The Dragon’s Oath : The Rise and Reach of the Hong Kong Triad
About
Into the Shadows of China’s Underworld
In the neon-lit streets of Hong Kong, whispers of the underworld travel faster than the city’s famed Star Ferry. Behind the dazzling skyline and the relentless buzz of commerce, a darker current surges—one woven into the very history of modern China. The Triads, those enigmatic and often romanticised criminal brotherhoods, have shaped destinies, toppled empires, and redefined the boundaries between crime and power. Yet, beyond their cinematic portrayals, the truth is far more complex, and far more disturbing.
This book is a journey into the heart of China’s criminal underworld, an exploration conducted not from the comfort of an armchair, but from the streets, courtrooms, and clandestine meeting places where history is being written—often in blood. As an investigative journalist, I have spent years unraveling the tangled networks of the Triads, following their money, their violence, and their influence across continents. What emerges is a picture of organisations in flux—rooted in ancient codes, but ruthlessly adaptive to the demands of the globalised 21st century.
We begin with the 14K, perhaps the most notorious and far-reaching of all Triad societies. Born in the chaos of post-war China and the upheaval of Hong Kong’s colonial years, the 14K built an empire that stretches from the casinos of Macau to the streets of Vancouver, from the jungles of Southeast Asia to the nightclubs of London. Their story is one of ambition and brutality, defined by daring heists, bloody power struggles, and a constant game of cat and mouse with international law enforcement. As we peel back the layers of their operations, we will meet the men and women who risk everything—on both sides of the law—to control or contain the 14K shadow.
From there, our attention shifts to Sun Yee On, the ‘business Triad’ whose operations blur the line between legitimate enterprise and organised crime. With roots in the commercial heart of Hong Kong, Sun Yee On’s influence is subtle but vast, seeping into real estate, finance, entertainment, and even government. Theirs is a story of white-collar crime on a grand scale—extortion, money laundering, political manipulation—conducted behind the facade of respectability. Here, power is wielded not just with guns or knives, but with contracts, bribes, and whispered threats in boardrooms and legislative chambers.
Finally, we encounter Wo Shing Wo, the oldest and perhaps most secretive of the modern Triads. Here, the mythos of the brotherhood runs deep: rituals, oaths, and symbols that reach back centuries. But beneath this veneer of tradition lies something new, and far more dangerous—the Red Dragon Pact. This clandestine alliance, forged in the shadows of geopolitical upheaval, redefines the Triad’s place in the modern world. It is a pact that draws in not just criminals, but spies and officials, with stakes that reach far beyond the criminal underworld and into the corridors of power.
Throughout this book, each case unfolds like a puzzle—linked by common threads, but each uniquely revealing the shifting face of organised crime in China. We will meet detectives and informants, prosecutors and survivors, victims, and perpetrators. We will track the flow of illicit money and dangerous goods, and we will confront the moral ambiguities that define the battle against the Triads.
This is not a book of easy answers or simple villains. It is a portrait of power in flux, of organisations that are at once ancient and modern, mythic and all too real. In peeling back these layers, I invite you to look beyond the headlines and the stereotypes, to consider the real forces that shape our world. In the shadows, the Red Dragon waits.