “black (or secret, sinister or wicked) society.”

While the Hung Mun failed to depose the Ch'ing dynasty, it remained active for many years, joining forces with White Lotus members to harass the emperor's forces and provoke citizen uprisings against injustices. Reflecting Buddhist principles, its members were instructed to respect the rights and concerns of the peasants, a tactic employed with enormous success almost 300 years later by Mao-led communists, and inspiring an aphorism that “the armies protect the emperor, but the secret societies protect the people.”

Triads wielded power and influence, although they were unsuccessful at their primary goal of overthrowing the Ch'ing emperors, who continued to alienate the people with repressive measures. The organization's members were seen in a positive
light until 1842 and the arrival of British rule in Hong Kong. Although the triads remained focused on political and cultural goals, Britain was uncomfortable with their presence and declared the societies “incompatible with the maintenance of good order,” claiming they increased “the facilities for the commission of crime and the escape of offenders.” Following the pattern of nineteenth-century imperialist powers in China, British authorities declared not only was it a crime to belong to a triad, it was also a crime to even
pretend
to be a member. The punishment: up to three years in prison. If the triads had no overt criminal intent at this stage, this heavy-handed edict undoubtedly drove them towards it.

In 1848, the Hung Mun allied itself with a new secret society from the Canton area, the Society of God Worshippers. Together, they launched the Taiping Rebellion, laying siege to Canton and launching revolts in Shanghai and other cities. To this point, triad rituals still emphasized positive social qualities; Taiping is translated as “universal peace and social harmony,” and as China became oppressed by Britain, the United States and France, the triads represented the country's only organized resistance to foreign exploitation and abuse.

The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 marks the transformation of the triads into groups devoted exclusively to criminal activities. The rebellion, so-named because it was led by the secret Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists, attempted to drive foreigners from the country through murder and intimidation directed towards enclaves and missions in Peking (now Beijing) and Shanghai. When besieged diplomats and trade representatives in these cities appealed to their home governments for aid, an eight-nation expeditionary force was dispatched.

Over 2000 military personnel from Great Britain, Germany, Russia, France, the United States, Japan, Italy and Austria, all under the command of British Admiral Sir Edward Seymour, arrived in June 1900. Strong opposition from the Boxers and the Imperial Chinese forces caused Seymour to retreat and call for reinforcements, and in August an additional
20,000 men arrived. After seizing control of Tianjin, the foreign armies battled their way to Peking, reaching the capital on August 14.

Boxers, rebels like this one seeking to drive foreigners out of China, drove the triads towards full-scale criminal operations.

The size of the forces occupying China grew over the next several months, completing their occupation of Peking and spreading into the countryside in pursuit of the rebellious Boxers. In February 1901, Chinese authorities agreed to abolish the Boxer Society, and later that year they signed a peace protocol with the allied nations, officially ending the Boxer Rebellion. The country had suffered a demoralizing blow to its prestige and power, made even more humiliating when the foreign nations were permitted to consolidate their interests and continue their exploitive activities. The ripple effects of this event spread through the balance of the twentieth century.

From that point forward, it was clear to the triads that they would have little impact on determining China's national interests. The Boxers, as secretive in their manner as any of the triads, had not only failed to protect the nation, they had been crushed, and foreign enemies of China were now stationed throughout the country, heavily armed and resolved to quash any internal revolt.

At this point, the societies turned inward. If they could not win against foreign abuse, they would win by exploiting their own people, growing in strength and disassociating themselves from any non-Chinese influence or threat, although they retained interest in, and influence on, political issues for some time. Their most significant move was to provide support for Dr. Sun Yat-sen's overthrow of the Manchu Ch'ing dynasty, replacing the emperor with a republican system of government. Sun may have actively recruited the triads to ensure his revolution's
success, an obvious move if he had been, as many observers suggest, an enforcer in the triad Green Gang/Three Harmonies Society (San Ho-Hui) during his youth.

There is little doubt that Sun's successor as leader of Sun's Kuomintang party, Chiang Kai-shek, was a triad member. When the Chinese republic began to collapse from in-fighting and the pressures of Mao's communists, Chiang recruited triad support, but nothing could save Chiang's corrupt group. Mao's victory in 1949 drove Chiang and his followers to Formosa (now Taiwan), and triad leaders who chose to remain in mainland China were hunted down and executed. A few escaped to Portuguese-controlled Macau or to Hong Kong where the British government, weakened by the recent war with Japan and more tolerant than a century earlier, continued to declare the triads illegal but failed to enforce the laws with the same draconian fervor.

