Green Gang

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The Green Gang (青幫, Qīng Bāng) was a criminal organization operating in Shanghai in the early 20th century. This gang was a secret society established originally started by Fong Toh Tak of the Shaolin temple, and by the 20th century, included many successful businessmen. It dealt in high-level Buddhist mysticism and gong fu for mental, spiritual and physical development behind closed doors, which was part of it's attraction to the upper class. It managed, under its leader Du Yuesheng, to control the criminal activities in the entire city of Shanghai. The primary activities of the Green Gang were the trade in opium (which was supported by local warlords), gambling, and prostitution. Shanghai was the vice capital of the world at that time. The Green Gang was often hired to disassemble union meetings and labor strikes. The Green Gang was also involved in the Chinese Civil War, responsible for the White Terror massacre of approximately 5,000 pro-Communist strikers in the City of Shanghai on April 1927, which was quietly approved by Nationalist leader General Chiang Kai-Shek who granted Du Yuesheng the rank of General in the Nationalist army as a result of the massacre.

The Green Gang was a major financial supporter of Chiang Kai-Shek, whom Chiang Kai-Shek became acquainted with when in lived in Shanghai from 1915 to 1923.^[1] The Green Gang shared its profits from the drug trade with the Guomindang after the creation of the Opium Suppression Bureau.

[edit] Qing Bang in Pop Culture

Qing Bang has appeared numerous times in Chinese TV drama or movies that are set in the 1930's either as a moralistic criminal gang or immoral gang who cooperates with Japanese during the Sino-Japanese war.
Qing Bang appears in the Japanese manga Fist of the Blue Sky as a criminal gang with "Good alignment".

[edit] References

^ "For two years (1916–17) he lived in Shanghai, where he apparently belonged to the Green Gang (Qing Bang), a secret society involved in financial manipulations." (Encyclopædia Britannica entry for Chiang Kai-Shek)