Shanghai Gang

Author: Brian Martin (Australia)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-09-01
Features: This book analyzes the role of the Triads as a significant factor in the social and political history of Shanghai in the first half of the 20th century. Indeed, the Triads in Shanghai provide a useful example of the research methods of secret societies, which are often considered essentially part of traditional societies, yet can actively respond to and seize the opportunities offered by modern urban Chinese society. In the 1920s, through the establishment of a criminal syndicate system, the Triads further provided an example of how such organizations successfully transformed themselves into a heterogeneous factor among modern Chinese residents adapting to treaty port regulations. In this regard, the study of the Shanghai Triads in this book may also be beneficial for understanding the complex processes of social and political change in 20th-century China.