{{Short description|Former secret society in Singapore and Malaya}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox criminal organization | native_name = 義興公司 | native_name_lang = zh | image = The Ghee Hin membership certificate.jpg | caption = Ghee Hin membership certificate | ethnicity = Cantonese people<br />Hokkien people }}
The '''Ghee Hin Kongsi''' ({{zh|s=义兴公司|t=義興公司|p=Yì Xīng Gōngsī|poj=Gī Hin Kong-si|j=ji{{sup|6}} hing{{sup|1}} gung{{sup|1}} si{{sup|1}}|first=poj}}) was a secret society in Singapore and Malaya, formed in 1820. Ghee Hin literally means "the rise of righteousness" in Chinese and was part of the Hongmen overseas network. The Ghee Hin often fought against the Hakka-dominated Hai San secret society.
Ghee Hin was initially dominated by Cantonese people, although Hokkien people formed the majority by 1860. Teochew, Hainanese, and Hakka people formed smaller minorities. One of the major leaders of Ghee Hin was Chin Ah Yam, a Hakka peasant from rural Dabu County, Guangdong.<ref>{{cite web|title=Overseas Chinese in the British Empire - Chin Ah Yam|url=http://overseaschineseinthebritishempire.blogspot.sg/2012/08/chin-ah-yam.html|date=5 August 2012|access-date=10 December 2014|archive-date=25 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225162726/http://overseaschineseinthebritishempire.blogspot.sg/2012/08/chin-ah-yam.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The secret society, of Hongmen origin, was set up to provide mutual aid and support for Chinese migrants, with the common aim of overthrowing the Qing dynasty and restoring the Ming.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.roots.gov.sg/Collection-Landing/listing/1115293|title=Notice of initiation ceremony of Ghee Hin Kongsi from William Stirling Collection|publisher=National Heritage Board|access-date=4 July 2022|archive-date=30 May 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240530014628/https://www.roots.gov.sg/Collection-Landing/listing/1115293|url-status=live}}</ref> Their main lodge in Singapore was located on Lavender Street, and contained the ancestral tablets of important ex-members, before being donated to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital when it was torn down in 1892, following the "Suppression of Secret Societies Ordinance".
The Ghee Hin were notorious for committing mass killings of such targets as the Catholic Hakka ethnic group in 1850 (with approximately 500 casualties),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mhNBCmZ2QaAC&pg=PA91|title=Singapore: Wealth, Power and the Culture of Control|isbn=9780415263863|last1=Trocki|first1=Carl A.|year=2006|publisher=Psychology Press }}</ref> and post office workers in 1876, due to their opposition to a new, more expensive monopoly on postage and remittances. The colonial government began to move towards surveillance, control, and finally suppression of Ghee Hin from the 1890s onwards. The Teochew people who belonged to the Ghee Hin secret society were massacred by the hundreds, if not thousands.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ding Eing Tan|title=A Portrait of Malaysia and Singapore|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jl64AAAAIAAJ|year=1978|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-580722-6}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} * Lim, Irene. (1999) ''Secret societies in Singapore'', National Heritage Board, Singapore History Museum, Singapore {{ISBN|981-3018-79-8}}
==External links== * [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9000835 Ghee Hin — Encyclopædia Britannica] [http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic?idxStructId=232611&typeId=13]
Category:Secret societies in Singapore Category:Organised crime groups in Malaysia Category:Organised crime groups in Singapore Category:History of Perak Category:Triad groups Category:Chinese secret societies Category:Hokkien-language phrases Category:Teochew culture in Singapore
{{Singapore-stub}} {{Malaysia-org-stub}} {{law-enforcement-stub}} {{asia-hist-stub}}