Chinese Freemasons
The Qing had captured Beijing in 1644, and numerous sworn brotherhoods (jiebai xiongdi)—acting in open struggle rather than as secret societies—continued armed resistance for a generation. Outlawed, these groups were small, independent, and without formal names, ceremonies or traditions.The first phase in the development of Chinese secret societies is represented by rudimentary gatherings of small numbers of people during the Kangxi era (1662-1722). These societies, like the earlier sworn brotherhoods, were perhaps inspired byRomance of Three Kingdoms(Sanguo yanyi) andOutlaws of the Marsh(Shuihuzhuan): romantic tales depicting sworn brotherhoods and blood oaths.Duringthe Yongzheng era (1723-1735), these brotherhoods gave way to societies known ashui, formed for the purpose of mutual aid. Still outlawed, they began to acquire formal names such as the Father-Mother Society in Fumuhui in 1728. Only fifteen or sixteen such societies appear on archival records before 1755. Ming Restoration was not mentioned in connection with any of them.1The Tiandihui
Tiandihui : Heaven and Earth Society
It is now generally accepted that the Tiendihui (Heaven and Earth Society)—one of almost 200 groups that sprung up after 1755—was founded sometime in 1761 at Guanyinting (Goddess of Mercy pavilion), Gaoxi township, in Zhangpu county, Zhangshui prefecture, Fujian Province, by Ti Xi, whose real name was Zheg Kai (d.1779 aged 68).Tiandihuiliterallymeans the society,hui, of the heaven,tian, and the earth,di. The practice of its members was to address heaven as their father and earth as their mother. There is also some suggestion that the Tiandihui had a close connection with the expansion of the Taoist religion.2The Tiandihui can be considered a form of poor man'shuiguan, or native-place association, for China's declassé migrants. The Huiguan traditionally provided meeting grounds, lodging, financial assistance and some regulation of trade to the financially stable elements of society, often under a formal corporate organization that managed communal property. In the case of the Tiandihui, both the founders and members came from the lowest and most marginal ranks of Chinese society, preoccupied with the issue of survival. The motive for rebellion was not political gain but personal profit, at a time when armed robbery and petty piracy were time-honoured survival strategies.3
Chinese name characters contain multiple levels of significance. The attempted assassination of Liu Bang, at the Hongmen Banquet (211 BCE), was immortalized in Romance of Three Kingdoms, an inspiration for early sworn brotherhoods. In this instance Hong signifies swan, goose or grand. The assassination attempt was disguised as a sword dance, swordplay being one of the "three uniques" of the Tang Dynasty.
The first Tiendihui uprising of 30 April 1768, when about eighty men attacked the western gate of Zhangpu, led to the Qing subsequently arresting 365 accused members. The records of confessions fail to mention Ti Xi or Teindihui by name. A second uprising the following year had similar results. Motivated by rebellion and self-interest, by 1786 the Teindihui had ceased to be exclusively a product of a mobile alien migrant population but had became assimilated into indigenous communities for mutual aid, collective violence and rebellion. Feuding was also frequently a local motivation.TheLin Shuangwen affair in Taiwan, sparked by a family feud started on 17 January 1787, occupying Zhanghua, Fengshan and Zhuluo and, lasting for almost a year, first brought the society to the attention of the Qing authorities. From Qing records we read of initiates sacrificing a cock before an incense altar, swearing their brotherhood in blood, crawling under crossed swords, and taking an oath.4Later reports included mixing chicken or cock blood with wine or ash, and sometimes blood from the initiate's middle finger, and swallowing it.Itshould be noted that anti-Manchu rhetoric, slogans or confessions are noticeably absent from any uprisings throughout this period, as are any mention of Zheng Chenggong, or evidence of the Xi Lu Legend.5"At the end of the eighteenth century the Tiendihui, at least as far as we now know from the documents at hand, was quite unlike the White Lotus or other religious sects whose customs and beliefs were grounded in sutras or scriptures. It's branches tended to spring up spontaneously, formed by leaders who were themselves often confused about the nature of their undertaking."6The importance of three
Sanhehui : San Hop Hwai :Three Harmonies Society
The Sanhehui (Three Harmonies Society), founded on 4 January 1812 by Yan Guiqiu as a mutual aid society in Guangdong province, and the Sandianhui (Three Dots Society) were just two whose names echoed the number three. In 1833 Li Jiangsi told Li Kui that the Three Dots Society was originally the Increase Brothers Society, which was called the Sanhehui (Three Unities or Triad Society). These, and many other groups, lead uprisings ranging from armies of a reported 2,000 to gangs of less than a dozen, motivated generally by hopes of personal profit. There was no centralized leadership or planning to any of these groups, or their uprisings.Independent of purpose and action, these groups shared a common blood oath, password and phrase: "Kaikou buliben; chushou bulisan". The significance of the number three was stressed by the password "three, eight, twenty-one" (sanba nianyi) which had replaced the earlier password "five dot twenty-one".It is the commonality of threes in the various societies names that led English administrators to label the societies Triads. Many of the tongs or hui being little more than criminal gangs, few English or Chinese administrators distinguished between the criminal groups and the mutual benefit societies. Depending on the economic climate, the distinction may have been moot.Ming restoration?The first written evidence of Ming restorationism dates from 1800 when the phrase "Restore the Ming House" was part of an oath taken by members of Qiu Daqin's Tiandihui society in Guangdong. In 1811 Huang Biao changed his name to Zhu Biao, claiming to be a scion of the Ming dynasty, but like earlier slogans, this was more a rallying cry than a goal. Ma Shaotang's 1831 poem : "When the red flag is unfurled, the heroes will come, sons of Heaven from outside will come to restore the Ming dynasty" had an emotional appeal but was not backed by any concrete programme.
"Histories that espouse Ming Loyalism as the raison d'être of the Tiendihui tend to be based on internally generated sources and, in particular, on its creation myth, the "Xi Lu Legend."7
The Tiandihui was not visibly anti-Manchu at the time of its
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