DOCSLIB.ORG

HONG KONG and SOUTH CHINA: a BRIEF CHRONOLOGY (From Various Sources)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
HONG KONG and SOUTH CHINA: a BRIEF CHRONOLOGY (From Various Sources) HONG KONG AND SOUTH CHINA: A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY (from various sources) 214 BCE Guangzhou established in the Northern Pearl River delta and walled by Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE). Area becomes a center for industry and trade. Nauyue kings of Western Han dynasty rule there (206 BCE-24 CE; tomb in Guangzhou). By Tang Dynasty (618-907 CCE): Guangzhou is international port, controlling almost all of China's spice trade amid activities of maritime coast. 12th –15th C. Southern Sung (1127-1280) and Yuan Dynasties (1280-1363) Hakka (guest) peoples move southward and settle in marginal areas. Guangzhou less accessible to Southern Sung capital than other centers in Fukien. 1368-1644 Ming Dynasty: consolidation of Chinese Rule. Guangzhou continues to develop, particularly known for silk, crafts and trade. Local intellectuals explore Cantonese culture. After 1431, however, China cuts off trade and contact with the world. 1513 Portuguese Jorge Alvares reaches mouth of the Pearl river on board a rented Burmese vessel and realizes he has located "Cathay" building upon a Portuguese route around Africa, India and Indonesia. In 1517 Tomas Pires, ambassador from Portugal, arrives with fleet in Canton. After waiting two years, meets the emperor in Nanjing, but treaties fail in Beijing when the Emperor Chang Te dies. After further misunderstandings on land and a sea battle with the fleet, relations deteriorate. Pires and his mission die in prison. 1540 Portuguese settle at Liampo on the Pearl River and begin lucrative trade with the Japanese, whom they find by accident in 1542. Liampo sacked by Chinese in 1549 and Portuguese retreat to the island of Sanchuang. With negotiations, Portuguese gain annual visiting rights to Canton. 1555 settlement in Lampakkau, and in 1557, Macau. 16th Century Macau grows to 5-6,000, about 15% Portuguese males; Chinese, unless Christian, may not spend the night there. The original coastal fishing Fukienese are joined by many Cantonese, although the city acts primarily as a trading post. Through it, sweet potatoes, peanuts (and their oil), green beans, chilis, pineapple, papaya and shrimp paste introduced from rest of the Portuguese empire; tea, tangerines, celery enter Europe. 1601 Dutch appear at Macau; enmities grow until Dutch fleet defeated in 1622 (many slaves liberated). 1635 Convention of Goa allows English into Portuguese ports ( Portuguese worry that Chinese will confuse them with the Dutch, but Chinese appear not to care at all). 1636-40 Portuguese trading empire collapses: Japanese expel most traders and eliminate Christian supporters; Malacca falls to the Dutch, etc. Macau remains the only residential European outpost for trade with China until 1841. 1644-1911 Qing dynasty; Manchus rule in Beijing. After 1685, China opened to foreign trade. 1757 Foreign trade restricted to Guangzhou. Coasts are cleared to control trade -- Hakka move inland. In 18th century Serious trade imbalance as Europeans pay for silk, tea and other goods with silver, while Chinese buy little. British find opium as a solution. Between 1729 and 1832, British sales of opium rise from 200 chests to 23,570 per year. By 1784 Americans and British compete for control of opium sales to China. Late 18th century: Triad societies emerge in opposition to Qing in South China; also involved with illicit activities. 2 1839-1842 Opium Wars: China tries to ban the trade and destroying all opium in Guangzhou. Britain wins the right to sell opium. Hong Kong claimed by Britain in 1841 and Guangzhou forced open. 1842 Treaty of Nanjing -- Hong Kong "legally" British. Population reaches 33,000 in 1850. 1847-1864 Hong Xiuquan develops an amalgam of social reform and Christianity in Guangzhou which will underpin the Taiping rebellion and his coronation as Emperor in Nanjing. Although most fighting is not in Guangdong, many displaced Hakka are involved and there are bloody battles there in which 500,000-600,000 die. In the aftermath, emigration to the U.S. from this area intensifies. 1856-60 Second Opium War; Kowloon ceded to Britain by Treaty of Peking, 1860. Foreigners enter Guangzhou for first time (by attack) in 1859. 1865 Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank formed. 1870 Population of South China reaches its highpoint. 