BOOK REVIEWS
223
SECRET SOCIETIES IN CHINA: IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES. Jean Chesneaux, Hong Kong: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., 1971.
Secret groupings which make use of religious conceptions and symbols have frequently attracted the interests of observers, and many have written up their experiences or impressions. In recent years they have also attracted the theoretical and analytical attentions of scholars, not only of students of religion, but also social scientists specialising in politics, economics and even military history. This is because of the common although by no means exclusive association such groupings have with the poorer levels of society, the harsh social or physical conditions in which they often emerge, and the uprisings against the establishment which they organize or in which they participate from time to time.
Many theories about their origins have been suggested by those working within the Marxist framework of analysis, and social rather than cognitive factors are given the main emphasis. But the whole problem of causality, and of what such groupings are really trying to achieve is very complex. We are not yet very far ahead in our understanding of such matters in comparative world terms. For this reason one welcomes any new book on the subject and particularly one dealing with groupings which have operated against such a rich and varied cultural and social background as China. In 1971 Current Anthropology published a bibliographical, comparative, essay on 'crisis cults' as they were termed by the author, but China received scarcely a mention. One reason may be that the material is often scattered and unsystematic, although there are a few notable exceptions dealing with particular groups. Here, in this book the author brings together some of the material in an easily readable form.
A number of sources of information are used including eye-witness accounts, those of former members and of people in close contact with them, 'mandarin' sources, and accounts of such outside observers as missionaries, journalists, consular officials etc. Sections of the book include a detailed discussion of the Triad, one of the better documented secret societies and known of course in Hong Kong through the press and the excellent fact-providing work on the subject by Morgan (1960) published by the Hong Kong Government, and now sadly out of print. A 'few other societies' are also described and discussed, some very briefly indeed, and an attempt...
BOOK REVIEWS
223
SECRET SOCIETIES IN CHINA: IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES. Jean Chesneaux, Hong Kong: Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., 1971.
Secret groupings which make use of religious conceptions and symbols have frequently attracted the interests of observers, and many have written up their experiences or impressions. In recent years they have also attracted the theoretical and analytical atten- tions of scholars, not only of students of religion, but also social scientists specialising in politics, economics and even military history. This is because of the common although by no means exclusive association such groupings have with the poorer levels of society, the harsh social or physical conditions in which they often emerge, and the uprisings against the establishment which they organize or in which they participate from time to time.
Many theories about their origins have been suggested by those working within the marxist framework of analysis, and social rather than cognitive factors are given the main emphasis. But the whole problem of causality, and of what such groupings are really trying to achieve is very complex. We are not yet very far ahead in our understanding of such matters in comparative world terms. For this reason one welcomes any new book on the subject and particularly one dealing with groupings which have operated against such a rich and varied cultural and social background as China. In 1971 Cur- rent Anthropology published a bibliographical, comparative, essay on 'crisis cults' as they were termed by the author, but China received scarcely a mention. One reason may be that the material is often scattered and unsystematic, although there are a few notable excep. tions dealing with particular groups. Here, in this book the author brings together some of the material in an easily readable form.
A number of sources of information are used including eye- witness accounts, those of former members and of people in close contact with them, 'mandarin' sources, and accounts of such outside observers as missionaries, journalists, consular officials etc. Sections of the book include a detailed discussion of the Triad, one of the better documented secret societies and known of course in Hong Kong through the press and the excellent fact-providing work on the subject by Morgan (1960) published by the Hong Kong Govern- ment, and now sadly out of print. A 'few other societies' are also described and discussed, some very briefly indeed, and an attempt
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