- Green Gang
The Green Gang (zh-stp|s=青帮|t=青幫|p=Qīng Bāng) was a criminal organization that operated in
Shanghai in the early 20th century. It was a secret society established originally byFong Toh Tak of theShaolin temple to protect the Han people who were oppressed by the Qing dynasty, and to restore the Mings to power. By the 20th century it had acquired such wealth and power that it had become corrupt, and included many successful businessmen. UnderDu Yuesheng , it controlled the criminal activities in the entire city ofShanghai . The Green Gang focused onopium (which was supported by localwarlord s),gambling , andprostitution . Shanghai was thevice capital of the world at that time.The Green Gang was often hired to break up union meetings and labor strikes, and was also involved in the
Chinese Civil War . It was responsible for theWhite Terror massacre of approximately 5,000 pro-Communist strikers in the City of Shanghai in April 1927, which was ordered by Nationalist leader GeneralChiang Kai-Shek , who grantedDu Yuesheng the rank of General in the Nationalist army as a reward for conducting the massacre.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. ["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)] The Green Gang shared its profits from the drug trade with theKuomintang after the creation of theOpium Suppression Bureau .Qing Bang in Pop Culture
*Qing Bang one of the warlords of Green Gang and famous ancestor of Siaf Khattak a member who carried on the tradition of the Green Gang
*Qing Bang appears in the Japanesemanga "Fist of the Blue Sky " as a criminal gang with "Good alignment."Hara Tetsuo , the author of Fist of the Blue Sky, coincidentally attended theGekiga Sonjaku writing school created byHara Tetsuo , who wrote the manga "Crying Freeman " in which also Qing Bang also feature heavily.References
ources
"The Shanghai Green Gang: Politics and Organized Crime, 1919-1937" by Brian G. Martin is a scholarly account of their most important period.
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