For the last half of the twentieth century, Hong Kong represented the hub of triad activity, serving as the nerve center for many of their global enterprises. Among the largest and most notorious organizations was 14k, named for the address (number 14 Po Wah Road in Canton) and the initial of its founder, Kuomintang Lieutenant-General Kot Siu-wong, who founded the triad in the 1940s. By the 1980s, membership in 14k was estimated at more than 25,000 in Hong Kong alone, and the 14k group was singled out as a prime participant in heroin trafficking, with branches in the Netherlands, Britain, Canada and the U.S. Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigators claim 14k and other triads maintain a presence in every Chinese community of substance across North America, engaging in almost any criminal activity that promises a profit, from extortion and loan sharking to credit card fraud and video piracy.

The more the triads moved away from cultural and political objectives towards criminal activities, the more they refined their secret rituals, adding new complex ceremonies. The core of the initiation procedure remained rooted in historical aspects of the groups, including elaborate ceremonies that require up to
eight hours to complete. Among the rites initiates perform is “the passing of the mountain of swords,” in which they walk slowly beneath threatening swords held just above their heads.

New triad members are taught secret handshakes and subtle signals, long a distinctive feature of the society. The way chopsticks are held or set down, and the number of fingers used to grasp a goblet while drinking, communicates important signals among triad members. Certain phrases are used to signify information not to be shared with others. According to the rcmp, who infiltrated and assessed the triads more effectively than any other Western police force, “bite clouds” meant “smoke opium,” and “black dog” was code for a gun. (The past tense is used because, after an extended list of code words was published in a 1987 issue of the
RCMP Gazette
and later in several other journals, it is unlikely that the triads retain the same definitions today.)

Initiation into the more potent triads may include the ceremonial decapitation of a live chicken. Blood from the still-writhing bird is poured into a bowl and mixed with the blood of the initiate, followed by a goodly measure of wine, and the concoction is shared by everyone in attendance. After the blood-and-wine mixture has been consumed, the bowl is broken to signify the fate of any members who might break faith with the triad.

The new triad member must pledge that his allegiance to the group will surpass the loyalty he owes to his family and loved ones, a pledge involving thirty-six oaths extending back to the seventeenth-century origins of the triads. The oaths are specific, demanding and inflexible. In the first oath, the initiate vows that he “must treat parents and relatives of sworn brothers” as his own kin, and “I shall suffer death by five thunderbolts if I do not keep this oath.” In oath number four, he swears: “I shall always acknowledge my Hung brothers when they identify themselves. If I ignore them, I will be killed by a multitude of swords.” With many of the oaths, the new member acknowledges that he must “be loyal or be killed.”

Oath number 36, a reflection of the original triad objective, is common to all Hung societies: “After entering the Hung gates, I shall be loyal and faithful, and shall endeavor to overthrow Ch'ing and restore Ming…. Our common aim is to avenge our Five Ancestors.” This pledge is at least 100 years out of date, yet it continues to be delivered as part of the organization's tradition, adding an element of mysticism to the act, always a desired component for secret societies.

Titles granted to triad members extend the mysticism by connecting it with numerology. All triad members are identified two ways: by a job description that explains, in a tangential manner, their responsibilities within the organization; and by a number.

The leader of the society is the Dragon Head (
Shan Chou
or
Chu Chi
) and is referred to as 489. These three digits add up to 21; the Chinese-language characters for 21 are very similar to the characters representing
Hung
. In addition, 21 is also 3 (the three elements making up the triad symbol—Heaven, Earth and Man) multiplied by 7, a number revered as much in Chinese culture as in Western society. In this manner, 489 manages to sum up the life cycle of the society.

The organization's financial adviser, filling a role similar to the
consigliore
in Cosa Nostra circles, is called the White Paper Fan (
Bak Tse Sin
or
Pak Tse Sin
) and identified as 415. Enforcers, trained in kung fu, are called Red Poles (
Hung Kwan
) with the numeral designation 426. Other operatives include the Straw Sandal (
Cho Hai
), number 426, who handle communications; and the
Fu Shan Chu
, number 438, a deputy of sorts to the Dragon Head. The number 438 is also attached to the Incense Master (
Heung Chu
), in charge of rituals. The lowest rank in the triad, a soldier or
Sey Kow Jai
, is assigned number 49.