These notes about Chinese secret societies in Singapore in the 19th and early 20th century were made by William Stirling, Assistant Protector of Chinese from 1921 to 1931. The William Stirling Collection includes two folios of such notes, as well as numerous other objects and documents that had been seized from the secret societies during police raids after the societies were declared illegal by the colonial government in 1890. Secret societies in Singapore originated from the Tiandihui (Heaven and Earth Society) in China, a sworn fraternity of men with the common aim of overthrowing the Qing dynasty and restoring the Ming. With the influx of Chinese workers to Singapore in the 19th century, the society became a form of mutual-aid and support, but gradually evolved to become large crime syndicates. They were forced underground after 1890 and had become little more than steet gangs by the middle of the 20th century.
