Overview

For centuries, in the shadows of empires and the cracks of colonial power, Asia's secret brotherhoods have thrived. From the incense-filled halls of the Chinese Triads to the tattooed rituals of the Japanese Yakuza, these organizations blended myth, crime, and rebellion to become both protectors and predators. Their oaths of loyalty, their elaborate ceremonies, and their ruthless enforcement of discipline created enduring institutions that outlasted dynasties, resisted colonial authorities, and infiltrated modern states. This sweeping history traces the rise of the Eastern brotherhoods from their origins in sworn fraternities and village protectors to their transformation into global crime syndicates of the modern age. Along the way, it uncovers their influence in revolutionary uprisings, their control of ports, gambling dens, and opium routes, and their reinvention in the age of cybercrime and global trafficking. Both feared and romanticized, condemned yet mythologized, the brotherhoods of Asia reveal a world where loyalty and secrecy became survival-and where ritual and tradition gave shape to criminal empires. Rich in history and cultural insight, The Eastern Brotherhoods: Secret Societies of Asia explores how these clandestine networks became an enduring part of the region's identity, from rebellion and resistance to the underworld economies of the twenty-first century.

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9781923593206

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