1887 Macau given legal existence in a treaty which requires controls of the opium trade in both Hong Kong and Macau. But by 1890 Population of Hong Kong reaches 198,000, less than 5% non-Chinese. 1894-5 China loses war against Japan. Other powers claim territorial concessions. 1898 Britain leases HK New Territories from China for 100 years -- 423 villages with 100,000 inhabitants. 1900-01 Boxer Uprising in China against Western powers, crushed by international force. Disturbances in HK. 1911 Manchu dynasty abolished. Republic proclaimed by southerner Sun Yat-Sen in 1912. 1912 HK University founded by South Asians. City Pop. 436,000. Kowloon-Guangzhou railroad opens. Various strikes in HK and Guangzhou show integration with Chinese changes. 1920 Chinese Communist party formed. Civil War begins by mid-20s 1930 HK Population reaches 840,000, 20,000 non-Chinese. Some social unrest, including 1925 general strike. 1932 Japanese occupy Manchuria beginning aggressive conquest through China. By 1938 Japanese take Guangzhou and set up puppet government in Nanjing after brutal massacre there. By 1940 HK Pop. 1.6 million, 1941 Japanese conquer the city in 1941, interning British and trying to divide local populations. Under harsh conditions, population drops to 600,000 by 1945. Despite discussion of alternatives, HK returns to British sovereignty in 1946 under Governor Mark Young. 1945-9 Communist party triumphs in Mainland China. Trade closed between Guangdong and Hong Kong. Capital moves from Shanghai to Hong Kong. 1950 HK Population reaches 2,000,000. 1950s Public housing program begins after riots in Kowloon, 1953, while China fights U.S. in Korean War and various fires in squatter settlements around the city in areas like Shep Kip Mei. 1956 disturbances in HK as well. 1950s New life in HK film industry through Mandarin production and stars who have left Shanghai and other areas. Cantonese films also grow. HK industry grows as well in textiles, plastics and other areas. 3 1960 Population of Hong Kong reaches 3,000,000, strong flow from Guangdong. Hong Kong taking shape as production center rather than entrepot for trade. China suffers from famine and other results of failed Five- Year Plan in years of Natural Disasters. Up to 20 million people die. 1966-7 Riots in Hong Kong and beginnings of Cultural Revolution in China to ensure Maoism without opposition. First HK riots (1966) caused by social conditions and government distance; Cultural Revolution in China fuels 1967 events and repercussions in Macau as well. British government begins to take stronger interest in housing, transportation and related issues. 1968 Broadcast television arrives in HK, replacing cable that has been there for nearly a decade. 1973 U.S. Recognizes Mainland China; first New Town completed in HK. 1970s Cantonese cinema replaces Mandarin, fuelded by New Wave Directors from television. 1974-6 Gang of Four comes to power in China. Chiang Kai-Shek dies. Zhou En-Lai dies. Mao Ze-Dong dies. By 1978 Deng Xiao-ping takes control in China; foreign tourists admitted and capitalist growth reconsidered. HK squatters estimated at 600,000. 1982 Shenzen Special Economic Zone opened. HK population tops 5 million. 57% of Guangzhou's exports go through HK and Macau. 7,000,000 live in Guangzhou and 8 surrounding counties; 2.05 live in the city; half have relatives or other connections abroad. Total population of Guangdong above 60,000,000 (2000). 1982-4 China and Britain discuss future of Hong Kong. Treaty signed 1984.; Hong Kong elects first Legislative Council in Hong Kong. 1989 Tienanmen Square massacre in Beijing: concern with future of Hong Kong expressed in political activism and economic constriction as well as emigration and resettlement in Canada, the U.S and Australia. Britain offers passports to some. 1990s Government begins plan to privatize housing in estates, encouraging people to buy their apartments even as private property market becomes on of the most expensive in the world. 1996 -97 Chinese delegates elect Shanghai-born Tung Chee Wa as New Chief executive; many Chinese in civil service will retain their roles. 1997 Hong Kong becomes part of China. Citizenship and condition of non-Chinese (including 20,000 South Asians) in limbo. HK Special Administrative Region (SAR) status expires in 2047. 1997-9 Series of economic and social problems hit Hong Kong including both regional economic collapse, which hits Hong Kong lenders and local problems such as tourism slump, avian flu, and governance dilemmas amid Asian crisis. 1999 Macau rejoins China. 