Origins The Triad, a China-based criminal organisation, secret association, or club, was a branch of the secret
Hung Society, a secret society formed with the intent of overthrowing the then-ruling
Qing dynasty. Triads therefore first began as part of an organised patriotic movement to overthrow ethnic
Manchu Qing rule, which was considered tyrannical and foreign to the
Han ethnic majority. At the turn of the 19th century, Chinese triads were involved in revolutionary and underground activities designed to subvert the ailing Qing, which was considered corrupt and incapable of reform. After the
proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, secret societies in mainland China were suppressed in campaigns ordered by
Mao Zedong.
Deng Xiaoping also suppressed the secret societies in his
"Strike Hard" campaigns against organised crime in 1978. As a result, most traditional Chinese secret societies, including the triads and some of the remaining Green Gang, relocated to Hong Kong,
Taiwan,
Southeast Asia, and overseas countries (particularly the
United States), where they competed with the
Tong and other ethnic Chinese criminal organisations. Gradually, Chinese secret societies turned to the
illegal drug trade and
extortion for income.
18th century The
Tiandihui, the Heaven and Earth Society, also called Hongmen (the Vast Family), is a Chinese
fraternal organisation and historically a
secretive folk religious sect in the vein of the
Ming loyalist
White Lotus Sect, the Tiandihui's ancestral organisation. As the Tiandihui spread through different counties and provinces, it branched off into many groups and became known by many names, including the
Sanhehui. The Hongmen grouping is today more or less synonymous with the whole
Tiandihui concept, although the title "Hongmen" is also claimed by some criminal groups. Branches of the Hongmen were also formed by
Chinese communities overseas, some of which became known as Chinese Freemasons. Its current iteration is purely
secular.
19th century Such societies were seen as legitimate ways of helping immigrants from China settle into their new place of residence through employment and development of local connections. Triads had been banned by the Colonial government in Hong Kong in 1845, and it is also argued that triads had monopolised the labour market from 1857. During the
Taiping Rebellion, many voluntarily or were forced to aid the
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in opposition to the Qing dynasty. At the end of the 19th century, at least one-third of Hong Kong Chinese were estimated to be part of the triads. According to the University of Hong Kong, most triad societies were established between 1914 and 1939 and there were once more than 300 in the territory. Arguably the most prominent triad leader of the 1930s being
Du Yuesheng. After
World War II, the secret societies saw a resurgence as gangsters took advantage of the uncertainty to re-establish themselves. Some Chinese communities, such as "
new villages" in
Kuala Lumpur and
Bukit Ho Swee in Singapore, became notorious for gang violence. After 1949, in mainland China, law enforcement became stricter and a government crackdown on criminal organisations forced the triads to migrate to British Hong Kong. An estimated 300,000 triad members lived in Hong Kong during the 1950s. The number of groups has consolidated to about 50, of which 14 are under police surveillance. There were four main groups of triads—the
Chiu Chow Group (including
Sun Yee On),
14K, the
Wo Group (including
Wo Shing Wo), and the
Sze Tai (
Luen Group,
Tan Yee,
Macau Chai,
Tung Group), the Big Four in Chinese—operating in Hong Kong. They divided land by ethnic group and geographic locations, with each triad in charge of a region. Each had their own headquarters, sub-societies, and public image. During the 1960s and 1970s, several notable triad leaders were active such
Ng Sik-ho and
Ma Sik-chun in Hong Kong and
Stephen Tse in Boston. In the early 1980s, the
Chinese Communist Party Deputy Committee Secretary of
Xinhua News Agency, Wong Man-fong, negotiated with Hong Kong-based triads on behalf of the government of People's Republic of China to ensure their peace after the handover of Hong Kong. While triad activity increased in mainland China in the 1980s as a result of
economic and political changes, increased corruption,
rapid urbanisation, and increased demands for illicit goods and services. The 1980s and 1990s saw the downfall of several prominent triad leaders, with arms smuggler
Cheung Tze-keung, triad leader
Wan Kuok-koi and
Peter Chong (convicted of racketeering and extortion) all ending up behind bars, while entertainment industry figures such as Taiwanese director
Jimmy Wang Yu and Hong Kong film producer
Charles Heung were suspected of having ties to organised crime.
