ABSTRACT
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 sanhe hui). They view the Triads as 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 persecuting these brotherhoods on the mainland and on Taiwan since the late eighteenth 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).
