A triad is a Chinese transnational crime syndicate bsaed in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and countries with significant Chinese populations such as the United States, Canada, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Spain, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. The triads originated in the 18th century as fraternal organizations that adopted the triangle, decorative images of swords, or portraits of Guan Yu as their symbols. Their aim was to overthrow the Qing dynasty and restore the Ming dynasty, hence their secrecy. The Triads were forced out of mainland China by the communist government, with many fleeing to Hong Kong; by the 1950s, there were 300,000 Triads in Hong Kong. The Triads would later spread to the Chinese diaspora in countries such as the USA, Canada, and Britain, where they operated as Mafia-like organizations.
History[]
The Triad secret societies date back to 1674, when a group of Buddhist monks at a monastery in Fujian became a rallying point against China's oppressive Manchu rulers. The monks created a highly effective form of self-defense, kung fu, and they founded a set of secret societies that would endure for several generations. These societies valued ancient rituals, loyalty and secrecy, and a romanticized Robin Hood image. After the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, the triads helped Sun Yat-sen establish the Republic of China, and Sun's successor Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly turned to the triads in his bid to control China. The triads became a largely criminal force with a heavy involvement in the opium trade; Chiang himself was a triad member who recruited his underworld allies as generals, soldiers, spies, businessmen, and hired thugs in the Kuomintang. Following the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, smugglers, dealers, and hardened crooks were summarily rounded up and imprisoned by the communists, and many of them shot. The Communist takeover of China ended the nation's ordeal with opium addiction, but the triads fled alongside Chiang's Nationalist army, relocating to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Burma, where they built up the Golden Triangle heroin trade.
After Hong Kong's fall to Japan during World War II, the colony's new masters formed the cooperative triads into the Hing Ah Kee Kwa (Aid Asia Flourishing Association), which was used to help keep order in Hong Kong in exchange for sharing the Japanese occupiers' profits from prostitution, gambling, and the opium trade. After the war, the triads sank their roots deeper into Hong Kong, aided by the mass exodus of fellow members from the mainland. The British banned opium in the colony, giving rise to a thriving black market and a steady source of income for postwar gangs. By the 1980s, Hong Kong's syndicates had a strength of 80,000, with a solid core of professional criminals estimated at 12,000. By the late 1990s, the largest triad, the Sun Yee On, had 30,000 members, rivalling the Yamaguchi-gumi. Additionally, the 14K Triad's reach stretched from street gangs in San Francisco to drug kingpins in Amsterdam. Additionally, Macau became a seedy gambling center plagued by bloody triad turf wars.
The Triads also fled to Taiwan, where, by the 1970s, homegrown gangs had built themselves into formidable crime syndicates and had taken on the mantle of triad societies. Taiwanese gang members handled small amounts of heroin before moving heavily into meth production during the 1980s. In 1975, the "Taiwan Connection" began as Taiwanese gangs trafficked massive quantities of meth into Japan in collusion with the yakuza. Taiwan had an abundance of strong crime syndicates, with hundreds of gangs groupe dunder a half-dozen major syndicates. The leading triad, the United Bamboo Gang, had some 10,000 members and associates, and the UBG and the Four Seas Gang controlled much of the nation's prostitution, gambling, and protection rackets. The Kuomintang used the gangs for political purposes, much as they had done on the mainland. Through the 1970s, the gangs spied on and disrupted Chiang's political opponents. In 1984, Taiwanese intelligence recruited leading Bamboo Gang members to kill the Chinese—American journalist Henry Liu. The official sponsorship of the triads by the KMT led to the gangs to gain deep footholds in the entertainment and construction industries, and, as Taiwan democratized, organized crime only grew worse. By 1996, Taiwan's underworld had ties to as many of 10% of the national legislature and 30% of local elected officials. Among the lawmakers was Lo Fu-chu, the self-proclaimed leader of the Heavenly Justice Alliance triad and a member of the National Assembly's Justice Committee.
Speaking on the political orientation of New York City's triads during the 1970s-1990s, former gangster-turned-NYPD detective Michael Moy said in a 31 December 2023 livestream, "The gangs, they were pro-Taiwanese. Most were pro-KMT, so they were against the Communist Party. That was back then." However, his friend Kenny Wong said that not all gangs were politically-orientated; Wong said, "My gang was pro-nothing, only 'pro-green.' But the tongs were different." In addition, the American-based triads retained their ties to triad groups back on the mainland. Moy said, "Each of their gangs had their contact with a particular triad group. Tung On had a contact with Sun Yee On, and Sun Yee On tried to infiltrate Tung On. The Ghost Shadows had their connections to the 14K and Kung Lok from Toronto, Canada. A lot of the Ghost Shadow members were once 14K members who were arrested, came here, became Ghost Shadows, were deported, and became 14K again. To this day, some of the guys who were deported are pretty high-ranking members now."
During the 1980s, as China opened up to the world, corruption and organized crime skyrocketed as payoffs, shakedowns, counterfeit goods, prostitution, and gambling became majr parts of urban China. Some criminals emigrated out of fear that China would retake Hong Kong and Macau, but other triads found opportunity aplenty in the homeland and flocked into racketes across southern China. Hong Kong gangs spread through nearby Guangdong province as Taiwanese gangs pushed into Fujian. China's communist leaders declared that some triads would be considered "patriotic", signifying a budding alliance between the Communist Party of China and organized crime. By the late 1990s, the People's Liberation Army jointly owned a string of nightclubs with the Sun Yee On, while the Public Security Bureau ran several high-class brothels.
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