In contemporary Chinese context, "secret societies" (modern: mimi shehui, traditionally: huidang; Japanese: himitsu shakai) refers above all to the Triads (sandian hui, sanhe hui)-also known as the Heaven and Earth Society (tiandi hui) and hongmen and the Society of Brothers and Elders (gelao hui). It is much less common to use this designation for new religious groups (sects), such as the White Lotus (bailian jiao). Research into secret societies has always struggled to distinguish between truth and fiction. What is nowadays known to be fiction exerted almo…