The Shanghai Green Gang : politics and organized crime, 1919-1937 / Brian G. Martin.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-299) and index.

In this example of history as detective work, China analyst Martin pieces together the fascinating and complex story of the Shanghai Green Gang and its charismatic leader, Du Yuesheng. Martin sifts through a variety of fragmentary and at times contradictory evidence--from diplomatic dispatches to memoirs to police reports--to produce the most comprehensive account of this chaotic period of Chinese history. In analyzing the Green Gang's system of organized crime in Shanghai, the author broadens our understanding of a critical aspect of Chinese urban history and sheds light on the history of drug trafficking and organized crime worldwide. Martin argues that the Green Gang, the most powerful secret society in China during the first half of the twentieth century, was a resilient social organization that adapted successfully to the complex environment of a modernizing urban society, and demonstrates how it was absorbed into the corporate state system after 1932.--From publisher description.

Origins of the Green Gang -- The role of opium -- The French connection -- In the Chinese Revolution -- The pact with the devil -- Instability and crisis -- Gangster politician : Du Yuesheng and the Guomindang state -- Gangster entrepreneur : Du Yuesheng and the Shanghai economy.

Print version record.

English.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide