|
The Tong Wars were a series of violent disputes fought from the 1880s through 1921 among rival Chinese Tong factions centered in San Francisco's Chinatown district. Tong wars could be triggered by a variety of inter-gang grievances, from the public besmirching of another tong’s honor to failure to make full payment for a “slave girl” to the murder of a rival tong member. Each tong had salaried soldiers, known as boo how doy, who fought in Chinatown alleys and streets over the control of opium, prostitution, gambling, and territory.〔Zelenko, Michael. "The Tongs of Chinatown - FoundSF." FoundSF. http://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Tongs_of_Chinatown (accessed December 3, 2012).〕 These various criminal tongs numbered anywhere between nineteen to as many as thirty during the full swing of the Tong Wars, but it is hard to be absolutely sure, with such an abundance of splintering and mergers between the various tongs.〔Richard Dillon, Hatchet Men (Coward-McCann, New York, 1962) pg.138〕 While a loose alliance, consisting of the Chinatown police, Donaldina Cameron, the courts, and the Chinese community itself tried to stem the tide of the fighting tongs, it was the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and subsequent fires caused by the earthquake that was the death knell for the tongs at least in San Francisco, as it destroyed the brothels, gambling dens, and opium houses that the criminal organizations had used for the majority of their revenue. == Tong Structure == Despite being numerous, the tongs had some similarities and differences.To join most tongs, there were no requirements placed on being from a specific clan or birthplace, as well as no particular economic status, since tong members seem to have come from all different aspects of society.〔Zelenko, "The Tongs of Chinatown” - FoundSF〕 Also, while most of the tong members were obviously Chinese, membership was not limited to the basis of nationality, as Japanese, Filipino, and even Caucasians were known, albeit rarely, to be part of a tong organization. All tongs used harmless and peaceful sounding names, such as The Society of Pure Upright Spirits and the Peace and Benevolence Society.〔Dillon, Hatchet Men pg.118〕 This could be because many of these organizations original intentions and goals were good. Many of the “traditional” tongs were formed for the collective protection of their countrymen from discrimination by others, as well as criminals in general.〔“Tong War” Encyclopedia Britannica, (accessed December 2, 2012) http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/599143/tong-war〕 The criminal elements of the tongs eventually either found that it was more profitable to participate in illicit activities, or the criminal elements of the tong wrestled power away. Tongs took an intense interest in attempting to corner the market on criminal markets, especially anything that would bring in a nice profit, such as prostitution, opium, gambling, and forcing Chinese merchants to pay “protection fees.” One interesting aspect of the tongs was that each organization had two to three fluent English speakers, who served a variety of functions for the tong such as skimming over the local newspapers so that if their group was mentioned, they could inform their fellow members. They also dealt with the “foreigner” lawyers and Americans if the need arose. Membership numbers varied from tong to tong, from as few as 50 to as many as 1,500 members in 1887.〔Dillon, Hatchet Men pg.119〕 It was common for a tong to splinter when it accumulated too many members. One problem that was common throughout the period that would aid in the breakout of wars between the tongs was that some members could be a member of six tongs at any one time, so that if that member was killed by another tong in a war, one of his other five tongs he was a member of would, and sometimes did, seek revenge by declaring war. Only the Hip Sing tong is known to have established their tong on the East coast, making it the only known bi-coastal tong. A unique aspect of the Chee Kong tong was that their members used many euphemisms to direct their members, for example to order a kill on somebody was to “wash his body” (i.e. in his own blood), a rifle was called a “dog” and a pistol was suitably nicknamed a “puppy” while bullets and ammo were called “dog feed.”〔Dillon, Hatchet Men pg. 123〕 When the leader wished for his men to fire, he shouted “let the dogs bark!” Usually, one tong specialized in a specific illegal activity, such as gambling, although some even had legitimate businesses, and some had both, such as the Bo Sin Seer tong, which ran many gambling dens but also had grocery stores under their ownership.The Wah Ting San Fong tong and the On Yick tong were said to specialize in the brothels, with the Kwong Duck tong and On Leung tong specializing in the trade of slave girls. Gambling dens was left to the Hip Sing tong. Most initiation ceremonies were not as elaborate as the first known tong organizations had, as the Chee Kong tong was quite traditional in this aspect, with accounts stating that the group still used many Triad symbols and signs. While uncertain as to whether or not other tongs adhered to this characteristic as well, but the Chee Kong tong headquarters would not observe any traditional Chinese holidays, and would only fly their flag full mast when it was a tong holiday, or when war was on the horizon. The hatchet men, also known to outsiders of the Chinatown as ''highbinders'', were the salaried soldiers of the tongs. These soldiers most likely were from the Chinese lower classes, as many were uneducated and less “motivated” to become a law abiding citizen of any country. Allegedly, 20% of each of the tong's membership population was said to be the professional soldiers.〔Dillon, Hatchet Men pg. 113〕 Known to Chinese as the “boo how doy”, these men formed the professional toughs of the tong, and usually carried out their missions with precision and fearlessness. It is said that many hatchet men just prior to an assassination mission or battle with a rival tong would consume wildcat meat, in hopes that they would temporarily acquire the reflexes and sight of the animal.〔 The “boo how doy” used a variety of weapons to accomplish their bloody deeds, ranging from small knives, to hatchets (by far their favorite melee weapon) in the close quarter department, and they seem to have taken a particular fondness to the Colt .45 Revolver for their longer range needs. The hatchet that the highbinders used was somewhat modified from what one usually thinks of a hatchet, as they would cut much of the handle off just enough to have a good grip, and cut a hole into it.〔Dillon, Hatchet Men pg.107〕 The hatchet men were also known to use many different materials as body armor, with varying success. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tong Wars」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|