Gelaohui

The Gelaohui (Chinese: 哥老會; Pinyin: Gēlǎohuì), usually translated as Elder Brothers Society,[2] also known as Futaubang, or Hatchet Gang,[3] as every member allegedly carried a small hatchet inside the sleeve, was a secret society and underground resistance movement against the Qing Dynasty. Although it was not associated with Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui, they both participated in the Xinhai Revolution.

Elder Brothers Society
哥老会
FormationQinglong period (one theory)[1]
Founded atSichuan
Dissolvedafter 1949
TypeSecret society

Li Hanzhang (李瀚章), the governor of Hunan in the Qing Dynasty, stated in the memorial that the Gelaohui "originated in Sichuan and Guizhou for a long time",[4] the society engaged in several uprisings across China, notably in Hunan province during 1870 and 1871. Numerous individuals notable in late-19th and early-20th Chinese history (including Zhu De, Wu Yuzhang, Liu Zhidan and He Long) were Gelaohui members.[5]

Strongly xenophobic and anti-Manchu Qing, the Gelaohui were active in the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, as well as taking part in attacks on Catholic missions and converts in 1912.[6][7][8]

Originally quite willing to take on other "oppressed" Chinese minorities, several Chinese Muslim Gelaohui members participated in the Ningxia Revolution,[9] and there was a substantial number of Muslim Gelaohui in Shaanxi.[10]

During the Xinhai Revolution of Xinjiang, there were fightings related to the Elder Brothers Society.[11]

Origins

The question of the origins of the Gelaohui is a mystery that has long plagued historical researchers.[12] The exact date of its establishment is still unknown.

Same origin with Tiandihui

It's believed that the Gelaohui had the same origin with Tiandihui, that railed against the Manchu Qing Dynasty,[13] founded by Zheng Chenggong during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty to "Oppose the Qing dynasty and restore the Ming dynasty" (反清复明). This has long been the most popular theory in Chinese historiography. This theory originated from the revolutionaries represented by Tao Chengzhang and others during the 1911 Revolution.[14]

Qianlong period

It's believed that the Gelaohui can be traced back to the reign of Qianlong period, while its actual formation took place during the Jiaqing period and Daoguang period. Sichuan's Yansi (咽嗜) and Qianhui (钱会) can be regarded as the predecessors of the Gelaohui. The development of the organization from Sichuan to Huguang was basically realized simultaneously with the influx of Sichuan salt.[15]

The Japanese Shū Hirayama (平山周) clearly affirmed that the Gelaohui was established during the Qianlong period. As a friend of Sun Yat-sen and a sympathizer of the Chinese Revolution, he visited the society many times to investigate the inner workings and wrote the book The Chinese Revolutionary Party and the secret societies, which was published in 1911.[16]

Same as the Guoluhui

It's believed that the Gelaohui is the same as the Guoluhui (啯噜会), because "Gelao" is a phonetic transcription of the word "Guolu".[17]

Outgrowth of the integration and development of Tiandihui and Bailianjiao

Some scholars in Japan and the United States believe that the Gelaohui was the outgrowth of the integration and development of Tiandihui and Bailianjiao in the late Qing Dynasty, but the Gelaohui did not have the same origin with the Tiandihui.[18]

Developed from the Jianghuhui

It is believed that the Gelaohui was developed from the Jianghuhui (江湖会), which in turn came from the Renyihui (仁义会) and the Tiandihui.[19]

Xiang Army

One view is that it is more likely it began as an offshoot or alternative name of the so-called "Brotherhood Clique" within the Xiang Army.[13] It is believed that some 30% of the Xiang Army may have been Gelaohui members, and after the disbandment of the army in the aftermath of the Taiping Rebellion it spread along the Yangtze to become a Triad order. The Geolaohui became increasingly associated with the revolutionaries of Dr. Sun Yatsen's Tongmenhui during the 1880s, participating in the Xinhai Revolution against the Qing, and infiltrating the army and education system.

Originating from the Guoluhui in Sichuan

It is believed that the Gelaohui originated from the Guoluhui in Sichuan in the early Qianlong period. In the Jiaqing period and Daoguang period, due to the northward movement of the Tiandihui forces, it merged with the forces of Bailianjiao and Guolu Party (啯噜党) in Chuan Chu(川楚) area. And they infiltrated and integrated with each other to form the name of the Gaolaohui. During the reign of the Tongzhi period and Guangxu period, with the demobilization of the Xiang Army and the rapid increase in the number of bankrupt laborers and unemployed vagrants, the Gelaohui flourished. It was not a mere reproduction or a variation of the name of the organizations of Guolu. Taking the Guolu as its embryo, the Gelaohui absorbed and merged some of the characteristics of the Tiandihui and the Bailianjiao, and was a rapid development of a vagrant organization in China under specific social conditions.[20]

Anti-colonial movement

Beginning as an anti-Manchu organization, by 1891 the Gelaohui had grown to encompass a wide variety of revolutionary aims. They were blamed for anti-foreign riots around the Yangtze delta, apparently in hope of provoking foreigners and damaging the Chinese government's international standing,[13] and accused of infiltrating schools to foster anti-Western sentiment. Their government stance led them into disputes with pro-government Muslim warlords.[21] After the German government took over Shandong many Chinese feared that the foreign missionaries and quite possibly all Christian activities were colonial attempts at "carving the melon", i.e., to divide and colonize China piece by piece.[22] A Chinese official expressed the animosity towards foreigners succinctly, "Take away your missionaries and your opium and you will be welcome."[23]

During and after the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, Chinese Muslim troops under the command of Ma Anliang sided with Yuan Shikai's government, with the Gelaohui in the Muslim provinces crushed as a society. Captured members were publicly beheaded.[24] The pro-Yuan Shikai stance of the Muslim governors caused increasing bad blood between them and the Gelaohui, and during the Bai Lang Rebellion Gelaohui from Henan sided with revolutionary forces, leading to a series of massacres.

