Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 02-26-12 09:30
A triad called 洪門派 The Hong Men League in Malaya - 1931
刀在石上磨,---Dao zai4 shi2 shang4 mo,
人在世上磨.---Ren2 zai4 shi4 shang4 mo.
A knife needs to be sharpened on the stone,
And a man requires to struggle for his living.
A Chinese saying
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The district where our family lived
http://yn.chung.id.au/KintaDistrict1942.jpg
In 1931, when my father was a young man or practically every Chinese living
in the vicinity of my village called Sayap in Perak State, Malaya, now Malaysia,
belonged to a secret society. The difference was whether he was a active
member or just a sleeping member. Father was a non-active member of the
Hong Men League (洪門派).
This is a brief account about the Hong Men League (洪門派).
There are many theories about the formation of the secret society of Hong
Men. The most common one is that Hong Men was formed by five people whom
members of Hong Men called the "Five Ancestors 五祖". One has to spend a
lot of them to go through the "Five Ancestors". Let us skip it. The second
name of Hong Men is Tian Di Hui (天地會) or the League of Heaven and Earth.
橋邊飲水 Drinking water near the bridge
義兄叫你拜靈神, 三八二一不差分.
飲過橋頭三合水, 齊家都是姓洪人.
三河合水萬年流, 二十一人共一舟.
洗淨凡心見五祖, 反骨奸心定不留.
NOTE:
三八二一 (3821) means the character 洪 (Hong).
The radical of three dots equals to = 三 (3).
The radical of two downward strokes equals to =八 (8).
The two crosses equals to twenty = 十十 (20)
The one straight stroke between the two crosses and the two
downward strokes equals to = 一 (1)
It is therefore 3821 (thirty eight, twenty one) = 洪 (Hong)
The saying of the character Hong 洪 is:
三八二一正分明,
洪字寫來無加減.
You have to be very clear and precise with 3821
There are no adds and minuses in writing the word Hong.
三合水 or 三河合水 indicates the place or confluence where the three rivers
meet. This was the place where the members of the Hong Men League (洪門派
) swore an oath to be brothers of Hong Men League. The couplet of this is:
地鎮高溪, 一派江水千古秀,
門朝大海, 三河合水萬年流.
The above poem is one of the twelve poems of the secret society of Hong
Men League. It is impossible for me to tell you here how the members of
this society communicate by using hand signals and arranging teapots and
teacups. There are thirty one ways to arrange a teapot and twelve teacups.There
is a ditty in each of the patterns. A member, by using his two hands and
the fingers, can show 19 different signals.
From the book "私會黨 or The Secret Societies" by 郭仁德 (Guo Rende).
There were many active secret societies in Malaya in the 19th and 20th centuries.
When a new emigrant (Xin Ke 新客) arrived in Malaya he felt safe if he could
be protected by an organization for any unforeseen calamities. Many of the
new migrants joined a secret society for protection and to seek for assistance
in many forms in a new country. The commonest one among these secret societies
was the Hong Men Pai (洪門派) or the Hong Men League.
Father joined the Hong Men League before he got married. Years later, he
told his children that everybody belonged to a secret society during that
time lest one felt one was not protected. He had a very small tattoo in
the form of a little plum flower (梅花) on the back of his left palm between
the thumb and the second finger. When I grew up I could see him, occasionally,
whenever he was free, he used a razor blade trying to cut off the tattoo.
He told me that it just would not go away. He had even tried acid to burn
off that part of the skin and the tattoo always came back after the skin
was healed. The tattoo stayed with him until he passed away on January 1st
1986 (Note. he was born on the 2nd day of Chinese New year 1904. He got
married on 1st January 1930. He died on 1st January 1986).
Posted to asiawind.com
By CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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