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.
For most of its history, China was organized into various dynastic states under the rule of hereditary monarchs. Beginning with the establishment of dynastic rule by Yu the Great c. 2070 BC, and ending with the abdication of the Xuantong Emperor in AD 1912, Chinese historiography came to organize itself around the succession of monarchical dynasties. Besides those established by the dominant Han ethnic group or its spiritual Huaxia predecessors, dynasties throughout Chinese history were also founded by non-Han peoples.
Lieyu Township (Liehyu) is a rural township in Kinmen County (Quemoy), Fujian Province, Republic of China (Taiwan). It consists mainly of three islands located to the west of Greater Kinmen and immediately to the east of Xiamen (Amoy) of the People's Republic of China: Lesser Kinmen, Dadan, and Erdan.
The Deer and the Cauldron, also known as The Duke of Mount Deer, is a historical comedy novel by Jin Yong. It is the longest of his novels. Although the last to be published, it is the eighth of twelve in internal order. It was initially published in Hong Kong as a serial, running from 24 October 1969 to 23 September 1972 in the newspaper Ming Pao.
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.
The History of Ming is the final official Chinese history included in the Twenty-Four Histories. It consists of 332 volumes and covers the history of the Ming dynasty from 1368 to 1644. It was written by a number of officials commissioned by the court of Qing dynasty, with Zhang Tingyu as the lead editor. The compilation started in the era of the Shunzhi Emperor and was completed in 1739 in the era of the Qianlong Emperor, though most of the volumes were written in the era of the Kangxi Emperor.
Iquan's Party is the name of an armed merchant company led by Zheng Zhilong that appears in the novel The chronicles of Zheng Zhilong. Although Zheng Zhilong was a real person the company as it is portrayed in the novel is fictional and not an actual historical organisation.
The House of Zhao was the imperial clan of the Song dynasty (960–1279) of China.
Tse Tsan-tai (Chinese: 謝纘泰 or 謝贊泰; pinyin: Xiè Zàntài; Sidney Lau: Je6 Juen2 Taai3; 16 May 1872 – 4 April 1938), courtesy name Sing-on (聖安), art-named Hong-yu (康如), was an Australian Chinese revolutionary, active during the late Qing dynasty. Tse had an interest in designing airships but none were ever constructed. His book The Chinese Republic: Secret History of the Revolution (中華民國革命秘史), published in 1924 by the South China Morning Post, of which he was co-founder, is an important source of studies on the anti-Qing revolution.
A triad is a Chinese transnational organized crime syndicate based in Greater China with outposts in various countries having significant Chinese diaspora 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.
Philosophy in Taiwan is the set of philosophical traditions in Taiwan, while Taiwanese philosophy is taken to mean philosophical work from the country. Philosophical thought in Taiwan is diverse, drawing influence from Chinese philosophy during Qing rule from the 17th and 18th century, and Western philosophy through the Kyoto School during Japanese rule in the 19th and early 20th century. Taiwanese philosophy took a more endogenous turn during the modern era, with burgeoning philosophical debate regarding Taiwanese Gemeinschaft.
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.
Jianguo Lu was the regnal year of Zhu Yihai, Prince of Lu of the Southern Ming.
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.
