Triads

The earliest triads started as resistance/rebel forces who opposed Manchu rule in China during the Qing Dynasty, as the Manchu ethnic group were regarded as foreign invaders in the predominant Han Chinese society of China then. In the 1760s, the Heaven and Earth Society (???) was founded, with its objective to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and restore Han Chinese rule in China. As the society's influence spread throughout China, it branched into several smaller groups with different names, one of which was the Three Harmonies Society (???). These societies adopted the triangle as their emblem, usually accompanied by decorative images of swords or portraits of Guan Yu. The term "triad" was first coined by British authorities in colonial Hong Kong, as a reference to the triads' use of triangular imagery.[1] While never proven, it is "highly probable" that triad organizations either took after or were originally part of the revolutionary movement called the White Lotus Society.[2