Tiandihui/Hongmen: Encyclopedia II - Tiandihui/Hongmen - The Hongmen today

Tiandihui/Hongmen - The Hongmen today

Today the Hongmen is an illegal society in Hong Kong, because of its links with the Triad gangs, perceived or real.

In Taiwan, by contrast, the Hongmen is not only legal, but politically influential; this came as no surprise, since Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, who founded the Republic of China, was, as mentioned before, a senior figure within the Hongmen. Moreover, the Kuomintang, or Chinese Nationalist Party, was formed from the Xingzhonghui and Guangfuhui, groups not unlike the Hongmen.

In the People's Republic of China, the Hongmen is known as the Zhi Gong Party (致公党), a minor political party which participates in the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

The Hongmen continues to exist within numerous overseas Chinese communities (where it is sometimes known as the "Chinese Freemasons"), albeit with rapidly aging memberships; its main purposes today are to act as fraternities amongst overseas Chinese, and to participate in charitable activities.

Wherever the Hongmen are, they all continue to observe certain common traditions: they all stress their patriotic origin; they all worship Guan Gong, a historic Chinese figure; and they all share certain Freemasonry-like rituals and traditions, such as the concept of brotherhood, the "secret handshake", and the use of the triangles as symbols.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Hongmen today", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki