Talk:Fire Nation/@comment-8081708-20130411161600/@comment-5888498-20130507184340

I got your point, Tsui! quite interesting.

Essentially, A mafia/triad can be described as a huge criminal organization as big enough to have tie with government, and an 'inner' bureaucracy to manage it. its origins can be quite different depending on the nation and politcal setup/history.

Let's talk about China and the triads then...

Triads are organizations with the same goal of western mafias [profit through crime,etc] and quite big and organized, a bit more similar to the japanese Yakuza than the italian ones for example.

The first triads begun when the Ming dynasty fell and the Qing dynasty [the manchurians, those with long, braided queues] was set up in China.

Many hatred and dissent, some secret societies AGAINST the Q'ing such as the white lotus (!!) and several other secret societies were either cracked down upon or hunted down by the qing empire.

Some decided to fight them by common warfare [raise and army, strike them,etc] some by guerrila and some by going completely underground, and raising money in illegal manners. the TIANDIHUI [Heaven and Earth society] was a Triad founded during those days, by MING DYNASTY loyalists and runaways from BURNT DOWN temples [specially the Shaolin temple] wanting to rebel against the Qing.

Some of these anti-Qing organizations become suddenly without its goal of defeating the qing when the dynasty fell by the 1911 xinhai revolution, which transformed china into a republic. without goals, they transformed itself into fully-criminal organizations, without any political goal [thats my point, TSUI]

On the chaotic 19th century, many of these secret societies also helped Chinese immigrants settling overseas [such as malaysia,US,singapore,etc] by offering protection, a share in their business or cash to set up new business.

[I can see that on avatarverse, for example the Agni Kais making deals and finances to new FN settlers on RC, for example]

Both criminal-intentioned as non-criminal organizations were considered 'triads' by the British government on hong kong, and they tried to fight it back with laws and other cracking down.

[which can be used as a plot on how the URN will try to fight them on season2/3/4]

Many other triads, existent up to modern days were formed also on the turmoils of the 20th century. For example, the 14k triad based at Hong Kong appeared as an anti-communist attack group formed by Kuomingtang [KMT, chiang kai shek's nationalist party] Army, which later disbanded when the communists took power and they went underground.