Secret societies in China's historical evolution / Jean Chesneaux -- Some religious aspects of secret societies / Guillaume Dunstheimer -- The secret societies of Kwangtung, 1800-1856 / Frederic Wakeman, Jr. -- The anti-Manchu propaganda of the Triads, ca. 1800-1860 / Boris Novikov -- Taiping relations with secret societies and with other rebels / C.A. Curwen -- The making of a rebel : Liu Yung-fu and the formation of the Black Flag Army / Ella S. Laffey -- Some notes on the Ko-lao Hui in late Ch'ing China / Charlton M. Lewis -- The Ko-lao Hui and the anti-foreign incidents of 1891 / Guy Puyraimond -- The Hung Hu-tzu of northeast China / Mark Mancall and Georges Jidkoff / Notes on the early role of secret societies in Sun Yat-sen's republican movement / Lilia Borokh -- Triads, salt smugglers, and local uprisings : observations on the social and economic background of the Waichow Revolution of 1911 / Winston Hsieh -- Secret societies, popular movements, and the 1911 revolution / John Lust -- The Red Spears in the late 1920's / Roman Slawinski -- Secret societies and peasant self-defense, 1921-1933 / Lucien Bianco -- The I-kuan Tao Society / Lev Deliusin.

Introduction: From the Confucian Order to the Peoples China -- A Secret Society: The Triad -- A Few Other Societies -- The White Lotus / Pai Lien Hui -- The Eight Diagrams / Pa-Kua -- The Nein -- The Big Sword Society / Ta-tao-hui -- The Boxers / I Ho Chuan -- The Observance Society / Chai Li-hui -- The Vegetarians / Chai-chiao -- The Red Beards / Hung Hu-tzu -- The Red Spears -- The Association of Elder Brothers / Ko-lao-hui -- The Green Band / Ching-Pang -- The Little Sword Society / Hsiao-tao-hui -- The Golden Coins Society / Chin-chien-hui -- The Pure Tea Sect / Ching-cha-hui -- The Golden Elixir Society / Chin-tan-hui -- The Way of Fundamental Unity / Yi-kuan-tao -- Secret Societies and Chinese Society -- Against Imperial Power -- Against Foreign Penetration -- In the Service of the Republican Cause -- The Chinese Revolution 1919-1949 -- An Interim Conclusion.