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The Yellow Sand Society (), also known as Yellow Way Society (), and Yellow Gate Society (), was a rural secret society and folk religious sect in northern China during the 19th and 20th century. Inspired by
millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenariani ...
ideas, the movement launched several uprisings against the late
Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
, the
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
, and the Chinese
puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its o ...
s of
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. The Yellow Sands were eventually suppressed by the
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
(CCP) in the second half of the 20th century.


History


Origins

Similar to other secret societies in China, the exact origins and operations of the Yellow Sand Society are difficult to discern. Chinese secret societies occasionally changed names, and were highly decentralized, with several differently named branches operating as part of the same movement. Sometimes, completely unrelated groups also shared the same name. It is thus difficult to clearly differentiate between the secret societies. The Yellow Sands are known to have operated as "Yellow Way Society" for part of their existence and have also been equated with the "Yellow Gate Society", which was active in
Jinan Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...
, Shandong. In turn, "Yellow Gate Society" served as an alternative name for the Yellow Spears, a sub-group of the Red Spear Society. Consequently, the Yellow Sands have been characterized both as offshoot and predecessor of the Red Spear Society. It has also been theorized that the Yellow Sand Society was connected to the
White Lotus The White Lotus () is a syncretic religious and political movement which forecasts the imminent advent of the "King of Light" (), i.e., the future Buddha Maitreya. As White Lotus sects developed, they appealed to many Han Chinese who found solac ...
movement. The Yellow Sands were already active in the late
Qing Empire The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
, having possibly emerged as rural self-defense movement in reaction to the gradual decline of the Chinese government and the subsequent rise of banditry and chaos. By the late 19th century, they flourished in the isolated
Guan County, Shandong Guan County () is a county of western Shandong province, People's Republic of China, bordered by Hebei province to the west. It is administered by Liaocheng City. The population was in 1999. History As an isolated county, with relatively low ...
, at the border to
Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
. The Yellow Sand Society would continue to be most active in the border area of
Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...
, Shandong, and
Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
for the rest of its existence. In 1908, peasants in eastern Henan banded together and organized themselves as the "Yellow Way Society" in opposition to the Qing government. Three years later, these peasants started an open rebellion in an attempt to support the
Xinhai Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...
. They captured and plundered Taikang. They were defeated thereafter, with about 1,000 Yellow Way insurgents killed.


