Open ArcanaARCANA APERTA

DISC-0048 / ITEM-0024

Initiation ceremony and the thirty-six articles of the oath

Heaven and Earth Society (Tiandihui, Hung League) · Southern China / Chinese diaspora

Disclosure date
1866
Date precision
Year
Disclosure method
Academic research
Extent
Full
Record review
Reviewed

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Restricted material and access

The ceremony by which new members are admitted to the lodge, including the reading of the oath and the blood rite.

Material type
Initiatory rite
Restricted to
Sworn members of the league
Restriction mechanism
oath, social_sanction
Stated reason
Not recorded beyond the oath itself, which requires secrecy even within the family (CLM-0045)
Tradition origins
18th century (its legend places the founding under the Kangxi emperor)

Recorded practice status

Unknown

Status as of
Not recorded
Status claims
Not recorded

Disclosure dates, source publication dates, tradition origins and dates of practice are separate.

What this disclosure covers

The lodge ritual, the thirty-six articles of the oath and the catechism, with the Chinese text

Made from manuscripts seized by the Dutch colonial police.

The source

Thian Ti Hwui: The Hung-League or Heaven-Earth-League, a Secret Society with the Chinese in China and India ↗ (SRC-0052; authenticity: Unassessed)

Author
Gustaaf Schlegel
Original publication
1866
Linked edition
Not recorded
Format
Book
Provenance
official_seizure → scholarship
Rights of source work
Public domain
Identifiers
ia:thiantihwuihungl00schluoft
Source content hash
Not recorded

Batavia. Translates the league's manuscripts: books seized by the police at Padang (Sumatra) in 1863, a book found at Japara (Java) in 1851, and two manuscripts given to the Batavian Society, with Chinese text.

Claims about this item

These claims may cite other sources for the same restricted item. Supporting and contradicting evidence remain separate.

CLM-0045 · Content

The oath has thirty-six articles, read aloud to the new members as they kneel. The first binds them to filial piety and obedience to superiors on pain of being struck by five thunderbolts; the second binds them to keep everything about the league secret from their wives and families, even a father from his son and an elder brother from a younger, on pain of dying and becoming a headless ghost.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
manuscripts of the 19th century (Dutch East Indies)
Locators
pp. 135–136
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against the Internet Archive text on 2026-11-04; page numbers from the scan's page index.

  • SRC-0052: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0052: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.

CLM-0046 · Content

After the oath the members rise to confirm it with blood: each new member first drinks a cup of tea to purify his mouth; the brethren prick their middle fingers with a silver needle and let the blood drip into wine, which is drunk (sometimes a cock's blood is used instead); then the new member beheads a white cock with a hatchet while verses are recited.

Claim support
Single source
Record review
Reviewed
Period
manuscripts of the 19th century (Dutch East Indies)
Locators
pp. 144–146
Sources counted as independent
Not recorded

Supporting sources

Contradicting sources: none recorded.

Checked against the Internet Archive text on 2026-11-04; page numbers from the scan's page index.

  • SRC-0052: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
  • SRC-0052: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.

Evidence qualifications

Reviewed means checked against a source. It does not establish source authenticity, independent corroboration or present-day practice.