“…British colonial administrators in Shanghai and Hong Kong in the late 19th century who were, following the fashion of those times, often members of masonic lodges, interpreted the tradition of tian di hui through Western knowledge of masonic rituals, demonstrating little understanding for Chinese specifics. Tian di hui societies were viewed simply as an exotic parallel of masonic societies and hence named as 'the Triads' (Petta, 2017). The British colonialists, often paranoid of everything Chinese -going as far as being proudly ignorant of the Chinese language and culture -saw secret societies as a political threat and therefore outlawed all of them, interpreting them as inherently criminal in nature.…”