The Shanghai Green Gang
Politics and Organized Crime, 1919-1937
$60.00, £35.00 hardcover
978-0-520-20114-9
Available Now
279 pages,
April 1996, Available worldwide
Categories: History; Asian History; China; Politics; Criminology
April 1996, Available worldwide
Categories: History; Asian History; China; Politics; Criminology
"Without acknowledging and understanding the crucial role of the Green Gang in the rise of modern Shanghai, we would have an incomplete and distorted picture of one of China's most vibrant cities. Martin's splendid book fills that void."—History
"There is little doubt that Martin's book offers the reader the most detailed picture so far of Green Gang activities in Shanghai in the eighteen-year period under review. Martin is at his best in the archival unearthing of detail. The work, therefore, moves smoothly during this process of 'excavation.' As he moves from the surface concerns of the Green Gang and into the deeper and more detailed account of Du Yuesheng's life and politicking, Martin's text appears as a coherent and tightly woven piece of work."—Review of Politics
"[Those] wishing to play sleuth and explore . . . composite elements will want to read Brian G. Martin's masterly Shanghai Green Gang."—AsianWeek
"Martin has completed the first significant Western-language monographic study of the Green Gang."—Choice
"Our knowledge has been substantially enriched and integrated into a whole by Brian Martin. . . . His book will remain the scholarly history of the Green Gang for years to come."—China Journal
"There is little doubt that Martin's book offers the reader the most detailed picture so far of Green Gang activities in Shanghai in the eighteen-year period under review. Martin is at his best in the archival unearthing of detail. The work, therefore, moves smoothly during this process of 'excavation.' As he moves from the surface concerns of the Green Gang and into the deeper and more detailed account of Du Yuesheng's life and politicking, Martin's text appears as a coherent and tightly woven piece of work."—Review of Politics
"[Those] wishing to play sleuth and explore . . . composite elements will want to read Brian G. Martin's masterly Shanghai Green Gang."—AsianWeek
"Martin has completed the first significant Western-language monographic study of the Green Gang."—Choice
"Our knowledge has been substantially enriched and integrated into a whole by Brian Martin. . . . His book will remain the scholarly history of the Green Gang for years to come."—China Journal
In a remarkable example of history as detective work, Brian 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. Illustrating its multilayered and complex relations with the bourgeoisie, the industrial proletariat, and the foreign and domestic political authorities, Martin demonstrates how these factors led to the Green Gang's absorption into the corporate state system after 1932.
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. Illustrating its multilayered and complex relations with the bourgeoisie, the industrial proletariat, and the foreign and domestic political authorities, Martin demonstrates how these factors led to the Green Gang's absorption into the corporate state system after 1932.
Spymaster: Dai Li and the Chinese Secret Service, by Frederic Wakeman Jr.
Policing Shanghai, 1927-1937, by Frederic Wakeman, Jr.
Policing Shanghai, 1927-1937, by Frederic Wakeman, Jr.