The Heaven and Earth Society Upsurge in Early 1880s French Cochinchina

Abstract

In early 1880s Cochinchina, Heaven and Earth Society factional rivalry suddenly erupted into two years of unrest, in Sóc Trăng Province especially. What was this upheaval about? Using previously unpublished archival materials, this article argues that the trigger for this upheaval was the early 1880 decision to replace the opium revenue farm with a government monopoly on opium from January 1882. It analyses what the archives show and suggest about the Tiandihui in Cochinchina and about its likely links with important Chinese businessmen like Ban Hap, the Tan Keng brothers, Wang Tai, and others. The article concludes that these men (or others like them) instigated this unique upsurge in secret society violence as an attempt to win control of the Sóc Trăng area, a known outlaw haven with a large Chinese population, as a base for large-scale opium smuggling after the revenue farm was abolished.