The Chinese Triads (Part 2 of a Series)

Hole of Justice

By Peter G. Jimenea

History of the Triads (Part 2 of a series}

The Chinese Triad is a secret society with over 400 years of history behind it. Triad has a noble purpose when organized. They resented the occupation of the Northern part of China by the invading barbarian Manchus of Mongolia.

Triad societies are represented by an equilateral triangle signifying three basic concepts of Heaven, Earth and Man. They were founded as patriotic secret organization to overthrow the foreign conquerors and restore the Ming dynasty to the imperial throne.

About 1,500 years before Christ, these societies were founded in 17^th century thirty years after the Manchus, (barbarian tribesmen from Mongolia) invaded China, swept over “the Great Wall” and placed the Northern part of the country in their domination.

The Manchus has an iron grip in two/thirds of Northern China but continued to face rebellion in the South. The rallying point for the anti-Manchus sentiment in the South is the Foochow monastery of the 128 militant monks who organized the local population into pocket of resistance.

By 1674, the Manchus consolidated their hold on Northern China and send large contingents of armed troops to the south. But the monks who had developed the form of self-defense called kung fu, held the Manchus out for almost three weeks.

A traitor among the monks, however,  help the Manchus disguised as waterboys to enter the secret underground tunnels into the monastery. Only 18 of monks escaped the slaughter but they were hunted by the Manchus brutally killing 13 of them.

The five remaining monks were credited for the first Triad society to drive the Manchus away from their lands. The secret societies have the spread like fever across Southern China and continue to thrive with a slogan “Armies protect the Emperor, Triads protect the people.”

The Triads tried several aborted revolutions like “The Urban Uprising,” “Taiping Rebellion” and others until the many radical critics of the Manchus joined them. By mid-1800 the Triads existence were threatened that large segments of their members migrated to foreign lands.

Out there they learned to engage in illegal activities to survive. The Mainland Triads sent members abroad to organize and protect the various kinds of vices and crimes that thrived among their homeless members. By the late 1800s, the Triads’ big income was sent to China to help the revolution.

In 1911, the Manchus were overthrown and a Republic was established. Dr. Sun yat-sen formed the first government being a senior Triad member. He is assisted by Charlie Soong, financier and member of the powerful “Red Gang,” and Army General Chiang Kai-shek who lost to Mao Tse-tung in 1949.

As they spread control over China’s underworld as well as in foreign countries, Gen. Chiang gave the Triads unprecedented opportunity to gain recognition and powers in national politics. His ambition was to lead China as the military chief of the new Imperial dynasty.

A litmus test for his new leadership was Gen. Chiang’s attempt to eliminate the Communist-led labor unions in Shanghai, the largest city in Southern China. He ordered the closure of the newspapers considered critical to him and the arrest of left-wing leaders and spokespersons of labor unions.

The oppressive government of Gen. Chiang sparked the 1949 revolution led by Mao Tse-tung. Chiang fled to Formosa (now Taiwan) with his few army generals leaving behind the others like Gen. Li who opened the Golden Triangle story to the new world.

Next issue: How Hong Kong became a British Colony.