The hui (wui, societies) encompassed groups organized for a range of goals, from mutual-aid and protection, to criminal enterprise and predation, to cult expansion and rebellious sedition. They were distinguished by their drawing of members with different surnames, lack of regard for traditional hierarchies, and their practice of initiation involving blood-oath.
The origins of the hui are found in equal parts fact and fiction. Historically, elements of the societies can be traced as far back as the Tang dynasty when local villages formed yishi (associations of adopted social groups formed from above) for the pooling of funds (for the purchase of equipment and livestock, and the paying of funerals and child birth related expenses). The characteristic of jiebai xiongdi (sworn brotherhoods) of differing surnames is deeply embedded in the culture due to popular stories such as Sanguo Yanyi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms) and Shuihuzhuan (Outlaws of the Marsh). During the early-Qing period, they gained prominence due to the xiedou (collective violence), or the internecine feuds between shi (lineages) that spread from Fujian. When smaller lineages faced the threat of larger lineages, they were forced to band together into huizu (ancestral associations). At the same time, the destruction wrought during the dynastic transition and the following shifts in population densities led many youths to migrate in search of economic opportunity. For survival and protection, these youths banded together into non-elite groups of differing surnames, in stark contrast to the hierarchies of age and divisions of wealth and lineage that had so characterized earlier societies. The blood-oath aspect of the societies is said to trace back even further. Accounts exist from the time of the Warring States (475-221 BC) when the passing from feudal to proto-bureaucratic society led to ritualized violence, where a climate idealizing heroic honor and martial prowess, mired in inter-state, inter-lineage, and inter-personal feuding, combined with the breaking down of old institutions, led men to ally themselves into elite groups through the taking of blood-oaths. Early on, the Qing cracked down on the societies. By 1646, membership in a blood-oath society was made punishable by a flogging of 100 lashes. By 1661, belonging to a non-blood oath society was punishable by the lash, and membership in the blood-oath society was punishable by death. This crack down led to considerable resentment among the societies and, following the end of dynastic transition in 1683 and the driving of the anti-Qing resistance underground, elements of sedition began to surface. By the turn of the 18th century, societies were already being organized in Taiwan to jushi (rise-up). Over the next decade, the rebellious brotherhoods, mutual aid organizations, bandit groups, pyramid-structured financial enterprises, cults, and other forms of the societies continued to evolve. And, for the first time, these societies began to gain formal names. In 1728, the Fumuhui (Father & Mother Society) formed in Zhuluo, Fujian. In 1735 the Tiechihui (Iron Ruler Society) formed in Ninghua, Fujian. These new societies, and others, paved the way for the most far reaching of them all - the Tiandihui (Tien Dei Wui, Heaven & Earth Society), later and more expansively known as the Hongmen (Hung Mun, Vast Gate).
The Tiandihui began when Zheng Kai (known primarily as Ti Xi but with numerous aliases including Monk Wan, Monk Hong Er, etc.), Li Amin (a boxing master), Zhu Dingyuan, and Tao Yuan left their homes in Zhangpu, Fujian to seek better lives in Sichuan. There, they joined a group of "monks" led by Ma Jiulong who practiced magic and exorcism. The group did not fair well, however, and Ti Xi soon went to Guangdong and organized a group of followers in Huizhou. In 1761, Ti Xi returned home to Fujian and took up residence in the Guanyinting (Goddess of Mercy Pavillion) and transformed his group of followers into the society known as Tiandihui. By 1766, the Tiandihui had spread through Zhangpu and Pinghe counties, and by 1767, one of the early members, Lu Mao, created a brotherhood for what may have been the first Tiandihui uprising. Their plan was to engage in theft (robbing storehouses, treasuries, and homes of the well do to) in order to raise money for their rebellious activities. In 1768, the time finally came for their uprising and they attacked the western gate of the county seat, but were easily defeated by the local guard. Li Amin followed this uprising by forming a society to rob wealthy households and rise up in 1769. Before they could complete their uprising, however, they were discovered and executed. Ti Xi was said to have lain low following this, until he passed away in 1779, handing down the register of his society to his son, Zheng Ji, who later became a monk. As the Tiandihui spread through different counties and provinces, it branched off into many groups and became known by many names. Along with its increasingly complex rituals, it also developed a rich, legendary, back-story, filled with allegory, symbolism and numerology that served to inspire recruits and lend direction to the movement. The story held that the Tiandihui/Hongmen's roots traced back to the Shaolin Temple, betrayed by jealous Qing officials after they helped the dynasty suppress the Xilufan (Western Barbarian) revolt. The temple burned down, the monks scattered, five survivors met with Ming loyalists at the Honghua Ting (Hung Fa Ting, Vast or Red Flower Pavilion), and received a sign from Heaven to "fan Qing fu Ming" ("fan Ching fook Ming", "overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming"). By referencing an apocryphal Fujian Shaolin Temple and its warrior monks (molded from Tang dynasty accounts of Songshan, Henan Shaolin), feigning connections to Buddhist societies (from tales of the Bailian (White Lotus), and Yuan Dynasty Qing Lian (Green Lotus) and Wuwei (Motionless) Societies), and weaving in fictitious Song or Ming scion, they created a compelling counter-culture where the disenfranchised could seek some measure of pride, self-empowerment, and political significance. They also swelled their ranks and motivated their followers. By 1802, the Tiandihui was well established in Guangdong province, with over a thousand reported members involved in mutual aid, financial gain, criminal activity, and rebellion. The latter began in Yongan (Wing On). Organized by Chen Lanjisi, head of the Tiandihui (Increase Brotherhood Society), they wore a hong jin (hung gam, red turban, perhaps in homage to the Red Turban Rebellion that had threatened the Mongol Yuan dynasty before it fell to the Ming) as a way of identifying themselves, and attacked several local villages. The Qing massed troops to meet them under the command of Li Hansheng and Sun Quanmou and, eventually, by the army of General Huang Biao. The fighting went on for a short time until Chen was captured.
In 1812, the Tiandihui went through another important phase in its evolution. On January 4, in Shunde (Shundak), Yan Guiqiu (Yim Kwai-Kiu), Yan Peiyu (Yim Poi-Yuk), and two others agreed to form a society for mutual protection. By January 9, they had 66 recruits, and adopted the name Sanhehui (Saam Ho Wui, Three Harmonies or Triad Society). Yan continued to recruit, bringing 151 more members. These members spread and founded their own chapters until, by 1831, the Sanhehui covered much of the south, divided into 5 fang (branches) - Fujian, Guangdong, Yunnan, Huguang, and Zhejiang. While the societies grew from within, pressure mounted from without as well. The tea trade causing a huge deficit with China, England looked increasingly to opium to help balance the scales. The Qing began prohibitions against the opium trade in 1729 and outlawed it in 1796, but failed to make any real headway in restraining its use. By the 1830s, lower prices and led to a surge in opium imports, and in late-1838, the Qing sent Imperial Commissioner Lin Zexu to Guangzhou to handle the problem. The Opium War began in 1839. While small successes by local militia in support of Qing forces, such as in Sanyuanli in 1841, led to new blossoming in heroic tales, Peach-Garden inspired oaths, increased reliance on braves and militia, and a general build up of moral, the overall defeat at the hands of the British (including the ceding of Hong Kong) in 1842, only caused anti-Qing sentiment to increase among the population. In 1843, the Three Harmonies Society rose up under the cry of "Red Pole (leader) aboard the stage, acting in the opera (meeting the association), speaking the 36-mantras, cutting the finger and taking the blood-oath." They levied their own taxes and engaged in banditry to raise money, and feuded with the rival Wolunghui (Sleeping Dragon Society). Under the watch of gun-wielding guards, they encouraged peasants, farmers, and eventually entire villages to join them. Police, magistrates, and others joined until, in 1844, they threatened to take control of the county seat. Only the intervention of gentry-raised militia, led by Zheng Guihong, stopped them.
In 1845 the societies took pause again when the quasi-religious movement known as Taiping (Tai Ping, Great Peace) emerged. Taiping was founded by Huayuan (Fa Yuen), Guangdong native Hong Xiuquan (originally named Huoxiu). Hong, after several failed attempts at passing the licentiates exams and exposure to the translated bible tracts of Chinese Christian converts, fell gravely ill and had a dream where he was the second son of God, charged with driving the Qing demons from the land and establishing the Taiping Tianguo (Tai Ping Tien Kwok, Great Peace Heavenly Kingdom). When he recovered he began a movement that spread from his own, Keijia (Hakka) people, throughout the south. The Taiping Rebellion would rage until 1864, when Hong Xiuquan died in disgrace among his concubines, one of over 20 million deaths that would occur during the struggle.
In 1854, Liu Duchuan (Lao Doo-Chuen), brother of Guangdong Three Harmonies Society member and Shanghai Xiaodaohui (Siu Do Wui, Small Knife Society) leader, Liu Lichuan (Lao Lee-Chuen), was sent back to Guangdong (which had been charged with paying 80.6% of the Opium War reparations) to help organize an uprising in support of the Taiping. In June, He Liu (Ho Lok), a smuggler and society member whose brother had been murdered in a prefectural purge, began to raise a band of men in search of vengeance. Helped by Liu Yingcai (Lao Ying-Choi), he prepared to attack the Dongguan county seat. They moved on Stone Dragon town. Thirty thousand members and six hundred boats worked towards the goal of "taking down the Dragon, lifting the tiger, stopping the goat, bowing the Buddha, and reaching the Western paradise." In this code, dragon signified the Stone Dragon, tiger the Tiger Gate, goat the Goat City (Guangzhou), Buddha the Buddha Mountain (Foshan), and Western Paradise the province of Guangxi. He Liu's uprising began a chain reaction through the region, and on June 11, 1854, Chen Kai (Chan Hoi) and Liu Duchuan lead 7000 Three Harmonies Society members to revolt in Foshan. On June 12th, members of the Precious Jade Flower Union, under the direction of Li Wenmao, took to the streets in full costume, waving red banners. Known practitioners of yongchunquan (wing chun kuen) at the time who could have participated in this uprising included: