The Secret Society＇s Secret： The Invoked Reality of the Tiandihui

This essay examines two sets of reports in the Qing-dynasty Jiaqing and Daoguang periods （respectively 1796-1820 and 1821-45） in order to understand better the perceived reality of the Tiandihui. The first set, found anaong the papers of Jiangxi governor Xianfu （1809-14）, allows a comparison of a criminal gang that invoked the Tiandihui ceremony with one that did not. The second set includes the diary of Taihe county magistrate Xu Dihui （in office from 1824） that recorded various events which came to be reported to the senior officialdom as having been conducted by secret societies. By collating the incidents as reported in the diary and memorials to the emperor, the authors argue that the pressure of the administrative process was responsible for the ultimate acquiescence by the Hunan governor Han Wenqi （in office 1825-29） in the perception of an indisputable connection of the incidents with secret societies. Moreover, both sets of reports show that participants in secret-society ceremonies and officials who suppressed them knew that the acclaimed networking of the Tiandihui as implied in its folklore was very far from the reality.

A College Student＇s Rural Journey： Early Sociology and Anthropology in China Seen through Fieldwork on Sichuan＇s Secret Society

This paper focuses on the investigators of rural society in the Republican period, specifically research made through fieldwork on the Gowned Brothers （or, Paoge） in 1940s Sichuan. It takes up one such investigator, Shen Baoyuan--a student at Yenching University; her youthful work never became published or recognized. The present study reveals how the pioneers of Chinese sociology and anthropology, who called themselves ＂rural activists,＂ tried to understand rural China. It argues that the developments in those fields in China of the 1920s and 1940s made it possible for us today to have a better understanding of the contemporary rural problems. The investigators played an important role in the Rural Construction and Rural Education Movements in Republican China. They show us how Western sociology and anthropology were localized in order to answer ＂Chinese questions＂ and to solve ＂Chinese problems.＂ As source material, these investigations have given us rich records, which in turn have become precious sources and historical memories of rural China＇s past.

Hokkien Merchants and the Kian Teik Tong： Economic and Political Influence in Nineteenth- Century Penang and Its Region

This article explores nineteenth-century Penang＇s Hokkkien merchants and their secret society or hui-the Klan Teik Tong diande Tang）--which had a variety of roles and an extensive network. It contextualizes the merchants＇ secret society as a transnational socioeconomic and political organization rather than as an overseas Chinese criminal group in the wider Penang area. By recovering Klan Teik Tong and its network, it can be shown how these merchants secured and mobilized labour, capital, and allies in a way that cut across linguistic, ethnic, class and state boundaries in order to establish control of coolies and the lucrative opium, tin, and rice businesses, in order to exert political influence in the colonial and indigenous milieus of the nineteenth-century Penang region. They established a social contract through their Klan Teik Tong relief activities and initiation rituals, and thus were able to recruit thousands of members who were mainly labourers. With such a substantial social force, the merchants launched organized violence against their rivals to attain dominance in opium revenue farming and tin mining businesses in Penang, Krabi, and Perak. The widespread and strategic location of the Klan Teik Tong in Burma also enabled the same merchants to monopolize the Penang-Burma rice trade. The versatility of the Klan Teik Tong＇s functions allowed them to operate as an alternative political order vis-a-vis the colonial and indigenous powers. This arrangement allowed the Hokkien merchants to gain significant political clout in confronting the Siamese and Dutch authorities.

闽商与建德堂在19世纪槟城及周边地区的经济与政治影响力（英文）

本文探索了19世纪槟城的闽籍商人和他们的秘密结社(即"会")——建德堂。当时,建德堂掌控着一个功能多种多样的巨大网络。本文将其视为一个大槟城地区的跨国社会经济及政治组织,而非所谓的海外华人犯罪团伙。通过对其网络的复原,本文展示了闽籍商人如何保证并组织劳力和资本,并为了建立对劳工、利润丰厚的鸦片、锡矿和大米生意的控制而进行跨语言、跨民族、跨阶层、跨行政区的合作,最终实现对19世纪槟城地区的殖民政府及本地政治力量的影响。建德堂建立了一种基于救济活动和入会仪式的社会契约,从而召集起大量身份以劳工为主的会员。借助建德堂强大的社会力量,闽商团体向竞争对手发起了有组织的暴力行动,以取得槟城、甲米、霹雳等地鸦片种植业和锡矿业的优势地位。建德堂在缅甸的广泛传播和优越位置,同样使得这些人垄断了槟城和缅甸之间的大米生意。和殖民政府与本地政治力量相比,建德堂功能上的灵活性使之成为一种替代性的政治秩序,让闽籍商人在面对暹罗及荷兰政府时有了举足轻重的政治影响力。