Chinese Freemasons
The sodality of Freemasonry that evolved out of the European Enlightenment bears no resemblance, other than the name, to another society—one that finds its origins in Southern China. Styling itself in English as The Chinese Freemasons, this body might be better termed the Vast Family (Hongmen) or Fine Public Court (Chee Kong Tong).
THE STUDY OF the early history of Chinese secular and religious societies—once obscured by conflicting legends and politically motivated myth-making—has been greatly aided by the opening of the National Palace Museum Archives in Taipei and the First Historical Archives in Beijing in 1978. The resulting wealth of information has clearly demonstrated that at least two previously-held beliefs about these societies are entirely wrong.
Dispelling the myths
Before the Chinese Freemasons was a mutual aid society and the Kuomintang (Quo Min Tong) of Taiwan was a political party, there was the Hung Moon (Hongmen) and the Chee Kung Tong. Before them was the Tiandihui. And before that... there was a legend.
There are two principal mistaken beliefs about the Tiandihui, the claimed predecessor to the Hongmen. The first, that it originated in Shaolin Temple, dates from its earliest history. The second, that the Tiandihui was either anti-Manchu or proto-revolutionary, can be credited to Dr. Sun Yat-sen and his fellow revolutionaries in the years leading up to the 1911 Revolution (Xinhai Revolution, 10 October 1911 - 12 February 1912). There is also a third belief—easily dispelled— that there is a connection or common source between these mutual aid societies and regular Freemasonry.
Before the Tiandihui
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 by Romance of Three Kingdoms (Sanguo yanyi) and Outlaws of the Marsh (Shuihuzhuan): romantic tales involving sworn brotherhoods and blood oaths.
During the Yongzheng era (1723-1735), these brotherhoods gave way to societies known as hui, 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.
The Tiandihui
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).
Tiandihui literally means 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.2 The Tiandihui can be considered a form of poor man's huiguan, 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.
The first Tiendihui uprising of 30 April 1768, when about eighty men attacked the western gate of Zhangpu, lead 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.
The Lin 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. Later reports included mixing chicken or cock blood with wine or ash, and sometimes blood from the initiate's middle finger, and swallowing it.
It should 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.
"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."
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