2000+ Increased discussion of Pearl River Delta Development. Cities like Shenzhen surpass HK in population (2005 estimates range from 2 million formal citizens to 10 million, including illegals). Other cities like Dongguan and Foshan emerge as manufacturing centers, passing HK and Guangzhou, which booms as a capital despite restrictions from the state. Cities compete in various forms of social, cultural and 4 physical development while building new infrastructures. 2000+ Hong Kong recovers economically, although wary of influence of Shanghai. Government warns of problems of criticizing mainland. 2002/3 HK controversies erupt over immigrants and family reunification, over right of appeal and decision- making by China. 2003 SARS moves to HK from mainland causing quarantine of the city and serious economic losses. On July 1, 500,000 march against proposed law on sedition that threatens HK freedom of speech. 2004-5 Tung Chee-Wah resigns on March 10, 2005. He is replaced in June by Donald Tsang, career civil servant and Chief Secretary for Administration, after an extremely limited election.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Guangzhou-Hongkong Strike, 1925-1926
    The Guangzhou-Hongkong Strike, 1925-1926 Hongkong Workers in an Anti-Imperialist Movement Robert JamesHorrocks Submitted in accordancewith the requirementsfor the degreeof PhD The University of Leeds Departmentof East Asian Studies October 1994 The candidateconfirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where referencehas been made to the work of others. 11 Abstract In this thesis, I study the Guangzhou-Hongkong strike of 1925-1926. My analysis differs from past studies' suggestions that the strike was a libertarian eruption of mass protest against British imperialism and the Hongkong Government, which, according to these studies, exploited and oppressed Chinese in Guangdong and Hongkong. I argue that a political party, the CCP, led, organised, and nurtured the strike. It centralised political power in its hands and tried to impose its revolutionary visions on those under its control. First, I describe how foreign trade enriched many people outside the state. I go on to describe how Chinese-run institutions governed Hongkong's increasingly settled non-elite Chinese population. I reject ideas that Hongkong's mixed-class unions exploited workers and suggest that revolutionaries failed to transform Hongkong society either before or during the strike. My thesis shows that the strike bureaucracy was an authoritarian power structure; the strike's unprecedented political demands reflected the CCP's revolutionary political platform, which was sometimes incompatible with the interests of Hongkong's unions. I suggestthat the revolutionary elite's goals were not identical to those of the unions it claimed to represent: Hongkong unions preserved their autonomy in the face of revolutionaries' attempts to control Hongkong workers.
    [Show full text]
  • Modern Hong Kong
    Modern Hong Kong Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History Modern Hong Kong Steve Tsang Subject: China, Hong Kong, Macao, and/or Taiwan Online Publication Date: Feb 2017 DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.280 Abstract and Keywords Hong Kong entered its modern era when it became a British overseas territory in 1841. In its early years as a Crown Colony, it suffered from corruption and racial segregation but grew rapidly as a free port that supported trade with China. It took about two decades before Hong Kong established a genuinely independent judiciary and introduced the Cadet Scheme to select and train senior officials, which dramatically improved the quality of governance. Until the Pacific War (1941–1945), the colonial government focused its attention and resources on the small expatriate community and largely left the overwhelming majority of the population, the Chinese community, to manage themselves, through voluntary organizations such as the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals. The 1940s was a watershed decade in Hong Kong’s history. The fall of Hong Kong and other European colonies to the Japanese at the start of the Pacific War shattered the myth of the superiority of white men and the invincibility of the British Empire. When the war ended the British realized that they could not restore the status quo ante. They thus put an end to racial segregation, removed the glass ceiling that prevented a Chinese person from becoming a Cadet or Administrative Officer or rising to become the Senior Member of the Legislative or the Executive Council, and looked into the possibility of introducing municipal self-government.
