Triads in Hong Kong

Triads in Hong Kong – A Brief Historical Overview

A thrilling, gory staple of the local film industry, few aspects of modern Hong Kong life are as heavily overlaid with myth and urban legend as the Tin Dei Hui ‘Heaven and Earth Societies’ – better known as the Triads. In this lecture we will explore exactly what a Triad is in contemporary Chinese society – and what it is not – and how the Triad Societies evolved in China from Ming loyalists in the early Manchu period onwards towards the Republican era and the present day. Illustrated detail will be given of Triad ritual and mythology, and some discussion will be made of their pervasive role in contemporary local life.