The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-02-24
CHINESE SOCIETIES.
A PEEP AT THEIR SECRET ORGAN
cations AND PASSWORDS.
Antiquity Of the Order OF Tien-Ti-How
the Society Came to BE Founded-fs
Has a Membership That Reaches 20 All
Parts of the World-Its Secrecy.


Parts of the World-Its Secrecy.
There are three grand secret societies in
China, the Ten-T, Heaven and Earth, J"
or Triad the Wu-Wei Keaou, White
Lily" or do Nothing" and the 10 Lao,
ELDER Brother" OF less important as
sociations the name is legion. AL those
cited appear 70 have some relation 20 Free
masonry; but il is indirect. no doubt, in
the case OF the latter two, which modelled
their procedure upon that OF the Tien-Ti
This tremendous organization Is older than
all records Its supreme grand master-if
one there be-has more subjects probably
than the pope of Rome. His sway extends
all over China, and, IN theory Al least. over
all emigrant lodges from the Philippines
10 Burmah and san Francisco and Mel
bourne As for his ''potentialiries OF
, wealth." mere member of the council in
a subordinate lodge may be worth two
millions sterling. But who be Is or where
he dwells no man knows, the Chinese
government would dearly like TO get thst
information. II death be the penalty for
belonging to the Tieu-Ti in Dutch and
Spanish colonies lin some English also, 10
be suspected of belonging entails the same
fate in China. The word must not be ut
tered in presence OF natives. With what
patience, tact and labor-it must be added
with what good luck-Gustave Schlegel
gathered the materials for his striking
book, 1.-The Hung League" under this
state OF things may be imagined. So far
as know, it Is still our only authority for
The secrets of the association al home. Al
Singapore, however, when all Hoeys were
- f1f
the suppression lately, abundance of facts
were collected by Air Pickering
HOW TENT WAS STARTED.
Unfortunately. these emigrsnts have lost
all traditions of the craft in its early form
or it may DE they disregard the record.
| AT one point of the ritual, indeed, the lodge
master asks, do you know that there is a
Greater and Less Tien-N" and the van
guard officer" replies, YES. The Greater
was founded in heaven; the Lesser at the
| waters of the Three Rivers"-in Hok- KEN.
| But this is all. For unlearned members
! the league had its beginning in the year
| 1914, and perhaps it will be best, with a
/ great subject To discuss in little space, 10
! tell the story of the foundation as recited
| in the books of ritual. The Msnchu Tar
/ tars expelled the native dynasty in 1914
/ Twenty years later the Eleuth Tartars in
/ vaded the realm and overran great part.
| The emperor made desperate appeal 70
| his subjects, and certain Buddhist abbot,
| Kim-Tat, of Hok-Kien, putting himself at
/ the head of his monks, drove them out.
| But traitorous general denounced the
| victor and received orders TO murder him.
/ which was done, and the monastery burned
after surprising adventures. Five monks
! escaped and took refuge in a temple. As
| they walked along the bank OF the Sam 20
| they beheId a censor floating, which upon
| examination proved 10 be inscribed, Over
| throw the Cheng; restore the Beng that
/ il, Drive out the Manchus; restore the
native line So, under persecution, the
| late defenders of the emperor became reb-
! els. After this a number of miracles oc-
CURED. all teaching the same lesson.
| Five horse dealers joined the monks, and
| a hermit-all very famous in the after
| time. They swore brotherhood on the
miraculous censor, adopted its motto and
| prepared to overthrow the Cheng- A grand
i son of the last Chinese emperor revealed
himself and the insurgents marched under
| command of a giant, Ban-Lung. They
met the imperial army at the Mountain
| of the Phoenix" and routed il, but Bang
/ Lung fell in the moment of victory, and
! kin-Lam, second in command, perceived
| that the day of success had not We; dawned-
! Gathering the army around him be dis
| missed each man TO his own house, there
/ to enlist recruits for the good cause, living
/ always in secret, concealing even their
names. Thus the TENTH was founded.
, LODGES or TIEg-TL
For the mother lodges, with which
| Schlegel dealt, this legend does not repre-
| sent The establishment but the transit rma.
/ ton of the society And thus it becomes
/ intellj 9ible. The original password, almost
/ forgotten in the emigrant lodges, was
/ 'Obey heaven and 60 righteousness" Men
/ who accepted that rule OF life would sub
/ nit TO conqueror, as by all accounts the
I Tien-Ti submitted TO the Manchus fol-
/ twenty years. But the second emperor, as
we may guess, feared and harassed them
1 Ia the province of Hok-kien they rose
stirred up by monks. perhaps, and headed
| by those champions whose names are Sill
/ revered The rebellion was stamped ont
and a charitable brotherhood Of high phii0
sophie aims developed into a vast con
spiracy With scarcely pause il has RAISED
/ disturbances. greater or smaller, since that
date. The Taepinz rebellion was lis work
/ And every Chinamsn. as every Manchu, II
well assured that sooner or later the Ten
| Ii will triumph.
/ In the first place the original aim Of tbs
society, still pFofessed in China, was The
search for pure light-that is. truth The
/ grand symbol of the league Is triangle
/ formed by the Chinese character Juh, %
/ ENTER into" Ike ali inverted ". and
i Yin, -one,H dash. Thus heaven aud earth
combine 20 "enter into" man. The triangle
! appears in every ceremony, while the foot
/ rule, the scales and weights ara laid in the
/ sacred "bushel" upon the altar before tbs
( opening of a lodge. The lodge must b
/ square, standing due north Il mas four
/ gates. Of which the eastern l. holy and bears
/ two significant inscriptions-one declaring
/ that myTiads stream through when IL IL
opened 80 the generals command; The
/ other. Toward the east. in the wood. IL i.
/ difficult 70 walk fast. Tnr sun which ap
/ pears above the hills riSes Ia TIE eastern
/ sea +"
! That expression -'in the wood" constant
/ " recurs, alluding 20 the persecution which
/ the initiated suScr After receiving aSsur
ance that the lodge IS tiled, . the master
I asks. How high. brother. Is this lodzes
/ The Tsong-Li. frst officer. replies, As nigh
( asoureyes can see - How broad. broshsrg'
F.. AS broad as the two capitals ksd thirteeu
/ provinces" meaning the whole word.
| 'fWhence do you GOMEZ" Il con. from tie
/ east" AT what tine did yea come" Il