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Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice pp 5332–5343Cite as

Triads and Tongs

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The ancestor of Chinese triad society is Hung Mun, which was originally a loyal and righteous society. It was a secret society whose members, bound by oaths of blood brotherhood, were pledged to restore the ancient Empire, the Chinese Ming Dynasty, to the throne by overthrowing the foreign conqueror, the Munchow Qing Dynasty. Being a massive and highly coordinated political and military organization, it had a clear structure of commanders, officers, rank and file, and followers. Its members were all brave heroes rather than groups of criminals or vandals. Since China became a Republic in 1911, such loyal and patriotic nature had gradually diminished, leading to the disintegration of Hung Mun into dozens of separate triad societies engaging in criminal activities. The political turmoil in China between the two world wars, including the Japanese invasion and the rise of the Communist Party, forced the triads to retreat into Hong Kong. In 1960, the then Police Commissioner of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    T. Wing Lo & Sharon Ingrid Kwok

Authors
  1. T. Wing Lo
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  2. Sharon Ingrid Kwok
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to T. Wing Lo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  3. Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    David Weisburd

  4. Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Weisburd

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Lo, T.W., Kwok, S.I. (2014). Triads and Tongs. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_644

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_644

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5689-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5690-2

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