CHINESE SECRET SOCIETIES AXD THEIR 



ORIGIN. 



BY MR. W. A. PICKERING. 



'Read at a Meeting of the Society, held on the (ith Ma.;/, 1878. 



Although the numerous branches of the great Chinese Secret 

 Society Thien-Ti-Hui, have, since the foundation of the Colo- 

 nies, by their riots and quarrels, forced themselves on the notice 

 of the public of the Straits Settlements, very little seems to be 

 generally known as to their origin, history, and objects. To 

 Europeans, an almost complete knowledge of the working and 

 ceremonies of the Society, has been to a certain extent at- 

 tainable, by the publication in 1866, of M. Gustave SehlegeFs 

 "Thian-Ti-Hui, or the "Hung League/'' which treats very 

 exhaustively of the subject of this great Chinese brotherhood. 



Amongst the Chinese themselves, unless a man be a member 

 of the Society, he seldom or never knows anything at all about 

 the always suspected, and often dreaded " Hui." In China, to be 

 found in possession of any of the books, seals, or insignia of the 

 Triad Society, would render a person liable to decapitation, or 

 subject him to a persecution to which even death would be pre- 

 ferable. Sehlegel, in his preface to the book above-mentioned, 

 says : 



" We do not suppose that the present work contains all possi- 

 ble information. Notwithstanding all our endeavours, we could 

 not induce a single Chinaman in this place, whom we supposed 

 to be a member (of the Thian-Ti-Hui) to confess this. 



'*' But even if this had been the case, not much benefit would 

 probably have been derived from it. The greater part of the 

 members, consisting of the lower orders of the population, are 

 not sufficiently versed in their own language and history, or 

 initiated into the Secrets of the League, to be able to give any 

 explanation as to the meaning of the symbols, &c." 



ese 



" A second difficulty is found in the unwillingness of Chin 

 literati to investigate any book treating of the subject. If 

 they are members, and are initiated into the secrets, they are 

 afraid to tell them, for both in China and the Colonies (Dutch ?) 

 the League is forbidden by severe laws. In the other case, they 



