The history of secret societies in China is, by nature, hard to trace. Many of these societies were linked with heterodox religious sects faced with significant government suppression. Details of the origins, organisation and activity of secret societies were either never written down, or systematically hunted down and destroyed by authorities. Fragmentary accounts of secret societies often come from official imperial histories, which naturally exaggerate their ‘heretical’ and ‘rebellious’ nature. Even in periods of cooperation, those in power actively suppressed information relating them to murky underground activities. A notable example would be the Ming dynasty founder Zhu Yuan-zhang, who was active in the Red Turban Rebellion led by followers of the White Lotus Society. Upon his ascension, Zhu disassociated himself with the White Lotus and publicly advocated for a return to traditional Chinese religions of Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism.

Moving into modern Chinese history, secret societies had an intimate relationship with the Guomindang. The origins of the Tiandihui (also known as the Hongmen or the Sanhehui) are in some dispute - some scholars claim it was founded in the mid-Qing period by pro-Ming, anti-Qing figures, while others argue it began as a mutual aid society (see Ownby’s ‘Recent Chinese Scholarship on the History of Chinese Secret Societies’ for more). What is not disputed is the Tiandihui’s anti-Qing sentiment in the late 1800s and its close association with Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries. Having strong connections with overseas Chinese, the Tiandihui was perfect for the collection of monetary contributions for the revolutionary cause. Following the 1911 Revolution, the secret society lost its anti-Manchu motivation and began to split into smaller groups (the reason why many modern triads trace their origins to the Tiandihui - the term ‘triad’ came about because of the Tiandihui’s alternate name of Sanhehui, ‘Three Harmonies Society’). Many of these groups became linked with various right-leaning Guomindang factions.

The most prominent secret society during the Republican period, and into the Second Sino-Japanese War, was the Shanghai-based Green Gang. Of the hundred thousand gangsters based in Shanghai in the 1930s (3% of the total population), a majority was Green Gang-affiliated. The Gang did not have a strict hierarchy, but allowed the existence of various sub-groups underneath its broad umbrella. Jiang Hao, a Green Gang leader and a member of the Guomindang, reported that there were forty-eight prominent leaders in Shanghai during the Republican period. The links between the Green Gang and the Guomindang can be traced back to the 1911 Revolution. Chen Qi-mei, a member of the Tongmenghui (predecessor to the Guomindang) and Chiang Kai-shek’s early mentor, called upon the Green Gang to assist the military takeover of Shanghai, with Gang members forming a Dare-to-Die corps. Chiang’s links with the Green Gang remain murky. In contrast with his later puritan lifestyle, we know that he thoroughly enjoyed the decadent pleasures of Shanghai in his early years, and Chiang’s name can be found on a Gang manual in its list of members. Whether or not he was an official member of the Green Gang, Chiang certainly had close associations with Gang members, especially the prominent Gang leader Huang Jin-rong.

During the Republican period, a significant faction within the Gang began to emerge in the French Concession. Led by the triumvirate of Huang Jin-rong, Du Yue-sheng and Zhang Xiao-lin, this faction dominated the illegal opium trade of Shanghai and gradually asserted control over various sub-groups of the Green Gang. Leading the Guomindang’s Northern Expedition in 1926 and needing every ally he could get, Chiang made overtures to the triumvirate. A key concession seems to have been the granting of Gang control over the future opium monopoly in Shanghai (it should be noted that the illicit opium trade remained a major source of income for the Guomindang even during the Second Sino-Japanese War). In February 1927, the triumvirate decided to throw its support behind the Guomindang, and committed its Gang members to the April 1927 coup against Chinese Communist Party members in Shanghai.

The Green Gang continued to be involved in Guomindang politics throughout the Nanjing decade of 1927-1937. With a prominence in Shanghai that any political figure could ill-afford to ignore, the Gang’s leaders enjoyed good relations with almost all Guomindang factions. The Green Gang was not particularly interested in factional squabbles - all they cared about was their position in Shanghai and their monopoly over the opium trade. The Gang also maintained a close relationship with the Guomindang’s intelligence apparatus, led by Dai Li, who had been a Gang member since the 1910s. By this point, the triumvirate had become one, with Du Yue-sheng exercising sole control over the Green Gang. Du, by all accounts, was not particularly anti-Japanese. However, the Green Gang had an vested interest in the preservation of the Guomindang position in Shanghai, with no one certain whether the Green Gang would be able to operate freely in a Japanese-occupied Shanghai. Weighing his bets, the Green Gang once again committed to the Guomindang side in 1937.

Initial Green Gang attempts to disrupt Japanese military activities were disorganised. During the Battle of Shanghai, Green Gang units would invariably scatter upon meeting regular Japanese forces, while an attempt to scuttle the Japanese battleship Suigumo, anchored at the Shanghai river-mouth, failed miserably. However, by September 1937, Green Gang units were reorganised and subjected to the control of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Operations Committee. Chaired by Chiang Kai-shek, with participation from Du Yue-sheng, Huang Jin-rong, Zhang Xiao-lin and other Green Gang leaders, the Committee formed the Special Movement Corps, a de-facto regular army unit of around eight thousand militiamen. Eager to become patriotic heroes, Green Gang leaders donned flashy military uniforms, only to see the Special Movement Corps collapse as Japanese forces assaulted their defensive section of the Suzhou Creek.

Chinese defeat in the Battle of Shanghai meant that the Green Gang’s network was now behind enemy lines. Without the leadership of Du Yue-sheng, who had moved to Hong Kong to assist Guomindang intelligence activities there, the Green Gang fragmented. Some continued to be involved with the Special Movement Corps, which was reformed into the Loyal and Patriotic Army, Dai Li’s private force of guerrillas. The Army conducted paramilitary activities and assassinations in the Yangtze Delta, while other Green Gang members assisted Guomindang clandestine activities in the urban landscape of Shanghai. However, some Green Gang sub-groups soon fell under Japanese influence. In 1938, Chang Yu-qing set up the Anqing League consisting of former Green Gang members that served Japanese interests, while Li Shi-qun, a former Green Gang member, became the head of the secret police for Wang Jing-wei’s collaborationist regime.

With Guomindang victory in the Second Sino-Japanese War, Du Yue-sheng returned to Shanghai. He arrived to find that the cohesion and the networks of the Green Gang had been irreversibly damaged. Furthermore, the Gang had become tainted by its sub-groups’ links with the Japanese and the collaborationists. Even Du was no longer as popular as before, with many believing he had abandoned Shanghai to its fate while he enjoyed a comfortable life in Hong Kong. By 1949, the Green Gang was a spent force, and most of its members abandoned Shanghai in favour of Hong Kong before the Communist takeover of Shanghai. With Du’s death in 1951, the fortunes of the Gang further declined, and from a height of a hundred thousand members, the Green Gang disappeared unceremoniously into the history books by the 1950s.