HONG KONG’S TRIADS: The History of Crime in the “Fragrant Harbor”

Video Description

Besides Japan, which as you can probably tell by… well… my whole freakin’ channel revolving almost exclusively around it… Hong Kong has always been the place that has intrigued me the most, thanks not only to the above-mentioned characteristics, but also because in the 80s and 90s especially, this tiny little place off the south-eastern coast of mainland China pumped out some of the greatest movies that I’ve ever seen. I mean… who could forget Chow Yun-Fat jumping out of an exploding hospital while hugging a baby? And one of the most unavoidable, but also endlessly fascinating topics found in HK cinema from the 80s, the 90s, and to some extent even the 2000s, is of course organized crime, or to be more precise, the infamous “Triads” of Hong Kong. In one of my most recent videos, we explored how the Chinese Triads started off as secret societies around 2000 years ago, before experiencing a gradual, very SLOW shift towards large-scale organized crime with the introduction of groups like the infamous Green Gang. But… you won't often hear the term 'Triads' linked to mainland China these days! Dramatic political changes taking place in China during the 1950s created a hostile environment for the Chinese gangsters of old, and with that, organized crime as a whole! And so, Hong Kong, then a rapidly growing British colony, became the Triads' new playground. Within a few short years, they transformed the “fragrant harbor”, flooding it with violence and illicit wealth, infiltrating the ranks of its police force with their own men,  casting a long shadow over everyday life in the colony, and exporting their crimes FAR beyond the borders of HK, establishing the Triads as global criminal powerhouses, their name arguably JUST as feared as that of the Mafia or the Yakuza! So… what exactly made the Hong Kong Triads so infamous? How did they operate and where are they nowadays? Well… you already know, THAT is exactly what we aim to find out in today’s video! #hongkong #triads #crime SOURCES: Book: “The Dragon Syndicates: The Global Phenomenon of the Triads” by Martin Booth Paper: “The Transformation of Triad ‘Dark Societies’ in Hong Kong: The Impact of Law Enforcement, Socio-Economic and Political Change” by Roderic Broadhurst and Lee King Wa https://www.britannica.com/place/Hong-Kong https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9708/hongkong.html https://web.archive.org/web/20120418114933/http://www.illuminatedlantern.com/cinema/archives/triads.php https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/125837NCJRS.pdf https://www.baike.com/wikiid/2078396055094977115 https://www.moderninsurgent.org/post/sun-yee-on https://www.academia.edu/5175962/The_Transformation_of_Triad_Dark_Societies_in_Hong_Kong_The_Impact_of_Law_Enforcement_Socio_Economic_and_Political_Change https://www.visualcapitalist.com/cities-with-the-most-skyscrapers-2023/ https://k.sina.cn/article_6711437026_1900866e200100z6j7.html https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20210715A08NQ300 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1950s_in_Hong_Kong https://edition.cnn.com/2020/09/04/media/jimmy-lai-oriental-daily-dst-hnk-intl/index.html https://www.businessinsider.com/jackie-chan-probed-for-guns-and-grenades-2012-12 https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3101047/spotlight-back-hong-kong-triads-after-dramatic CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 03:27 - Hong Kong 06:23 - The First Triads 11:43 - Japanese Invasion 13:51 - Post-War Triads 16:44 - The Big Three 22:23 - Hierarchy 26:22 - Rituals 28:04 - Corruption 34:35 - Narcos 42:14 - The Police Take Action 44:49 - The Heung Family 48:13 - From the 90s to the Modern Era