Heaven and Earth Society Tiāndìhuì 天地会
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◀ Health, Nutrition, and Food Comprehensive index starts in volume 5, page 2667. Heaven and Earth Society Tiāndìhuì 天地会 The Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society) an itinerant monk, it subsequently took shape as a multi- was one of several voluntary associations surname fraternity, transmitted throughout southern that came into being during the Qing dynasty China by an emigrant society for the purpose of creating, (1644– 1912), but its origins and raison d’etre through rituals of sworn brotherhood, pseudo-kinship groups to provide sojourners, cut off from the social safety have been a subject of ongoing debate among net of their families, with a means of mutual interaction. scholars. Some regard it as a mutual aid orga- Once formed, these societies figured in the survival strat- nization formed by China’s lower classes; oth- egies of China’s lowest classes in ways that combined ers see it as a political order founded by Ming protection and predation. While the rank and file, on loyalists to overthrow the Qing. learning secrets in the form of passwords and coded be- havior, obtained immediate brotherhood, their leaders quickly learned to profit from the selling of membership and to mobilize their units for everything from robbery he Heaven and Earth Society, also known as to feuding to occasional rebellion. Tiandihui (TDH), was one of several voluntary This view of the society as a product of China’s associations or brotherhoods, characterized by eighteenth-century demography stands in marked con- ceremonial initiation rituals in the form of blood oaths, trast to that of the Ming Loyalist scholars, who saw it as which appeared during the Qing dynasty (1644– 1912). a product of China’s seventeenth-century politics, the These associations, or hui, were organized for a variety of goal of which was to overthrow the alien Qing dynasty purposes. Understanding their true nature and tracking in the hope of restoring the defeated Ming dynasty (1368– them through time and space have challenged those who 1644). The story embedded in the society’s creation myth have come into contact with them. Often, in the absence recounts how once-loyal monks of the Shaolin monas- of real information, they have become a tabula rasa onto tery, after rendering aid to the throne, were betrayed by which different groups have imprinted differing under- the Qing and subsequently sought revenge against them standings of their origins and purpose. Today, the TDH’s through the founding of the society, which they dedi- origin is still a subject of dispute by scholars, who regard it cated to the dynasty’s overthrow; Ming Loyalist schol- as either a mutual aid or Ming Loyalist organization. ars thus tend to view the society as having been created The mutual aid view, made possible by the recent by Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga) or other loyalists of the opening of Qing dynasty archives in both Beijing and seventeenth century for the purpose of overthrowing the Taiwan, suggests that the TDH emerged around 1762, in Qing. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centu- Fujian Province, in response to the demographic and eco- ries, society materials, in the form of manuals, registers, nomic crises of the late eighteenth century. Founded by and insignia, unearthed in China and Southeast Asia, 1013 © 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC T 1014 Berkshire Encyclopedia of China 宝 库 山 中 华 全 书 gave rise to disputes among them about the meaning of Society, and the Hong League. Despite Communist ef- the legend and the historical counterparts of its fictional forts to suppress it during the 1950s and 1960s, today, characters. known as Triads, the society is experiencing resurgence To complicate matters even more, Westerners, espe- in the realm of worldwide Mafia and organized crime, cially colonial officials of the nineteenth century, imbued with tentacles broadly extended throughout the global with a consciousness of fraternal orders and clandestine economy. organizations, regarded the TDH as a Chinese secret Dian MURRAY society—the term Triads eventually came into use to re- fer to such secret groups, and is often used throughout Asia today as a synonym for the TDH in general—and Further Reading preoccupied themselves with discussions of whether it Booth, M. (1990). The Triads the growing global threat from shared a common origin with the Freemasons and other the Chinese criminal societies. New York: St. Martin’s European mystery cults. Press. Qing officials, immediately perceiving the TDH as a Murray, D. (with Baoqi, Qin). (1994). The origins of the threat to society, condemned it in 1792 as a rebellious order Tiandihui: The Chinese Triads in legend and history. and engaged in repeated witch hunts against alleged mem- Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Ownby, D. (1996). Brotherhoods and secret societies in early bers, thereby giving rise to self-fulfilling prophecies, as and mid-Qing China. Stanford, CA: Stanford Univer- members, squeezed by persecution, had little choice but to sity Press. rise up, which they did repeatedly, especially in conjunc- Ownby, D., & Heidhues, M. S. (Eds.). (1993). “Secret so- tion with the Taiping Rebellion and the 1911 revolution. cieties” reconsidered: Perspectives on the social history Members also responded to government persecution of modern South China and Southeast Asia. Armonk, by going undercover and changing the organization’s NY: M. E. Sharpe. name so that, depending on locality, the TDH could be Posner, G. L. (1988). Warlords of crime: Chinese secret also known as the Three Dot Society, the Three Unities societies—the new Mafia. New York: Penguin Books. Approach heaven with a single stride. 一步登天 Yí bù dēng tiān Hebei Province ▶ © 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC.