Most Chinese men in Singapore, to help…

Most Chinese men in Singapore, to help them face the dangers, hardships, and loneliness of the sojourner life, join or are forced to join secret societies organized by earlier immigrants from their home districts.

The secret societies have their origin in southern China, where, in the late seventeenth century, the Heaven, Earth, and Man (or Triad) Society had been formed to oppose the Qing (1644-1911) dynasty.

By the nineteenth century, secret societies in China acta as groups that organize urban unskilled labor and use coercion to win control of economic niches, such as unloading ships, transporting cotton, or gambling and prostitution.

The same pattern extends all over Southeast Asia, where immigrants join secret societies whose membership is restricted to those coming from the same area and speaking the same dialect.

Membership gives the immigrants some security, in the form of guaranteed employment and assistance in case of illness, but required loyalty to the leaders and payment of a portion of an already meager wage.

Although the societies perform many useful social functions, they are also a major source of crime and violence.

By 1860 there are at least twelve secret societies in Singapore, representing the various dialect and sub-dialect groups.

Invariably friction arises as each society seeks to control a certain area or the right to a certain tax farm.

Civil war in China in the 1850s brings a flood of new migrants from China, including many rebels and other violent elements.

Serious fighting between the various secret societies breaks out in 1854, but it remains a domestic dispute within the Chinese community.

Although not directed at the government or the non-Chinese communities, such outbreaks disrupt commerce and create a tense atmosphere, which will lead to the banning of secret societies in 1889.