Dian Murray - The Origins of the Tiandihui: The Chinese Triads in Legend and History

Yan Yans first statement was made in Fujian and forwarded to the emperor by Imperial Commissioner and Grand Secretary Fukangan, along with his own observations. The memorial, rescripted on May 19, 1788 (QL 53/4/14), and originally published in the Qinding pingding Taiwan jile , ke ben , juan 58, appears in Tiandihui, 1: 96100. Fukangans closing remarks, giving his own estimate of the situation, are omitted here.

Fukangan and E Hui together memorialize: the people of Taiwan are cunning and their customs are very fierce; robbing and stealing have become the order of the day; their [habits of] forming societies and swearing oaths are especially evil. All the practices of the Tiandihui originated on the mainland and were secretly transmitted to Taiwan. Also there is a kind of vagabond or traveling strongman who moves around creating disturbances and harassing the people; [these types] are called arhats feet [ luohanjiao ]. They all join the Tiandihui because, with its large number of followers, it gives them more advantage in conducting robbery. They rob anyone who is not a member of the society. Thus, those who have a little domestic property or engage in the peddling trade have no choice but to obey and enter the society for fear of being robbed. As a consequence, the number of its members has daily increased in both the north and the south military districts of Taiwan. When the officials of the subprefectures and counties try to arrest them, they resist the government forces.

The incident of Lin Shuangwen plotting rebellion also arose from his summoning of society members [ huifei ]; Lins own entrance into the society was initiated by Yan Yan. During the first month of 1787 [QL 52/ 1], the offender Yang Yong was interrogated. According to what Yang said, he heard from Yan Yan that the society was founded by Monk Hong Erfang of Guangdong, who lived in the Fenghuating (Fenghua temple) of Houxi and a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old named Zhu, whose full name and place of residence, he didnt know.

When Sun Shiyi secretly and thoroughly investigated this case, he could find no such person or place. After we came to Taiwan, we successively interrogated the offenders about the origins of the Tiandihui; they knew nothing more than the secret signals of using the three fingers while smoking and drinking and of using the cant dont forget ben [ Hong ] while speaking [i.e., the slogan Kaikou buliben; chushou bulisan].

After we arrested Lin Shuangwen, we interrogated him several times, but he refused to say anything. Since he was a major offender to be sent to Beijing under escort, we were not able to use too much torture to interrogate him. Then, since Yan Yan was the first to transmit the society [ chuanhui ] to Taiwan and was, at the same time, a notorious bandithead [ zeimu ], we realized that he must be arrested and interrogated. The order to search for him and apprehend him was immediately given, and the offender has been taken into custody and imprisoned.

We have personally interrogated Yan Yan in a very severe way. He is also called Zhuang Yan and Yan Ruohai. He is from Pinghe county in Zhangzhou [Fujian]. In 1783 [QL 48], he used selling cloth as a pretext to come to Taiwan. In 1784, at Amili village of Xidi, he transmitted the society. On April 4, 1784 [QL 49/3/15), after being informed that the Tiandihui had a large number of members and could make robbery easier, Lin Shuangwen listened to Yan Yan and joined. Then, in September 1786 [QL 51/8], Lin Shuangwen invited Lin Han, Lin Ling, Lin Shuifan, Zhang Si, and He Youzhi to drink wine at Chelunpu and engaged them to spread the evil to the various villages and hamlets. The result was resistance to arrest and a case of rebellion.

We believe that because Yan Yan was the first to transmit the society to Taiwan, he had to have detailed knowledge of by whom the Tiandihui was spread and from where. So again we interrogated him carefully. [Here is] Yan Yans testimony:

I heard that the Tiandihui was created by persons named Li and Zhu. It was transmitted from Sichuan and has been in existence for a long time. Someone called Ma Jiulong gathered forty-eight monks and, with them, practiced driving out ghosts and magic techniques. Then, they went out in separate directions to spread the society. Later, the forty-eight recruits gradually died off until there were only thirteen left to found societies in all places. The one in Guangdong was begun by Monk Wan; his lay name is Tu Xi. Where he is now, I really do not know. Besides him there were Zhao Mingde, Chen Pi, and Chen Biao, three people who came from Huizhou prefecture in Guangdong to a place called Yunxiao in Zhaoan county, Zhangzhou, Fujian, to transmit the society.

There is also one named Zhang, but I do not know his full name. Because he has many scars on his face, he is called Scarface Dog [Poliangou]. He often invited Zhao Mingde to stay at his house, [and they spread the society to] the nearby places of Gaokengan (convent), Makeng temple, Dingzaixia, and Shijiweixi.

In 1783, Chen Biao used the practice of medicine as an excuse to go to Pinghe county; only then did I learn about the society and join it. It was Chen Biao who told me about these people, but in fact I never saw them.