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

407 Pages·1994·8.43 MB·English

by  Dian Murray

Stanford University Press, Stanford, California
© 1994 by the Board of Trustees of the
Leland Stanford Junior University
Printed in the United States of America
CIP data appear at the end of the book
Published with the assistance of the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts,
University of Notre Dame
Stanford University Press publications are distributed exclusively by Stanford
University Press within the United States, Canada, and Mexico; they are
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world.
9780804766104

Frontispiece: The Guanyinting, in Gaoxi township, Fujian, where the Tiandihui
was founded in the early 1760’s. (Courtesy of Robert Antony.)
To my parents, Marian and Loren Hechtner
Preface
This book and my collaboration with Professor Qin Baoqi, of the Qing History
Institute of People’s University in Beijing, grew out of my visit to the First
Historical Archives in 1984. In completing my research on pirates, I was
tantalized by fleeting references to their interaction with the Tiandihui, a
movement supposedly aimed at ousting the Qing dynasty and restoring the
Ming. Yet I was also discomfited by indications that the Tiandihui members I
encountered were more actively involved in the struggle for economic survival
than in political struggle, and by the fact that my quest for a comprehensive
discussion of the society’s origins yielded little more than bits and pieces of
what I now believe to have been mostly fiction.
As a neophyte scholar laying my plaint before Professor Qin, I was astonished
to find that instead of “setting me straight,” he affirmed my challenge to the
orthodox view of the Tiandihui, and I was more than a little delighted when he
concluded our conversation by suggesting that we write a book together.
Our collaboration took place over the summers of 1986–88, when I returned
to China as the on-site director of the University of Notre Dame’s program in
Tianjin. With no time to explore the First Historical Archives myself, our
arrangement to work together and the timing were ideal, because Qin Baoqi, as
editor-in-chief of a project jointly sponsored by the First Historical Archives and
the Qing History Institute, was just then in the process of editing the palace
memorials and other documents for publication in the seven-volume collection
Tiandihui. As a result, he was able to place their contents at my disposal before
the last of the published volumes appeared.
Our collaboration has yielded two very different books: Qin’s own Qing
qianqi Tiandihui yanjiu (Studies of the early Qing Tiandihui), published in 1988,
and the account presented below. It had been my intention to return to China in
the summer of 1989, for a final session with Professor Qin. Unfortunately, the
crushing of the “pro-democracy” movement made such a session impossible and
necessitated that I complete the manuscript on this side of the Pacific, in South
Bend, Indiana. I am particularly indebted to Professor Qin for his contribution to
my way of thinking in Chapters One, Two, and Four.

The reign periods and abbreviations of the Qing emperors mentioned in the
text are:
Shunzhi (SZ) 1644—1661
Kangxi (KX) 1662—1722
Yongzheng (YZ) 1723—1735
Qianlong (QL) 1736—1795
Jiaqing (JQ) 1796—1820
Daoguang (DG) 1821—1850
Xianfeng (XF) 1851—1861
Tongzhi (TZ) 1862—1874
Guangxu (GX) 1875—1908

Pinyin romanization is used throughout except for quoted material from
English-language sources and published Chinese authors whose names have
been rendered in the Wade-Giles system.

It is a pleasure to acknowledge those who have assisted in the completion of
this project. First and foremost, I am deeply indebted to the International Studies
Program at the University of Notre Dame and its director, Dr. Isabel Charles.
Appointment to the Tianjin post for three successive summers made my
collaboration with Professor Qin Baoqi possible.
Zhuang Jifa of the National Palace Museum in Taibei, Cai Shaoqing of
Nanking University, and David Ownby of Southern Methodist University
generously imparted to me their considerable knowledge of secret societies and
the Tiandihui. I have also benefited from consultation with Robert Antony, Carl
Trocki, Jean DeBernardi, David Faure, Leonard Blussé, Barend J. ter Haar, Zhao
Fusan, Winston Hsieh, Chang Pin-tsun, and Susan Naquin, as well as feedback
from lectures given at Cornell University and the University of Michigan in
April 1991. Mia Wang and Lan Feng have rendered invaluable assistance with
Chinese translations and calligraphy. The manuscript has also benefited from
faithful and critical reading by David Ownby at every stage of the way.
Bibliographical assistance from the staffs of the National Central Library and
the Academia Sinicia in Taibei, the British Library and the School of Oriental
and African Studies in London, the Yenching Library at Harvard University, and
the interlibrary loan division of the University of Notre Dame made it possible to
locate many of the items in the Tiandihui Bibliography. To this end, Linda
Gregory has exerted superhuman effort in the search for obscure periodicals.
The Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts at the University of Notre
Dame provided generous financial support. A Travel and Research Grant during
the summer of 1986 underwrote travel to both the Chinese mainland and
Taiwan; a Junior Faculty Fellowship (and a leave from the University) enabled
me to extend my residence in China from August until October 1987. Travel
grants from the Joint Committee on Chinese Studies of the American Council of
Learned Societies and the Social Science Research Council, and the Institute for
Scholarship in the Liberal Arts made possible my participation in the Second
Symposium on Chinese Secret Societies (huidang) in Shanghai in October 1988.
I am also grateful to the publication team of Stanford University Press and
especially to Barbara Mnookin, whose painstaking efforts as an editor have
created a book far more accurate and readable than the original manuscript.
Finally, thanks are owing to the members of my family, who for half a decade
have generously let my desire to complete this project take precedence over filial
duties, responsibilities, and pleasures.
D.H.M.
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
Introduction
• • • 1 - Beginnings: The Eighteenth Century
2 • • • - Spread and Elaboration: The Nineteenth Century
• • • 3 - The Tiandihui in Western Historiography
4 • • • - The Tiandihui in Chinese Historiography
...5 - The Tiandihui in Myth and Legend
Conclusion
Appendixes
Notes
Character List
Bibliographies
General Bibliography
Index
Places of known Tiandihui activity in mainland China before the Opium War
Fujian Province
1. Pucheng
2. Chongan
3. Guangze
4. Jianning
5. Shaowu
6. Jianyang
7. Dalikou
8. Shunchang
9. Huangdun
10. Nanping
11. Shaxian
12. Ninghua
13. Xiapu
14. Changting
15. Wuping
16. Shanghang
17. Yongding