    [Show full text]
  • The RTHK Coverage of the 2004 Legislative Council Election Compared with the Commercial Broadcaster
    Mainstream or Alternative? The RTHK Coverage of the 2004 Legislative Council Election Compared with the Commercial Broadcaster so Ming Hang A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Government and Public Administration © The Chinese University of Hong Kong June 2005 The Chinese University of Hong Kong holds the copyright of this thesis. Any person(s) intending to use a part or whole of the materials in the thesis in a proposed publication must seek copyright release from the Dean of the Graduate School. 卜二,A館書圆^^ m 18 1 KK j|| Abstract Theoretically, public broadcaster and commercial broadcaster are set up and run by two different mechanisms. Commercial broadcaster, as a proprietary organization, is believed to emphasize on maximizing the profit while the public broadcaster, without commercial considerations, is usually expected to achieve some objectives or goals instead of making profits. Therefore, the contribution by public broadcaster to the society is usually expected to be different from those by commercial broadcaster. However, the public broadcasters are in crisis around the world because of their unclear role in actual practice. Many politicians claim that they cannot find any difference between the public broadcasters and the commercial broadcasters and thus they asserted to cut the budget of public broadcasters or even privatize all public broadcasters. Having this unstable situation of the public broadcasting, the role or performance of the public broadcasters in actual practice has drawn much attention from both policy-makers and scholars. Empirical studies are divergent on whether there is difference between public and commercial broadcaster in actual practice.
    [Show full text]
  • The Unknown History of New York City's Chinatown: a Story of Crime During the Years of American Prohibition Kathryn Christense
    The Unknown History of New York City’s Chinatown: A Story of Crime During the Years of American Prohibition Kathryn Christensen: Undergraduate of History and Asian Studies at SUNY New Paltz Popular interpretations of immigrants in New York City during the era of Prohibition have looked at it through the lens of European immigrants. Groups such as the Italian Mafia, and Irish gangs in New York City are a well-rehearsed story within the history of Prohibition. However, Europeans were not the only immigrants that began to flood into the ports of New York City during the early 20th century. Within New York City’s Chinatown there was the emergence of a vast network of organized criminal activity, along with various raids revealing rice wine moonshine and other violations of the 18th amendment, just like their European counterparts. Though largely overlooked in the historiography, this paper argues that Chinatown,and the Chinese in New York City played an integral role in the Prohibition era United States. In order to understand the Chinese population that lived in the United States during the early 1900s, it is important to lay the framework for why they first came to the United States. Like many other immigrant groups that immigrated during this time, many Chinese came over to escape a difficult political and economic climate. In China, the Opium war left the Chinese defeated by the British Empire leaving its reputation as the protectorate and superpower of the East shattered. This was accompanied by famines and floods across the nation resulting in economic catastrophe which further resulted in civil war and several uprisings, most notably the Taiping Rebellion.1 The unstable environment in China caused several Chinese to flee the country.
    [Show full text]
  • Hong Kong's Lost Right to Self-Determination: a Denial of Due Process in the United Nations
    NYLS Journal of International and Comparative Law Volume 13 Number 1 Article 7 1992 HONG KONG'S LOST RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION: A DENIAL OF DUE PROCESS IN THE UNITED NATIONS Patricia A. Dagati Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/ journal_of_international_and_comparative_law Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Dagati, Patricia A. (1992) "HONG KONG'S LOST RIGHT TO SELF-DETERMINATION: A DENIAL OF DUE PROCESS IN THE UNITED NATIONS," NYLS Journal of International and Comparative Law: Vol. 13 : No. 1 , Article 7. Available at: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/journal_of_international_and_comparative_law/vol13/iss1/ 7 This Notes and Comments is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@NYLS. It has been accepted for inclusion in NYLS Journal of International and Comparative Law by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@NYLS. HONG KONG'S LOST RIGHT TO SELF- DETERMINATION: A DENIAL OF DuE PROCESS IN THE UNITED NATIONS I. INTRODUCTION The end of the Cold War and the resolution of the Persian Gulf Crisis have enhanced the status of the United Nations from simply a forum for discussion to an international peacekeeping organization capable of coordinated action. In accord with its new role, the 46th United Nations General Assembly in September, 1991, welcomed seven new member states, whose admission would have been unthinkable during the days of the Cold War; namely, the two Koreas, the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and the two Pacific Island nations (previously Trusts under the U.N. Charter) of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.' One hopes that the entrance into the world community of these nations, so long deprived of their right to self- determination by the insecurities and suspicions of the Cold War, represents the end of the dominance of outmoded historical animosities and divisions over the right of a people to determine their own social, economic and political status.
