Wah Ching
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| In | San Francisco |
|---|---|
| Years active | 1960s–present[citation needed] |
| Ethnicity | Chinese American |
| Criminal activities | drug trafficking, extortion, illegal gambling, loan sharking, murder |
| Rivals | Chung Ching Yee, Asian Boyz, Vietnamese Boyz, Wo Hop To Triad |
Wah Ching (Traditional Chinese: 華青, Simplified Chinese: 华青, Pinyin:Huá Qīng) is a Chinese American Triad Society (secret society) and street gang also known as "Dub C" originating in San Francisco during the early 1960s. At the time, Wah Ching was organized into one enormous gang. Wah Ching controlled most of the criminal vices throughout the San Francisco and Los Angeles Asian communities.
Wah Ching is composed mainly of young men. Triad member clothing ranges from casual to business attire making it hard for officials to distinguish them from other citizens. Most Wah Ching gangs have no ties to the triad and are merely street gangs engaging in constant turf wars.
Wah Ching first received widespread media attention because of the 1977 Golden Dragon massacre involving another Chinese gang, the Chung Ching Yee (Joe Boys). The event took place at the Golden Dragon Restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown. The cause of the attack was vandalism by Wah Ching to the graves of several Joe Boy members and a shootout that took place a few months earlier that left one Joe Boy dead and two others wounded.
In 1991, Danny "Ah Pai" Wong, the leader of Wah Ching, was shot and killed by Wo Hop To hitmen.
In the LA area, the Wah Ching gang has a reputation for ruthlessness among the local Asian gangs. This has put it at odds with another rivial Asian gang in LA, the Asian Boyz (ABZ), who also aligned themselves with the Vietnamese Boyz (VBZ) in opposition to Wah Ching. Wah Ching's move from its original home in the Bay Area to the southern California region is probably one of the sources of the disputes over gang turf.
Currently, the gang have shown signs of mixed ideology. Despite the fact that Wah Ching in Chinese literally means "Chinese Youth," there are still some individuals of non-Chinese descent who claim Wah Ching. The gang now consists of a great number of Vietnamese members. The same applies with their rivals, the Vietnamese Boyz, who have a great number of Chinese members. It is rumored that their reasoning for this is that it is the "Chinese Youth" gang, and that the members working or fighting for the gang do not have to be of Chinese ethnicity.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Reference to pool hall shooting
- http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/cac/pr2002/013.html
- http://www.chineseplayground.com/sample.html
- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983005,00.html
- Bamboo Tigers by Brockman Morris–Book with information on Wah Ching
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