CO537-2188 — Page 225

(2)

"Agitation by the governed for reform was as improper and

contrary to the nature of things as for the governors to interfere

in the private life of the governed. The result was a static

society where the virtues of toleration, compromise, and acceptance

of the rightness of things as they are, throve as helpful to

survival.

5.

"The family merged in the clan. There are to this day in

Hong Kong associations of men with the same surname. And in China

there were guilds and societies many of them secret, the most famous

or notorious being the Triad Society of Heaven and Tarth Association.

It was traditionally established in A.D. 1674 and its object

originally was to overthrow the Tsing Dynasty or Manchus and restore

the Ming Dynasty. It possessed an elaborate ritual based on the

fabulous history of its founders, which is described in considerable

detail in Stanton's book. It was concerned in most of the rebellions

in China for over two hundred years, and has survived the overthrow

of the Manchus, its professed raison d'être, and either substituted

as its object the overthrow of imperialism or degenerated into

simple racketeering. Gangs of bullies who sell "protection"

frequently bind themselves together in a debased imitation of Triad

forms.

6

"The guild divided society vertically not horizontally as do

the modern trade unions. The apprentice in a handicraft guild might

in time become a master and influential in the regulation of his

trade. The guilds were supreme within their own respective trades

but did not concern themselves with the Government of the country.

Some of the powerful commercial associations had branches in all

important towns to which their members when travelling might go as

to a club.

7.

"Into this civilized and cultured but mediaeval society with

its elens and guilds and secret societies broke the western world of

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