The 14K – From Patriotic Triads to Criminal Hydra

The 14K triad society is in fact composed of multiple factionalized groups rather than a single cohesive organization. This is at odds with the writings of some mainly Western analysts who see the moniker “14K” and mistakenly assume that the society is a single entity whose members work together across national boundaries. The Royal Hong Kong Police have understood the factionalized nature of the 14K for many years, which stems from its historical origins.

The 14K has no historical basis in dynastic Chinese history and did not originate from the Hung Mun triad legend of “resisting the Qing to restore the Ming dynasty.” The 14K triad society was not formed until the mid-20s.^and century in Canton Province and later in Hong Kong.

The establishment of the 14K must be understood in the context of the nationalistic structure of government after the 1911 Revolution ended the Qing Dynasty. As a report by the Triad Society Bureau of the Royal Hong Kong Police in 1977 stated:

“Between the two world wars the various Triad societies in China had continued their activities with the connivance of government officials, and in time membership in Triad societies came to be regarded by the government as a normal practice to be encouraged, to the extent that government and military officials took the Triad initiation oath in public ceremonies.”

The 14K triad society emerged from efforts by the nationalist Kuomintang to rally more supporters in its fight against the Chinese Communist Party after its defeat by the Japanese in 1945. From the end of the war against the Japanese until the victory of the communist forces in 1949, the Kuomintang established links with triad societies and created what later became known as the “14K”, as recognized by British authorities in Hong Kong. A report by the British Army Intelligence Corps stated that:

“There were a large number of branch societies in South China and they were used extensively, not only by criminals but also by military leaders in their struggle for power. Their zenith was reached around 1945 when the societies became, in effect, official organizations of the Nationalist government. This official recognition was largely brought about through the efforts of General TAI LEE, the head of the Nationalist Intelligence Bureau. He hoped that the recruitment of as large a section of the population as possible into an organization dedicated to resisting all “foreign” domination over China would help to strengthen the spirit of the Nationalist supporters and also help to prevent Communist infiltration into the army and government. The man charged with the actual task of reorganizing, integrating and expanding the various societies was Lieutenant-General KOT SIU WONG, himself a long-standing member of the Triad.”

This resulted in the recruitment of thousands of nationalist troops and civilians into the new society, with initiation ceremonies including oaths of allegiance such as “obedience to the KMT cause” and “death before desertion”, often sworn in front of a photograph of Dr. Sun Yat Sen.

General Kot integrated triad societies in the Guangdong region under the name of the Hung Fat Shan Branch of the Chung Yee Wui, governed by 36 sub-branches reporting to the headquarters at No. 14, Po Wah Road, Canton. The thousands of new recruits had little knowledge of the procedures or even the actual name, and so began to use the Canton headquarters address as the name of the society, calling themselves “Sap Sei Ho” (Cantonese for “Number 14”) or “Sap Sei Wui” (“Number 14 Society”) or “Ma Gut” (“Double 7”). It was not until 1955 that the society was called by its now common name, when after a fierce battle with the Yuet Tong triad in Shek Kip Mei the society became known as the “14K” with the addition of “K” apparently representing the 14 karat gold which was harder than the soft gold preferred in Hong Kong.

At the time of its founding, the association had a main branch in Canton and the following 18 sub-branches, which were named in Cantonese after desirable human virtues:

fed up (Current / Fixed)

Chin (Active)

Swanness (Loyal)

House (Daughterly)

Jan (Friendly)

Ngoi (Love)

Flee (Fidelity)

Yes (Righteous)

Wed (Calm)

Ping (Peaceful)

Lai (Polite)

Lim (Imperishable)

Family (Strong)

Ngai (Determined)

Young (Courageous)

Equipment (Beautiful)

Tsjoen (Eminent)

Disks (Honestly)

After the defeat of the KMT by the CCP in 1949, many Nationalist soldiers and some of their families fled from mainland China to Hong Kong, including General Kot Siu Wong. In 1950, General Kot was deported to Taiwan, but he returned in 1951. The general began to reorganize the association in Hong Kong and, according to British Army Intelligence, successfully reactivated all 18 former branches of the Hung Fat Shan. The association was re-established in Hong Kong among former Nationalist soldiers at Rennie’s Mill, Kowloon, where the British authorities had resettled them.