    [Show full text]
  • Annex 1 26 April 2021 Details of Compulsory Testing Notice A. Residential Building
    Annex 1 26 April 2021 Details of Compulsory Testing Notice A. Residential Building (including building for both commercial and residential uses) with one or more new preliminary positive cases 1. Any person who had been present at any of the below specified premises for more than two hours at any time during the period from April 13 to April 26, 2021 (including but not limited to residents, visitors and workers), has to undergo testing by April 28, 2021. If persons subject to compulsory testing have previously undergone testing between April 24 and April 26, 2021, they would be taken to have complied with the requirements set out in the compulsory testing notice. (a) Block 4, Bamboo Mansions, Phase 12, Whampoa Garden, 3 Tak Hong Street, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong (b) The Royal Garden, 69 Mody Road, Yau Tsim Mong, Kowloon, Hong Kong (c) Tower 7, Ocean Pride, 100 Tai Ho Road, Tsuen Wan, New Territories, Hong Kong B. Others 1. Any person who had been present at any of the below specified premises for more than two hours at any time during the period from April 13 to April 26, 2021 (including but not limited to full-time, part-time and relief staff, students and visitors), has to undergo testing by April 28, 2021. If persons subject to compulsory testing who had been present at the specified premises from (c) to (v) choose to undergo testing using the specimen bottles distributed by the Centre for Health Protection, they have to return the specimen bottle with the sample by April 30, 2021.
    [Show full text]
  • List of Recognized Villages Under the New Territories Small House Policy
    LIST OF RECOGNIZED VILLAGES UNDER THE NEW TERRITORIES SMALL HOUSE POLICY Islands North Sai Kung Sha Tin Tuen Mun Tai Po Tsuen Wan Kwai Tsing Yuen Long Village Improvement Section Lands Department September 2009 Edition 1 RECOGNIZED VILLAGES IN ISLANDS DISTRICT Village Name District 1 KO LONG LAMMA NORTH 2 LO TIK WAN LAMMA NORTH 3 PAK KOK KAU TSUEN LAMMA NORTH 4 PAK KOK SAN TSUEN LAMMA NORTH 5 SHA PO LAMMA NORTH 6 TAI PENG LAMMA NORTH 7 TAI WAN KAU TSUEN LAMMA NORTH 8 TAI WAN SAN TSUEN LAMMA NORTH 9 TAI YUEN LAMMA NORTH 10 WANG LONG LAMMA NORTH 11 YUNG SHUE LONG LAMMA NORTH 12 YUNG SHUE WAN LAMMA NORTH 13 LO SO SHING LAMMA SOUTH 14 LUK CHAU LAMMA SOUTH 15 MO TAT LAMMA SOUTH 16 MO TAT WAN LAMMA SOUTH 17 PO TOI LAMMA SOUTH 18 SOK KWU WAN LAMMA SOUTH 19 TUNG O LAMMA SOUTH 20 YUNG SHUE HA LAMMA SOUTH 21 CHUNG HAU MUI WO 2 22 LUK TEI TONG MUI WO 23 MAN KOK TSUI MUI WO 24 MANG TONG MUI WO 25 MUI WO KAU TSUEN MUI WO 26 NGAU KWU LONG MUI WO 27 PAK MONG MUI WO 28 PAK NGAN HEUNG MUI WO 29 TAI HO MUI WO 30 TAI TEI TONG MUI WO 31 TUNG WAN TAU MUI WO 32 WONG FUNG TIN MUI WO 33 CHEUNG SHA LOWER VILLAGE SOUTH LANTAU 34 CHEUNG SHA UPPER VILLAGE SOUTH LANTAU 35 HAM TIN SOUTH LANTAU 36 LO UK SOUTH LANTAU 37 MONG TUNG WAN SOUTH LANTAU 38 PUI O KAU TSUEN (LO WAI) SOUTH LANTAU 39 PUI O SAN TSUEN (SAN WAI) SOUTH LANTAU 40 SHAN SHEK WAN SOUTH LANTAU 41 SHAP LONG SOUTH LANTAU 42 SHUI HAU SOUTH LANTAU 43 SIU A CHAU SOUTH LANTAU 44 TAI A CHAU SOUTH LANTAU 3 45 TAI LONG SOUTH LANTAU 46 TONG FUK SOUTH LANTAU 47 FAN LAU TAI O 48 KEUNG SHAN, LOWER TAI O 49 KEUNG SHAN,
    [Show full text]
  • Preliminary Concepts for the New Territories North Development
