This study examines the emergence and evolution in China of a tradition of popular organization generally known under the rubric of "secret society." The author suggests that the secret society is properly understood as one variety of the "brotherhood association," a category that encompasses a range of popular fraternal organizations that flourished in the early and mid-Qing period.
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Inhaltsverzeichnis
A note on conventions; Introduction: Chinese brotherhoods and secret societies through the opium war; 1. Brotherhood associations in Southeast China through the Lin Shuangwen rebellion; 2. Brotherhood associations, secret societies, and rebellion: the background to the Lin Suangwen uprising; 3. Rebellions with and without secret societies: Zhu Yigui and Lin Shuangwen compared; 4. Secret societies and popular religion: the Tianhihui in the Western Fujian-Eastern Jiangxi region in the Jiaqing-Daoguang period; 5. Marginality and ideology: Qing representations of brotherhood associations and secret societies; 6. Chinese brotherhood associations and late imperial China; Appendix A: Participation in the Lin Shuangwen uprising; Appendix B: Chronology of the Lin Shuangwen uprising; Notes; Bibliography; Glossary; Index.