05 Jan Secret Societies

Last week saw the launch of a new book from the eminent Penang historian Tan Kim Hong – The Story of Ghee Hin Kongsi in Penang (in Chinese). With a mastery of both classical and contemporary sources, the book traces the history of one of the most important secret society associations that flourished in Malaya in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, focusing on one of its strongest branch organisations in Penang. The Ghee Hin was a semi-legal society internally controlled by oath taking, ceremonies based on Chinese cosmology and philosophy, and strong sanctions for breaking the society’s rules. We are also distributing The Story of Ghee Hin Kongsi in Penang to other retailers, so please contact us if you want to place a trade order. The book builds on Kim Hong’s seminal The Chinese in Penang: A Pictorial History (in Chinese and English, Areca).