    Preliminary Concepts for the New Territories North Development 02 OverviewOOvveveerrvieeww 04 ExistingEExExixisxixisssttitinng CConditionsonondddiittioonnsns 07 OpportunitiesOOppppppoortunnittiiieeses & CoCConstraintsoonnssstttrraaiainntnntss 08 OverallOOvveveerall PPlanninglananniiinnngg ApAApproachespppprrooaoacaachchchehhesess 16 OverallOOvveeraall PPlPlanninglalaannnnnniiinnngg & DesignDDeesessign FrameworkFrarammeeewwoworrkk 20 BroadBBrBroroooaadd LandLaLandnd UUsUseses CoCConceptsoonnccecepeptptss 28 NextNNeexexxt StepStStept p Overview Background 1.4 The Study adopts a comprehensive and integrated approach to formulate the optimal scale of development 1.1 According to the latest population projection, Hong in the NTN. It has explored the potential of building new Kong’s population would continue to grow, from 7.24 communities and vibrant employment and business million in 2014 to 8.22 million by 2043. There is a nodes in the area to contribute to the long-term social continuous demand for land for economic development and economic development of Hong Kong. to sustain our competitiveness. There are also increasing community aspirations for a better living environment. 1.5 The Study is a preliminary feasibility study which has examined the baseline conditions of the NTN covering 1.2 To maintain a steady land supply, the Government is about 5,300 hectares (ha) of land (Plan 1) to identify looking into various initiatives, including exploring further potential development areas (PDAs) and formulate an development opportunities in the
    [Show full text]
  • TRIADS Peter Yam Tat-Wing *
    116TH INTERNATIONAL TRAINING COURSE VISITING EXPERTS’ PAPERS TRIADS Peter Yam Tat-wing * I. INTRODUCTION This paper will draw heavily on the experience gained by law enforcement Triad societies are criminal bodies in the HKSAR in tackling the triad organisations and are unlawful under the problem. Emphasis will be placed on anti- Laws of Hong Kong. Triads have become a triad law and Police enforcement tactics. matter of concern not only in Hong Kong, Background knowledge on the structure, but also in other places where there is a beliefs and rituals practised by the triads sizable Chinese community. Triads are is important in order to gain an often described as organized secret understanding of the spread of triads and societies or Chinese Mafia, but these are how triads promote illegal activities by simplistic and inaccurate descriptions. resorting to triad myth. With this in mind Nowadays, triads can more accurately be the paper will examine the following issues: described as criminal gangs who resort to triad myth to promote illegal activities. • History and Development of Triads • Triad Hierarchy and Structure For more than one hundred years triad • Characteristics of Triads activities have been noted in the official law • Differences between Triads, Mafia and police reports of Hong Kong. We have and Yakuza a long history of special Ordinances and • Common Crimes Committed by related legislation to deal with the problem. Triads The first anti-triad legislation was enacted • Current Triad Situation in Hong in 1845. The Hong Kong Special Kong Administrative Region (HKSAR) has, by • Anti-triad Laws in Hong Kong far, the longest history, amongst other • Police Enforcement Strategy jurisdictions, in tackling the problem of • International Cooperation triads and is the only jurisdiction in the world where specific anti-triad law exists.
