Martin, Brian G., “The Origins of the Green Gang and its Rise in Shanghai, 1850-1920” (1991)

Title : “The Origins of the Green Gang and its Rise in Shanghai, 1850-1920”

Author(s) : Martin, Brian G.

Year : 1991

Type : Journal article

Subject : History

Keywords : crime;political;social

Journal : East Asian History

Number : 2

Start page : 67

End page : 86

Language:Name : English

Support : Print

Abstract : By the 1920's, the Chinese secret society known as the Green Gang (Qing Bang) had become one of the leading criminal organizations in Shanghai. The ancestry and organizational structure of this group, however, were sufficiently different from that of other secret societies (triads) as to qualify it as a unique and newly emerging organization. The origins of the Green Gang are found in the boatmen's associations of the tribute grain fleets operating on the Grand Canal in the mid-17th century, particularly among the followers of the Buddhist sect of Patriarch Luo. With the upheavals of the Taiping Rebellion, the fleets were disbanded. Many members became salt smugglers, forming the Anqing League. This league eventually became the Green Gang, which established itself as a major criminal presence in Shanghai. Although the Green Gang's origins were rooted in traditional secret societies, the gang itself was not an adaptation of one of these societies; rather, it was an integral part of a new phenomenon in which secret societies transformed old traditions to meet the needs of changed social conditions.