Ghee Hin Kongsi

The Ghee Hin Kongsi (simplified Chinese: 义兴公司; traditional Chinese: 義興公司; pinyin: yìxīng gōngsī; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Gī-heng kong-si) is a secret society in Singapore and Malaya, formed in 1820. Ghee Hin literally means "the rise of righteousness" in Chinese. The Ghee Hin often fought against the Hakka-dominated Hai San secret society.

Ghee Hin was initially dominated by the Cantonese, although Hokkiens formed the majority by 1860. Teochew, Hainanese and Hakka form smaller minorities. One of the major leader of Ghee Hin was Chin Ah Yam, a Hakka peasant from the rural Dabu county, Guangdong. Their main lodge was located in Lavender Street, which contained the ancestral tablets of important ex-members, before being donated to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital when it was torn down in 1892, following the Suppression of Secret Societies Ordinance.

The Ghee Hin were notorious for mass-killings against the Catholic Hakka ethnic group in 1850 (killing about 500), as well as post offices in 1876, against a new, and more expensive, monopoly on post and remittances. The colonial government began to move towards surveillance, control, and finally suppression from the 1890s onwards.

Ghee Hin and Hai San were the two secret societies that were involved in Perak civil war in the 19th century. Ghee Hin and Hai San were always fighting against each other to compete for land, houses and food.

The Teochews who belonged to the Ghee Hin secret society were massacred by the thousands.

References

• Lim, Irene. (1999) Secret societies in Singapore, National Heritage Board, Singapore History Museum, Singapore ISBN 981-3018-79-8

External links

• Ghee Hin — Encyclopædia Britannica [1]