Hong Kong Triad Societies

Secret societies founded to overthrow a dynasty, which outlived the dynasty by more than a century as criminal networks. The triads trace themselves to brotherhoods formed in southern China in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with the declared aim of restoring the Ming and expelling the Qing, and the name comes from a triangular emblem representing heaven, earth and man. Their political purpose gave them the apparatus - oaths, ranks designated by numbers, coded hand signs and elaborate initiation - that later served organised crime. Members took part in the revolutionary movements of the late Qing, and Sun Yat-sen used such networks among overseas Chinese. After 1949 many relocated to Hong Kong, where a large refugee population, a colonial police force with limited reach into Chinese communities and a booming port created ideal conditions. They took control of protection rackets, gambling, prostitution, drug distribution, counterfeit goods and film industry labour, and police corruption reached the point where an entire commission, the ICAC, was created in 1974 to deal with it. Triads are not a single organisation but many rival societies, some with tens of thousands of members. Their diaspora branches operate in Southeast Asia, North America and Europe. Chinese authorities have repeatedly announced crackdowns. Their ritual vocabulary has been extensively borrowed by Hong Kong cinema, which has shaped public perception of them more than any court record. The societies originated in southern China and are strongest in Hong Kong, Macau and the Chinese diaspora. Hong Kong has around 7.5 million people. The largest societies are estimated to hold tens of thousands of members each. The ICAC was established in 1974 and remains in operation. Rank numbers such as 426 and 489 come from Chinese numerology.

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