A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla warfare insurgencies, that hide their activities and memberships but maintain a public presence.
A tong is a type of organization found among Chinese immigrants predominantly living in the United States, with smaller numbers in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. In Chinese, the word tong means "hall" or "gathering place". These organizations are described as secret societies or sworn brotherhoods and are often tied to criminal activity. In the 1990s, in most American Chinatowns, clearly marked tong halls could easily be found, many of which have had affiliations with Chinese organized crime.
The Tongmenghui of China was a secret society and underground resistance movement founded by Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren, and others in Tokyo, Empire of Japan, on 20 August 1905, with the goal of overthrowing China's Qing dynasty. It was formed from the merger of multiple late-Qing dynasty Chinese revolutionary groups.
The She people are an ethnic group in China. They form one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.
Wo Shing Wo or WSW is the oldest of the Wo Group triad societies, and is the triad with the longest history in Hong Kong. According to the Hong Kong police, the triad is involved in extortion, drug trafficking, gambling and prostitution.
The term White Lotus Society or White Lotus Teaching refers to a variety of religious and political groups that emerged in China over many centuries. Initially, the name was associated with Pure Land Buddhist organizations that sought to promote devotional practices centered rebirth in a Buddha's Pure Land. These early societies emphasized spiritual salvation through faith, chanting of Amitābha's name (nianfo), and adherence to moral precepts.
The Ghee Hin Kongsi was a secret society in Singapore and Malaya, formed in 1820. Ghee Hin literally means "the rise of righteousness" in Chinese and was part of the Hongmen overseas network. The Ghee Hin often fought against the Hakka-dominated Hai San secret society.
Nanquan refers to a classification of Chinese martial arts that originated in Southern China.
The Deer and the Cauldron, also known as The Duke of Mount Deer, is a historical novel by Jin Yong. It is his last and longest novel, originally serialized in the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao from 24 October 1969 to 23 September 1972..
Small Swords Society or Small Sword Society was a political and military organisation active in Shanghai, China, and neighbouring areas amid the Taiping Rebellion, between about 1840 and 1855. Members of the society, rebelling against the Qing dynasty, occupied old Shanghai and many of the surrounding villages. Chinese gentry and merchants took refuge in the British and French concessions, which were regarded as the only safe places. The rebellion was suppressed and the society expelled from Shanghai in February 1855.
Cheung Ah-yim ; b. 1824–d. 1893) a.k.a.Jeung Yim, Cheung Yim, Cheung Hung-sing, Jeong Hung-sing, Jeong Hong-sing, Zhang Yan, Zhang Hongsheng; is recognized as an important contributor (co-founder) to the expansion of Choy Lee Fut - a Southern Chinese martial arts system, and was the most famous of Chan Heung's disciple to emerge from the Choy Lee Fut System.
The Wu Chinese people, also known as Wuyue people, Jiang-Zhe people (江浙民系) or San Kiang (三江), are a major subgroup of the Han Chinese. They are a Wu Chinese-speaking people who hail from southern Jiangsu Province, the entirety of the city of Shanghai and all of Zhejiang Province, as well as smaller populations in Xuancheng prefecture-level city in southern Anhui Province, Shangrao, Guangfeng and Yushan counties of northeastern Jiangxi Province and some parts of Pucheng County in northern Fujian Province.
The House of Zhao was the imperial clan of the Song dynasty (960–1279) of China.
The Qinhuai River is a tributary of the Yangtze with a total length of 110 km. It flows through central Nanjing and is called "Nanjing's mother river". It is the "life blood" of the city. The Qinhuai River is divided into inner and outer rivers.
A triad is a Chinese transnational organized crime syndicate based in Greater China with outposts in various countries having significant overseas Chinese populations.
Chinese salvationist religions or Chinese folk religious sects are a Chinese religious tradition characterised by a concern for salvation of the person and the society. They are distinguished by egalitarianism, a founding charismatic person often informed by a divine revelation, a specific theology written in holy texts, a millenarian eschatology and a voluntary path of salvation, an embodied experience of the numinous through healing and self-cultivation, and an expansive orientation through evangelism and philanthropy.
The Lin Shuangwen rebellion occurred in 1787–1788 in Taiwan under the rule of the Qing dynasty. The rebellion was started by the rebel Lin Shuangwen and was pacified by the Qianlong Emperor. Lin Shuangwen was then executed.
Cai Shaoqing was a Chinese historian and professor at Nanjing University, considered a leading authority on the history of Chinese secret societies. He pioneered the research of Tiandihui and other secret societies using Qing dynasty archives and overturned the findings of earlier Republican-era scholars. He also studied the links between the Warlord Era and banditry during the late Qing dynasty and early Republic of China. He received the Frederic Milton Thrasher Award for his research on Chinese secret societies.
The Heavenly Kingdom of the Great Mingshun, or the Shuntian Kingdom (順天國), was an attempt within Qing China by members of the Revive China Society to establish a Westernized constitutional monarchy with references to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in 1903, founders of whom were Tse Tsan-tai, Li Ki-tong, and Hong Quanfu, a former Taiping general.
The Chee Kung Tong, or Gee Kung Tong, was a Chinese secret society established in 1880 and holds an active presence still. In earlier years, the society has also been recognized as the "Chinese Masons" and has been identified under various names such as Hongmen, Hongshuntang, and Yixingtang. The fraternity founded its headquarters in San Francisco in the United States.