    [Show full text]
  • Messianism and the Heaven and Earth Society: Approaches to Heaven and Earth Society Texts
    Messianism and the Heaven and Earth Society: Approaches to Heaven and Earth Society Texts Barend J. ter Haar During the last decade or so, social historians in China and the United States seem to have reached a new consensus on the origins of the Heaven and Earth Society (Tiandihui; "society" is the usual translation for hui, which, strictly speaking, means "gathering"; for the sake of brevity, the phenomenon is referred to below with the common alternative name "Triad," a translation of sänke hui). They view the Triads äs voluntary brotherhoods organized for mutual support, which later developed into a successful predatory tradition. Supporters of this Interpretation react against an older view, based on a literal reading of the Triad foundation myth, according to which the Triads evolved from pro-Ming groups during the early Qing dynasty. The new Interpretation relies on an intimate knowledge of the official documents that were produced in the course of perse- cuting these brotherhoods on the mainland and on Taiwan since the late eigh- teenth Century. The focus of this recent research has been on specific events, resulting in a more detailed factual knowledge of the phenomenon than before (Cai 1987; Qin 1988: 1—86; Zhuang 1981 provides an excellent historiographical survey). Understandably, contemporary social historians have hesitated to tackle the large number of texts produced by the Triads because previous historians have misinterpreted them and because they are füll of obscure religious Information and mythological references. Nevertheless, the very fact that these texts were produced (or copied) continuously from the first years of the nineteenth Century —or earlier—until the late 1950s, and served äs the basis for Triad initiation rituals throughout this period, leaves little doubt that they were important to the members of these groups.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Exclusion and Tong Wars in Portland, Oregon
    Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 12-2019 More Than Hatchetmen: Chinese Exclusion and Tong Wars in Portland, Oregon Brenda M. Horrocks Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Horrocks, Brenda M., "More Than Hatchetmen: Chinese Exclusion and Tong Wars in Portland, Oregon" (2019). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 7671. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/7671 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MORE THAN HATCHETMEN: CHINESE EXCLUSION AND TONG WARS IN PORTLAND, OREGON by Brenda M. Horrocks A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in History Approved: ______________________ ____________________ Colleen O’Neill, Ph.D. Angela Diaz, Ph.D. Major Professor Committee Member ______________________ ____________________ Li Guo, Ph.D. Richard S. Inouye, Ph.D. Committee Member Vice Provost for Graduate Studies UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 2019 ii Copyright © Brenda Horrocks All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT More Than Hatchetmen: Chinese Exclusion and Tong Wars in Portland, Oregon by Brenda M. Horrocks, Master of Arts Utah State University, 2019 Major Professor: Dr. Colleen O’Neill Department: History During the middle to late nineteenth century, Chinese immigration hit record levels in the United States. This led to the growth of Chinatowns across the West Coast.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Organized Crime in Latin America
    Department of Justice Weapons and money seized by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Chinese Organized Crime in Latin America BY R. EVAN ELLis n June 2010, the sacking of Secretary of Justice Romeu Tuma Júnior for allegedly being an agent of the Chinese mafia rocked Brazilian politics.1 Three years earlier, in July 2007, the Ihead of the Colombian national police, General Oscar Naranjo, made the striking procla- mation that “the arrival of the Chinese and Russian mafias in Mexico and all of the countries in the Americas is more than just speculation.”2 Although, to date, the expansion of criminal ties between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Latin America has lagged behind the exponen- tial growth of trade and investment between the two regions, the incidents mentioned above high- light that criminal ties between the regions are becoming an increasingly problematic by-product of expanding China–Latin America interactions, with troubling implications for both regions. Although data to quantify the character and extent of such ties are lacking, public evidence suggests that criminal activity spanning the two regions is principally concentrated in four cur- rent domains and two potentially emerging areas. The four groupings of current criminal activ- ity between China and Latin America are extortion of Chinese communities in Latin America by groups with ties to China, trafficking in persons from China through Latin America into the United States or Canada, trafficking in narcotics and precursor chemicals, and trafficking in con- traband goods. The two emerging areas are arms trafficking and money laundering. It is important to note that this analysis neither implicates the Chinese government in such ties nor absolves it, although a consideration of incentives suggests that it is highly unlikely that the government would be involved in any systematic fashion.
    [Show full text]