Green Gang

The Green Gang (simplified Chinese: 青帮; traditional Chinese: 青幫; pinyin: Qīng Bāng) was a Chinese criminal organization that operated in Shanghai in the early 20th century.

Origins

It was a secret society established originally by Fong Toh-tak of Shaolin Monastery to protect the Han Chinese who were oppressed by the Manchu rulers of the Qing Dynasty, and to restore the fallen Ming Dynasty.^{[citation needed]}

History

By the 20th century it had acquired such wealth and power that it had become corrupt, and included many successful businessmen. Under Du Yuesheng, it controlled the criminal activities in the entire city of Shanghai. The Green Gang focused on opium (which was supported by local warlords), extortion, gambling, and prostitution. Shanghai was the vice capital of the world at that time.^{[citation needed]}

The Green Gang was often hired by Chiang Kaishek's Kuomingtang to break up union meetings and labor strikes and was also involved in the Chinese Civil War. Carrying the name of the Society for Common Progress, it was responsible for the White Terror massacre of approximately 5,000 pro-Communist strikers in Shanghai in April 1927, which was ordered by Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang granted Du Yuesheng the rank of general in the Nationalist Revolutionary Army later.

The Green Gang was a major financial supporter of Chiang Kai-shek, who became acquainted with the gang when he lived in Shanghai from 1915 to 1923. The Green Gang shared its profits from the drug trade with the Kuomintang after the creation of the Opium Suppression Bureau.

Sources

The Shanghai Green Gang: Politics and Organized Crime, 1919-1937 by Brian G. Martin is a scholarly account of their most important period.