Evening star., 1900-07-07
CHINESE SECRET SOCIETIES
BOXERS REPRESENT FORCES OP-
POSED TO MODERN CIVILIZATION.
Members of the Dreaded Triad Were
the Chief Actors in the Ter
rible TAPPING Rebellion.


Chinese riot belongs to the same class
| Of social phenomena as a South Cen
| trail American revolution. The chief DIFF
| ference is that 1t is usually carried on
| against a local official administration
and very rarely against higher authority.
| Riots against provincial governments oc-
| cur about once in twenty-five years. while
| a widely extended riot directed against the
central government does not take place
more than once in a century.
From time immemorial the middle king
| dom has been hotbed Of secret societies
Of political character. Ostensibly these
organizations are based upon fraternity.
civic spirit, benevolence, piety or religion.
Actually they are Of a political or indus
trio-political character 1t is difficult to get
full particulars of either the organizations,
the movements or riots in which they have
been engaged from the Chinese records or
official histories. The time-honored policy
Of the empire is to suppress all reference
to persons or events which cast discredit
upon authority. 1t is easy. however, to
get inkling Of the subject from the
laws or edicts prohibiting specific organt-
cations.
If the law be short and sweet the So
ciety is small and weak. If the law is
long and carefully drawn the society Is
| large and widely ramified. If the law be
a proclamation of an inordinate length,
abounding with penalties and instructions
to magistrates, then the society Is so pow
erful as to be a menace or to be re-
garded by the Kiun-Ki-Chu or council Of
state.
Employing this method of determination.
1t fS not a difficult task to see what revo-
| lutionary societies or movements have
given alarm to the authorities at Peking
1t must be remembered that China is
not uniform In Its poplatfon, language and
customs. The Chinese form one vast body.
and the Manchus, who constitute the rul-
! ing classes, different in every respect
! Two centuries and half have not yet
| nationaltes. In his heart the Chinaman
proper detests the Manchu, and regards
| him as a usurper and tyrant. The ex-
preston Fan Xvi, or foreign devil. is ap-
piled by the conquered race much more
| frequently to the Manchu than to the
| European In fact, its application to the
| latter enables patriotic Cinnamon to ex-
press revolutionary sentiments with COM
parative impunity.
! After the Manchurian conquest the con-
Quered population formed by degrees a
| great secret society. looking forward to
| the expulsion Of their conquerers and the
reinstatement of the Mings upon the i'm
perial throne. With characteristic cum
| ming the leaders of the movement dis
guised their. organization religious
| body, and gave it the title of Wan Kiang.
| or the incense burners. the burning OF In
| cense at that time as today being re
ligious ceremony Of universal use The
" So
many riots in the last century that 1t was
| finally prohibited by law.
The first edict proving ineffective, sub
| seauent and severer ones were passed un-
der which many terrible prosecutions were
conducted by the magistrates. The result
| was that the Wan Kiang vanished. Its
| five grand lodges disappeared, and its very
| name passed away before the end Of the
| century. But there suddenly sprang up
new organiza ton, known as the Pih-Lien-
Kiao. or Water Lily Society. Like its pre-
decessor 1t had five grand lodges and
| ritual so closely resembling that of the
| first that many who know the Chinese
| character feel justified in calling 1t the
same body under another name. This so
ciety ran into the present century, and was
| likewise prohibited by the council of state
| Similar prosecutions were conducted by the
magistrates until one fine day the Water
Lilies vanished.
| exactly as the Water Lily appeared in the
empire. This was the famous Triad So
| ciety. known in the northern provinces as
| the Tien-Ti Hwui, in the middle provinces
| as San-Hoh- -Hwui. and in the southern
provinces as Sam-Hop Wui. This Is the
| powerful body whose members. under the
| name of the Hung League, were the chief
actors in the terrible TAPPING rebellion,
| which ragged from 1S5o-1S51 to 1858. rebel
| lion in which anywhere from twenty to
| thirty millions of human beings were
caused to perish. The crushing of the re-
| bellion and the terrible punishment meted
out to the rebel survivors kept the Triad
| for a long time in the background. Not
until the seventies did 1t make any appre-
ciable appearance. and even then 1t was
under many other names besides the one
notorious in the ears of the magistrat tes
In Fuhkien. a rebelliOuS province. IL TOOK
the name of Gheen-Hin; in northern Kwang
| Tung of Chilling; in southern kwang
| Tung. in Human. Hupeh and Honan OF ko-
Lo-Wui or ko-LaOHwui.
| In the eighties 1t began to instigate riots
| in China and incidentally to use Hong
IL of SJnDlieS. The Pekfn
authorities complained to the British min
ister and the result was the passage or
statutes compelling the registration OF all
Chinese secret societies in the far eastern
| colonies of Great Britain, and finally the
prohibition of the Triad.
| As might be expected. the prohibition
| had merely nominal effect. In 1888, just
| prior to the prohibition. the number of
| members of Chinese secret societies. in
| cluding those of the Triad. in Hong Kong.
| Singapore and Penang was about equal to
| the male Chinese population of those three
cities while in 1893 with no Triad society
appearing upon the registers. the registra-
| tion had kept pace with the population.
| which was 80 per cent larger than 1t mad
been six years before. Between 1891 and
| the breaking out Of the Chinese-Japanese
war the Ko-Lo-Wui instigated many riots.
more especially in the central and south
ern provinces. A careful examination OF
| their work showed that they were organ
| lied the same as the Triads and the Water
Lilies, the only difference being in the
| nomenclature. InuS the ITlad Hdu HVe
| grand lodges. viz. Kwang Tung and
Kwang 81. Fuhkien Hupeh and Human.
| Yunnan and Sz'chuen and Cheh Kiang,
Kiang Su and Kiang 81. The five grand
lodges covered. therefore. ten of the more
| important provinces of the empire. The
| Ko-Lo-Wui had. and is said to have. five
grand lodges. viz. Kwang 81 and Kwang
| Tung, Human and Hupeh. Sz'chuen and
Yunnan Kiang su. Kiang 81 and Cheh
| Kiang and Anhui and Honan, or eleven
provinces. The differences are very signifl-
| cant to any one familiar to Chinese po-
| ntical life The appearance Of Anhui and
| Honan means that the districts controlled
| by the so-called uterati have Joined forces
| with the older revolutionaries. while the
eliston of Fuhkien simply means that It
| has Joined the Grand Lodge Of Kwang 81
| and Kwang Tung.
| The Ko-Lo-wuI movement does not seem
| to have been conducted with the same
| skill as the Triad. 1t eliminated in a
| fasco SO pitiable to be funny. The con-
| spirators thinking doubtless to profit by
| the example Of Chinese Gordon. hired a
| group Of European mercenaries. who were
| SO addicted to drink that the Chinese gov
| ernment aided by the English authorities
| at Hong Kong and Singapore. the Portu-
guese at Macao. the Spanish at Manila and