Among the "tenets" of the Gelaohui was "hatred of the foreigner", from which "hatred of the Manchu" was derived, and it encouraged the killing of foreigners.[25]

The Gelaohui hated foreigners and Christians. During the Xinhai Revolution in 1912, they attacked Catholic missions in Sandaohe, Ningxia, but the Chinese Muslim forces under Muslim General Ma Fuxiang protected the missions.[6]

The Gelaohui and the Muslim warlord Ma Fuxiang came to an agreement in 1922, in which Ma Fuxiang agreed to allow the Gelaohui to extort protection money from wool merchants in Baotou.[26]

The Muslim General Ma Lu (马禄) was a member of the Gelaohui. He fought against the Japanese in World War II along with Muslim General Ma Biao.

The Muslim General Ma Yuanlin (马元林) was a member of the Gelaohui.[27]

1930s: Years of Decline

The Gelaohui continued to exist as a broad and loosely affiliated group of hundreds of thousands well into the 1930s, though its influence was severely curtailed by the end of the Warlord Era, Chiang Kai-shek's rise to power and the ravagement of the country during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War. Nevertheless, the society's influence remained substantial until the Communists seized power in 1949; in 1936, for example, Mao Zedong wrote an open letter to the Gelaohui declaring them legal under the Chinese Soviet government and asking for their assistance. Starting in 1949, however, the society was repressed and is believed to be defunct.

See also

References
  1. Carl Whitney Jacobson (1993). Brotherhood and Society: The Shaanxi Gelaohui, 1867-1912. University of Michigan. pp. 21-.
  2. Xiaofei Kang; Donald S. Sutton (23 June 2016). Contesting the Yellow Dragon: Ethnicity, Religion, and the State in the Sino-Tibetan Borderland. Brill Publishers. pp. 153–. ISBN 978-90-04-31923-3.
  3. "The Qing Dynasty Ministry of Justice Memorials and "The New History"". Brill.com. 23 Jan 2020.
  4. Modern Chinese History. Book and Newspaper Information Agency of Renmin University of China. 1982. pp. 4-.
  5. Jens Bangsbo; Thomas Reilly; Mike Hughes (1997). Science and Football III. Taylor & Francis. p. 105. ISBN 0-419-22160-3. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  6. Ann Heylen (2004). Chronique du Toumet-Ortos: looking through the lens of Joseph Van Oost, missionary in Inner Mongolia (1915-1921). Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press. p. 203. ISBN 90-5867-418-5. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  7. Carl Whitney Jacobson (1993). Brotherhood and society: the Shaanxi Gelaohui, 1867-1912. University of Michigan. pp. 34, 267, 276. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  8. Robert H. Felsing (1979). The heritage of Han: the Gelaohui and the 1911 revolution in Sichuan. University of Iowa. pp. 34, 85 88. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  9. Jonathan Neaman Lipman (2004). Familiar strangers: a history of Muslims in Northwest China. Seattle: University of Washington Press. pp. 182, 183. ISBN 0-295-97644-6. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  10. Park Sang Soo, La révolution chinoise et les sociétés secrètes, thèse de doctorat, Ehess.
  11. Andrew D. W. Forbes (9 October 1986). Warlords and Muslims in Chinese Central Asia: A Political History of Republican Sinkiang 1911-1949. CUP Archive. pp. 17–. ISBN 978-0-521-25514-1.
  12. Academic Monthly. Shanghai People's Publishing House. 2000. pp. 68-.
  13. Ke-wen Wang (1998). Modern China: an encyclopedia of history, culture, and nationalism. Taylor & Francis. p. 104. ISBN 0-8153-0720-9. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  14. Cai Shaoqing (1987). Chinese Modern Society Party History Research. Zhonghua Book Company. pp. 203-.
  15. Qin Baoqi; Meng Chao (2008). Secret Associations and Qing Society. Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House. pp. 32-. ISBN 978-7-80696-475-0.
  16. Journal of Nanjing University, Issues 1-4. Journal of Nanjing University Editorial Board. 1982. pp. 50-.
  17. Yuan Tingdong (1998). Gazetteer of Bashu Culture. Shanghai People's Publishing House. pp. 306-.
  18. Xinhua Digest, Issues 1-4. People's Publishing House. 1982. pp. 243-.
  19. Modern Chinese History. Book and Newspaper Information Agency of Renmin University of China. 1982. pp. 3-.
  20. Jifa Zhuang (1997). Analects of the History of the Qing Dynasty, Volume 12. Literature, History and Philosophy Press. pp. 341-. ISBN 978-957-549-513-8.
  21. Tao Tao Liu; David Faure (1996). Unity and diversity: local cultures and identities in China. Hong Kong University Press. p. 74. ISBN 962-209-402-3. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  22. Esherick, Joseph W. (1987). The Origins of the Boxer Uprising. University of California Press. pp. 68-95, 129-130. ISBN 0-520-06459-3.
  23. Thompson, Larry Clinton (2009). William Scott Ament and the Boxer Rebellion: Heroism, Hubris, and the "Ideal Missionary". Jefferson, NC: McFarland. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-78645-338-2.
  24. Travels Of A Consular Officer In North-West China. CUP Archive. 1921. p. 188. Retrieved 2010-06-28. ma fu hsiang mongol an-liang.
  25. The Saturday review of politics, literature, science and art, Volume 116. Saturday Review. 1913. p. 19. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  26. Millward, James A. "THE CHINESE BORDER WOOL TRADE OF 1880-1937": 38. Retrieved 10 July 2014. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  27. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-04-11. Retrieved 2016-04-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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