INTRICATE NETWORK.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 25 June 1925, Page 7

INTRICATE NETWORK.

CHINESE SECRET SOCIEi'J ICS

The .store of the war between t hin

.secret societies in American cities ma;, seem fantastic, writes Geoffrey imeksted in the Daily Mail. After police arrest of professional gunmen lined by the Tongs ’to terrorise enemies, the com petit-ion I wit ween these organisations is being settled by a eon .erenee. in New York. This is not stic-h, strange news, though,, to those who have had dealings with Chinese set tier* ami emigrants in Eastern Colonies

Understand tiie.se things and \mi understand all. First, and paradoxically, the Chinese are the most unum-ridden and faction-split folk id the world.- Second. wherever his countrymen are in any number the Chinese finds it very difficult to escape the influence of the "Kongsis or trade- societies of the ■'Tongs.'' Third, the individual Chinese ,-inroad who makes money, and wants to keep it, tuts c-o keep away from China. The Kongsis, the Tongs, and. above them all, Lhe Triad link him with China. The intricate network of Kong*d s inter hues Chinese society, which is xopa-

'•;ued by trades and \ uric ties of race. There is a greater race difference and opposition felt between Chinese of diii'rent provinces than between peoples of different countries in Europe. flylams. Cantonese. Mokkions. Fukiens, or .M.'inclnis are a few. for instance, of the distinctly different types of Chinese who "don't mix.' 5 They all look a Pont the same to the man at home, but are readily distinguished by features, build, and manners by the "old fiand” who has been out East for long. As the Kongsis swallow and control the labouring classes, or form rings in trades, so the Tongs bind, or are used by. the more prosperous Chinese and envelop the Kongsis. The Tongs are more political than provincial (in the racial sense), and more economical in motive than political.

Engulfing all is the mysterious Triad, lhe all-powerful and wealthy secret,

society. It intervenes and interweaves. It pulls strings and demands services. And over all, and always, exacts heavy monetary tribute. The Triad almost is China to-day. Ask a Westernised ( liinese to explain or discuss the Triad, and he will he evasive or embarrassed ; but lie has to acknowledge it and obey it.

The Kongsis organise the emigrant Chinese hundreds to- thousands of in iies from their ow n country, in modern European-controlled Eastern towns even the Chinese rickshaw-pull-ers pay their cents for hire a s human

draught-beasts to their Kongsis. and hotel-boys and servants i n ail their subdivisions of duties pay their wages into their different societies, to be pooled: "Cumshnw’’ or tips they may ictain. The society remits to relatives in China, deducts 'for passages outwards or advances for journeys home or to employment, allots portion to organisation funds, and holds another portion to the merit her’s credit: from it lie may have grants for special purposes. for unemployment, or for the festivities and payments of debts of the Chinese New Yeai.