The myth of brotherhood: Hong Kong’s triads evolve amid new criminal landscape

Not long after he entered secondary school, Hong Kong youth Jason* was bullied by an older student with triad links. He was relieved when another senior stepped in to protect him. He helped Jason take revenge on the bully, then recruited him into a syndicate.

Without undergoing any initiation ritual, Jason paid his protector a red packet to become an informal triad member. Later on, he discovered that the two seniors belonged to the same gang but took orders from different bosses.

At first, Jason was just a street-corner kid, pushing people around at a housing estate. But as he drew closer to the triad’s core group, Jason began to realise that brotherhood was a myth and that business was the order of the day. In the underworld, everything was built on money.

‘Once I got closer to the boss, I started realising how it worked. He was using the triad to make money. I felt I could actually make a living off this, so I joined the inner circle to give it a shot,’ he said.