21st century In the 2000s, reporters noted that the Sun Yee On appeared to send teams from China to
São Paulo as enforcers, where they carry out intimidation, assault, and sometimes murder, to anyone who fails to pay protection money. While in Japan, a senior official in 2003 at the National Police Agency in Tokyo mentioned clashes between the
yakuza and Chinese gangs were increasing. On 18 January 2018, Italian police arrested 33 people connected to a Chinese triad operating in Europe as part of its Operation China Truck (which began in 2011). The triad were active in
Tuscany,
Veneto,
Rome and
Milan in Italy, and in France, Spain and the German city of
Neuss. The indictment accused the Chinese triad of extortion, usury, illegal gambling, prostitution, and drug trafficking. The group was said to have infiltrated the transport sector, using intimidation and violence against Chinese companies wishing to transport goods by road into Europe. Police seized several vehicles, businesses, properties, and bank accounts. According to the expert in terrorist organisations and mafia-type organised crime, Antonio De Bonis, there is a close relationship between the Triads and the
Camorra, and the port of
Naples is the most important landing point of the trades managed by the Chinese in cooperation with the Camorra. Among the illegal activities in which the two criminal organisations work together are human trafficking and illegal immigration aimed at the sexual and labour exploitation of Chinese immigrants into Italy, as well as synthetic drug trafficking and the laundering of illicit money through the purchase of real estate. In 2017, investigators discovered an illicit industrial waste transportation scheme jointly run by the Camorra and Triads. The waste was transported from Italy to China, leaving from
Prato in Italy and arriving in
Hong Kong; a scheme which, prior to its discovery, had been netting millions of US dollars' worth of revenue for both organisations. In April 2025, Zhang Dayong, known as Asheng, was executed in Rome with a gunshot to the head and three to the chest. He was the right-hand man of Zhang Naizhong, the alleged head of the Chinese mafia in Europe, and served as his representative in Rome. Zhang Dayong had a history of violent offenses and was considered a key player in the organisation's illegal activities in Italy, including loan sharking and running underground gambling operations. Although he officially ran a store in Rome's
Esquilino neighbourhood, Asheng was in charge of the Chinese mafia's operations in the Italian capital. Investigators link him to past violence, including the enforcement of payments through beatings. He was also present at the lavish 2013 wedding of Zhang Naizhong's son, attended by major figures in the Chinese criminal underworld. Asheng reportedly lost favour within the organisation after several missteps, including getting drunk and assaulting women at a brothel managed by a fellow gang member. Intercepted conversations reveal how his disrespect toward superiors and erratic behaviour eventually sealed his fate. His murder is believed to be connected to the ongoing turf war among Chinese gangs, known as the “hanger war” of
Prato, which has now spread to Rome. His death marks a significant escalation in the mafia conflict. In August 2025, Italian authorities arrested 13 individuals with connections to Chinese organised crime. In February 2026, illegal gambling and usury linked to Chinese criminal networks have emerged as central elements in a murder case in
Turin, Italy, where Liu Jianwei, known as “Dan”, a figure active in clandestine mahjong dens, was killed in March 2025 by Hu Libin, a cook with gambling debts he could no longer repay. Authorities describe the killing, not as a failed robbery but as a settling of accounts within a “rooted and structured” system of usury, in which Liu provided cash loans to Chinese players at extremely high interest rates, reportedly up to 20% per month, while maintaining control over access to illegal gambling venues and pressuring debtors through threats, including against their families. Investigations revealed handwritten records listing debtors and amounts owed, as well as evidence that Liu demanded repayment under strict deadlines and attempted to involve third parties financially. Intercepted communications and investigative findings further outline Liu's role within a broader criminal environment tied to clandestine gambling, usury, and control over debtors within the Chinese community, indicating the presence of an organised and expansive illicit network active in
Northwest Italy. ==Criminal activities==