Martin, Brian G., “The Green Gang and the Guomindang state: Du Yuesheng and the politics of Shanghai, 1927-37” (1995)

Title : “The Green Gang and the Guomindang state: Du Yuesheng and the politics of Shanghai, 1927-37”

Author(s) : Martin, Brian G.

Year : 1995

Type : Journal article

Subject : History

Keywords : crime;political

Journal : Journal of Asian Studies

Volume : 54

Number : 1

Start page : 64

End page : 91

Language:Name : English

Support : Print

Abstract : Looks at the relationships that developed in Shanghai between the Green Gang, the largest and most powerful of Shanghai's secret societies/criminal gangs, and the Guomindang (Nationalist) administration, which took charge of the city in 1927. Prior to 1931, relations between the Guomindang regime and the Green Gang were very fluid. To preserve their interests, particularly in the narcotics trade, the Green Gang had helped the Nationalists defeat the Communists and take charge of Shanghai in 1927. Yet the Green Gang could not be fully co-opted because the cash-strapped civil administration sought to crack down on smuggling, which threatened the Green Gang. Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931, and the subsequent political and economic crises, caused splits in the Green Gang and provoked changes in the Guomindang, which together produced a situation that one of the leading figures of the Green Gang, Du Yuesheng, exploited to further his ties to the local Guomindang network. Du Yuesheng in turn used his connections within the Guomindang and Shanghai's bourgeoisie to strengthen his position within the Green Gang. However, the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War and the retreat of Du Yuesheng and the Guomindang from Shanghai led to a collapse of this alliance.