Republican China

Following the collapse of the Qing Empire, the Yellow Way Society opposed the new
Republican government Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represe ...
. This was unusual, for most secret societies chose to cooperate with the new regime until the mid-1920s. Around 1919, a man calling himself "Chu the Ninth" appeared in
Anyang County Anyang County () is a county in the north of Henan province, China. It is under the administration of Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi ...
of northern Henan. Claiming to be the ninth-generation descendant of the
Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
, he proclaimed himself
Emperor of China ''Huangdi'' (), translated into English as Emperor, was the superlative title held by monarchs of China who ruled various imperial regimes in Chinese history. In traditional Chinese political theory, the emperor was considered the Son of Heave ...
with the
era name A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year o ...
"Great Brightness" (Daming). In doing so, Chu was supported by a local Yellow Way teacher. The two jointly declared that China had to be reunified under the " true dragon ightful emperor and that only Yellow Way Society members would be spared in the coming
armageddon According to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Christian Bible, Armageddon (, from grc, Ἁρμαγεδών ''Harmagedōn'', Late Latin: , from Hebrew: ''Har Məgīddō'') is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies ...
; their insurgency against the government lasted three years and was finally suppressed by Republican militia and army forces. Thereafter the movement resumed calling itself the Yellow Sand Society and continued to organize rural communities to resist increasing taxation and government intrusion for the rest of the Warlord Era. In course of the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
(KMT)'s
Northern Expedition The Northern Expedition was a military campaign launched by the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang (KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist Party", against the Beiyang government and other regional warlords in 1926. The ...
1926–28, the power of the warlords in northern China weakened significantly. This prompted the Yellow Sands, alongside other rural groups like the Red Spears and Heavenly Gates, to seize large areas for themselves. For example, these three secret societies captured Cheng'an County in 1927 and proceeded to run the local government for several months. Although the secret societies were thus fighting the same enemies as the KMT, the latter regarded this development unfavorably. This was due to the KMT-led Nationalist government fearing that the Yellow Sands and other rural groups would hinder their own tax collections just as they had resisted the warlords' taxation. The Yellow Sand Society also took part in the Chinese resistance against the
Empire of Japan The also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was a historical nation-state and great power that existed from the Meiji Restoration in 1868 until the enactment of the post-World War II 1947 constitution and subsequent fo ...
, which increasingly occupied Chinese territory in the 1930s. One branch of the movement was reorganized by its leader Chang Yin-tang into the "People's Anti-Japanese National Salvation Self-Defence Corps", based at
Taocheng Taocheng District () is district of Hengshui, Hebei province, China. History In the 1930s, Taocheng was home to a branch of the Yellow Sand Society which reorganised itself as "People's Anti-Japanese National Salvation Self-Defence Corps", fight ...
in southern
Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...
. Another Yellow Sand faction launched an uprising against the
East Hebei Autonomous Council The East Hebei Autonomous Government (),Japanese also known as the East Ji Autonomous Government and the East Hebei Autonomous Anti-Communist Government, was a short-lived late-1930s state in northern China. It has been described by historians ...
, a
puppet state A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its o ...
of Japan, in July 1936. Led by an old
Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...
priest, the Yellow Sands managed to defeat an
East Hopei Army {{no footnotes, date=July 2015 The East Hopei Army was raised from the former soldiers of the Peace Preservation Corps that had been created by the Tangku Truce of 31 May 1933. The Demilitarized Zone Peace Preservation Corps had been the "neutr ...
unit that was sent to suppress them in
Miyun District Miyun District () is situated in northeast Beijing. It has an area of and a population of 460,800 (2010 Census). Miyun District government seat is located in Gulou Subdistrict. History Miyun was one of the places where Warlord Feng Yuxiang s ...
, whereupon the
Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...
mobilized to crush the uprising. By September, the Yellow Sand forces in Miyun had been defeated by the Japanese, with about 300 rebels killed or wounded in battle. As peasant organization, the Yellow Sand Society was among the secret societies that also attracted the
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...
(CCP)'s attention. In December 1942, CCP leader Li Ta-chang released a paper which detailed how Communist cadres should deal with rural secret societies, grouping them into three categories. The Yellow Sands were considered to be a "feudal organization" led by landlords, but also important potential allies in the war against the Japanese. Li argued that Communists should join the secret societies and covertly indoctrinate them, and only attack those groups that adamantly refused to adopt Communism. Over time, however, the Communists became increasingly frustrated with the secret societies' political conservatism and refusal to adopt Communist ideas, so that the CCP increasingly shifted from cooperating with the rural groups to undermining and dismantling them.


Suppression by the Communist Party

With the CCP's victory in the
Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
and the People's Republic of China's establishment in 1949, the secret societies were seen as a political threat. As result, the CCP started to purge
Mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
of them, violently curtailing their activities. The Yellow Sand Society was consequently suppressed as a seditious "sect". Nevertheless, remnants of the movement remained active as late as 1980, when three peasants were arrested as purported Yellow Sands. They were accused of having planned a rebellion and the reestablishment of the
Taiping Heavenly Kingdom The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, later shortened to the Heavenly Kingdom or Heavenly Dynasty, was an unrecognised rebel kingdom in China and a Chinese Christian theocratic absolute monarchy from 1851 to 1864, supporting the overthrow of the Qi ...
, and reportedly resisted arrest. In the ensuing altercation, eight policemen were injured before the purported Yellow Sands were taken into custody. All were sentenced to unknown terms of imprisonment.


Beliefs

The Yellow Sand Society, like many other Chinese secret societies, was inspired in its activities by
millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenariani ...
, spiritual and romanticised monarchist ideas. Its members believed that they could become immune to gunfire through "magic and incantations", a belief that was widely shared among secret societies. Historian Elizabeth J. Perry noted that this conviction of invulnerability was "a powerful weapon for bolstering the resolve of people who possessed few alternative resources with which to defend their meager holdings". The Yellow Sands also aimed at the restoration of the Ming dynasty. This too was a common motive among Chinese secret societies, often expressed in the slogan "Oppose the Qing; restore the Ming". This slogan remained popular in rural areas even after the Qing dynasty's fall and was still widely used in the 1940s. The rule of the Ming dynasty represented an idealized time, and it was widely believed that a Ming restoration would result in a "reign of happiness and justice for all" under a "good sovereign".


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{div col end Vigilantes 19th century in China 20th century in China Second Sino-Japanese War Chinese secret societies Self-proclaimed monarchy