St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-02-06
CHINA'S VIGILANTES.
Secret Patriotic Societies of the CelesIia
EmpIre.

II Diplomats are finding out slowly tina
China is not so meek and helpless as sh
= has seemed. Although living under a
:, imperial government that is absolute il
. theory, the people of China are local.
! independent and democratic. Democrat,
s China does 70; teai 60 nat.onalism
a ! out to sectionalism and imperialism.
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government but they do labor to tie its
hands or at least to limit it's power fol
meddling with the rights of the masses
1t is a deep maze, the Chinese social
polity, but there is sense in it and
strength for certain crises. One of the
worst things that can happen to Chi
naman is to ''lose face" and he will
lose face if he breaks one jot or little
of the law of the fellows with whom he
is associated in an oath bound clan.
The secret societies of China are too
many to count but there isn't an object
in life dear to masses that hasn't one
or more societies to promote it; also
there isn't an evil threatening to cor
rupt and defraud the masses that
hasn't called into life a society to COM
bat it. Gambling and opium smoking,
the pet vices of the race, are kept with
in bounds, if not exactly regulated, by
ants that sometimes go at the evils
as the Boxers did at the foreigners.
1t is alternately claimed and denied
that the Chinese are capable of COM
bination. The apparent lack of public
spirit in China is laid to their failure
to work in combination. The fact is
that China is either blessed or cursed
by the most extensive and powerful
societh4 known in the world And one
of the things which the Chinese COM
bine to do in secret oath bound asso-
Citations is the regulation of civic af-
fairs; hence the Boxers, who want to
regulate the foreigners, whether Mant-
choo or European. Thieves and brig
ands and all sorts of malefactors NAV
for a time defy the local police, but
when an association like that of the
Brotherhood of the Venerable Bull
takes up the cudgel it is relentless
lynch law on huge scale China is
regulated when things get too bad,
just as California was regulated in the
tifties, by sworn vigilantes as des-
perate as the evildoers themselves.
The secret societies of China which |
undertake to regulate public affairs are
similar to the law and order leagues
and societies for the prevention of evils
IN this country, except that the mem.
bers are bound by oaths and the meth
DDS used are as INSCRIPTIONS as those
OF the eyildoers who are to be disci- |
pinned The names of societies of this
KIND do not always indicate their char
acter. The Society of the White Lotus
has existed for 500 years, but associa-
ions having the same object in view
do not always bear that name. The
clear SHINING Lotus and the Clear and
bflght Lotus are changes on the par
ent nHre adopted for the purpose of
eludr ' Idiots to suppress the original
order
Various societies with totally differ
ent names are derived from the parent
association, and the Boxers or Iovino
Union of Elder Brothers. is a society
organized to revive the military spirit
OF the Chinese. The most potent and
formidable of all active societies in
emma today is the Society of Concord
OF Ihree called by Europeans the
Irlads The proselytes of this society
honor and worship the trinity of Heav.
en- Earth and Man. For the last 200
years the main objects of the societies
fathered by the Triads have heen
the expulsion of the Tartars and tbn
longed for restoration of the NIino
dynasty, and this programme is only \
continuation of the work of similar so.
cletleS which existed under Ming rule
ana conSpred to limit the unbridled an.
lhoflty OF the emperor. Revolution or
rebellion is the inevitable end of the
ACTIVITIES of these societies, even when
NE primary aim is pacific one.
Inc ChlneSe outside of the fatherland
ire the boldest of subscribers to revo-
utlonary tenets fostered at home. The
lalplng rebels We're largely recruited
rom members of the Triad and branch
aSecel who hNd be@s <dA 1 tr q crr
ly IRE EssgAass wAae 4 se aAfe z&R
u sStas % TIE aaaBa Ia ~ FyiN
III thaa se9Tg4 esE<aya zee a. X ass,
parade the virtuous motto, "Obey Heav.
IL ana deal justly" 1t is used in greet
ng salutation and farewell and is nm
lerstood by the initiated to be ONLY
for the more businesslike in
uhctlon, Drive out the Tartar and re-
tore the Ming dynasty" The imperial =
government is also equal to the game !
u double dealing. In it's code of laws '
lie members of the societies of Heaven +
Lhd Earth are held punishable bv de-
apltatlon for attending reunions and ,
timer acts set down, and outsiders who
III them are condemned to death bv '
But this does NOT nro.
'eht the provincial government nor
he imperial court from batting tbp
ectarles' as they are called, upon tha ,
'ack Whenever they can mako usa of =
men, as was the case with the RovorS
asst summer
III the edicts of the rulers there arc
,Ood ana bad Triads and good and had =
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