The first active group of the 14K consisted of KMT soldiers stationed at Rennie’s Mill camp. They took the name of the Flee a subdivision of the Hung Fat Shan, whose purpose, according to British Army Intelligence, “was originally quite patriotic and was intended to provide intelligence agents to work for the Nationalists in Hong Kong and on the mainland and to provide a large force of Nationalist supporters ready to push back and reoccupy the mainland when the KMT launched its counter-invasion.”

After the death of General Kot in 1953, the association’s branch leaders stopped cooperating and there was no central control. The British tried to prevent this by means of disruptions and measures, such as the deportation of Kot Siu Wong’s son in 1955.

Most of the company’s sub-branches began to urgently recruit anyone to join them, by persuasion, bribery or threats, in order to gain numerical superiority over their rivals and weaken their patriotic aims. By the mid-1950s, British Army Intelligence estimated that 13 of the company’s 15 active sub-branches were entirely criminal in nature, with each largely carving out spheres of influence in Kowloon that it would defend by force. House A sub-branch of the 14K was estimated to have 10,000 to 15,000 members. The organization was involved in extortion, protection, drug trafficking and prostitution control throughout Kowloon, as well as in the Sheung Shui and Yuen Long areas.

In 1956, an attempt was made to form a Kuomintang-controlled organization when officials in Taiwan planned to reorganize the 14K into a cohesive unit to include other Triad societies. This attempt also failed, but partly because the call for 14K officials to travel from Hong Kong to Taiwan was interrupted by the “Double Tenth” riots that began on October 10, 1956, which led to a large-scale crackdown on Triad activities by the Hong Kong police, including deportations of Triad officials and members. The patriotic origins of the 14K were gradually lost, except for some associations of older members with the Nationalists in Taiwan.

By the 1970s, the 14K was a factionalized set of separate criminal gangs using the generic name 14K, but each under different leaders. The RHKP Triad Society Bureau noted in 1977 that:

“The 14K is not a well-organized society and no longer has a clearly defined hierarchy. It consists of separate groups that operate virtually autonomously, six of which are easily identifiable. The groups are run by cliques and powerful individuals rather than by a rank structure. Because of the lack of proper control, the groups often quarrel with each other and within themselves. For this reason, the 14K is more likely than other Triad Societies to indulge in rivalries and bloody gang fights, both within its own ranks and against outsiders.”

A good example of a 14K faction led by a powerful leader was the ’14K Gai Sze’ (14K Marketplace), led by Ng Man Sun. His background was made public in a 1990 High Court lawsuit that Ng filed against the operators of a Chinese magazine called ‘The Original’. The January 7, 1989 issue of the magazine published an article about a former employee of a Hong Kong wholesale vegetable market nicknamed ‘Market Wai’ who was involved in triad membership, large-scale organized illegal gambling operations in Hong Kong, and bribing government officials in the Philippines in connection with a casino he operated in the country.

“Market Wai” was reported in the article as having recruited “more than a hundred 14K brothers” in Hong Kong to “go all the way to Macau to kill ‘Mo Tang Ping’ and his followers.” As part of his alleged maneuvering in a triad feud, “Market Wai” was also reported in the article to have once made a false bomb threat to Macau police. This was the story of “Market Boy Wai”, leader of the “14K Gai Sze” (14K Market) faction. Despite the public disclosure of the 14K triad background in the alleged libel case involving Ng Man Sun, the judge ruled against the magazine’s producers and awarded damages to “Market Boy Wai.” His case illustrates the nature of a faction of the 14K controlled by a single powerful leader, and in effect a separate triad society from other 14K factions.

Despite the well-documented fragmentation of the 14K over many decades from the 1940s onwards, references to its origins persist. In July 2007, the Hong Kong High Court heard an appeal brought by two men convicted in the Magistrates Court after claiming to be members of a triad association, the 14K. Evidence in the case included how the defendants and their associates referred to themselves as being from “No. 14 Hung Fat Shan”, a reference to the original branch founded by General Kot Siu Wong. Police experts indicated that it was generally older members of the 14K triad who referred to the Hung Fat Shan.

The 1977 Triad Society Bureau report summarized the nature of the 14K as follows: “Although the 14K is the largest of the Triad Societies, it is not a cohesive entity and is particularly prone to internal strife.” The 14K has never been a cohesive organized crime group, and as Chinese organized crime expands into new regions, the 14K should not be considered a large-scale threat. Further research and investigation of individual Triad factions and specific leaders is needed to determine their size and influence, but it does not stem from any association with a central 14K Triad society, which has long been relegated to mythology.