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Though it has gained a reputation in the mainlaind and overseas as a ferocious Chinese Triad, at its core, the true influence and power of the Golden Phoenix Guild (金凤会) is in actuality its operations as a “Black Society” (黑社会) whose roots date back to the Tiandihui (天地会, Heaven and Earth Society) in the Qing Dynasty. As a Black Society, the core of Phoenix (often referred to as the Head of the Phoenix) uses the monetary assets and leverage gained by the lower echelons of the Phoenix Guild’s illegal activities to influence politics and economics in East Asia and Southeast Asia (SEA), with their strongest wings being in Taiwan and mainland China.
Despite a shaky period following the fall of the Kuomintang and a humiliating defeat in Japan, the Phoenix Guild was able to reestablish themselves as a top level Black Society under the leadership of current leader Xiao Wei. Xiao Wei has since named his granddaughter Valerie Xiao as his heir following her victory in an expansion based Succession Competition.
As a secret cult-society under the overarching Ming Dynasty loyalist White Lotus Sect, the origins of the centuries old Phoenix Guild were as a “patriotic” assassination sect that worked with the Tiandihui and other societies to take down and undermine the corrupt and weak Qing Dynasty. The first generation of the Phoenix, then known as the Righteous Phoenix Sect (风黄懿拍), formed in the late 1770s out of Ming loyalist Shaolin monks.
The outlawing of such societies in the 1600s meant that the Phoenix remained small and relatively uninfluential for most of the Qing Dynasty, preferring to stay in the shadows to carry out the dirty work of other more powerful groups.
In 1911, when the Qing dynasty was at last overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution and a republican government was installed in its place, the purpose of Hongmen (洪门, another term for the scattered proponents of the Tiandihui) was now obsolete. Many of the sects and societies died out, but the Phoenix found a new purpose by attaching themselves to the newly formed Kuomintang (国民党）Chinese Nationalist Party founded by Sun Yat-sen. This attachment to the KMT ushered in the Phoenix’s transition from a purely “patriotic” martial mercenary group to a society specializing in nuanced political and economic mercenarism, using subtler methods to alter societal changes in favor of the party willing to pay the highest price. (Though in truth, they still very much carried out targeted assassinations and coercive attacks.) The Righteous Phoenix Sect was officially reformed as the 金凤会, the Golden Phoenix Guild.
This transition quickly made the Phoenix one of the most powerful, if still secretive, Black Societies in Mainland China. The Phoenix and the KMT’s symbiotic relationship elevated the Phoenix, and hungry for power, the then leader of the Phoenix, Xiao Chienping, became obsessed with expanding their influence, establishing branch echelons overseas in Japan, the United States, and Australia. However, their overseas branches met fierce opposition with other displaced “Chinese Freemason” societies. They found the most success with their Japanese branch integrating and allying themselves to the powerful yakuza organizations there.
The Phoenix’s expansion was shaken in 1949 when the KMT were overtaken by the Chinese Communist Party and forced to Taiwan. Though Xiao Chienping’s son, Xiao Wei, desperately urged for Chienping to detach from the KMT, Chienping steadfastly refused, believing that the Sino-Japanese war would eventually unite the CCP and the KMT.
The Chinese Civil War decimated the Phoenix’s lower echelons as they struggled to support the KMT against both the Japanese invaders and the CCP. The Head of the Phoenix followed the KMT to Taiwan, but the upper tiers of the Phoenix were angered with Chienping’s poor decisions. Pressured on all sides, Chienping at last broke away from the KMT to become an independent group. Dissatisfied with their territory in Taiwan, the head of the Phoenix decided to move to their largest overseas branch in Japan.
Though their small-time presence in Japan had previously been largely tolerated by the yakuza families there, the Head of the Phoenix moving to Japan became an intolerable threat. Between the lingering bitter sentiments from the Sino-Japanese War and the ambitions of the Phoenix, many of the Phoenix’s old alliances in Japan turned on them, and this transition to Japan was filled with many bitter and bloody conflicts.
One of their fiercest and most unexpected opponents was the newly established but formidable Tamura Clan led by Tamura XXX. ????????????????????????????????
Ultimately, the Tamura Clan spearheaded the assassination of Xiao Chienping and his lieutenants, driving the Phoenix Guild out of Japan for good.
Xiao Wei, who had remained in Taiwan to oversee the operations there, took up the mantle of leadership following his father's death. Once again, the surviving members of the head of the Phoenix were forced to retreat disgracefully to Taiwan.
The two bitter back to back defeats with the KMT and in Japan severely undermined the Xiao family, which had held the leadership of the Phoenix Guild for most of its duration. Though most of the higher positions of the Phoenix were held by the Xiaos, dissent was growing in the other powerful families in the Phoenix, and even among the more distant branches of the Xiao family.
Fortunately, young Xiao Wei was a brilliant tactician and politician who did not hesitate to utilize whatever advantages presented itself to him. Despite urging his father to break away from the KMT during the Civil War, Xiao utilized guanxi connections to the KMT and their associate factions to support himself as he launched campaigns to rebuild the Phoenix and weed out threats, both internal and external. Under his leadership, within twenty years, the Phoenix once again became a top level Black Society that has even been able to return to the mainland to meddle with Chinese internal affairs.
He crushed dissenters to the Xiao family leadership and relegated them to the lower echelons while at the same time raised his own supporters to form a council leadership instead of a singular leader. However, he still retained majority power by naming himself the Chairman of the Phoenix and withheld the right to overrule council decisions. He himself was careful to only rarely utilize this power only when he deemed it necessary, and his uncanny foresight helped to save the Phoenix from further catastrophes and solidified the Phoenix’s support in his excellent leadership.
Though Xiao Wei was himself a politician, he needed significant funding to influence others into supporting him. Wei curated a split in the Phoenix, essentially creating two factions under the Phoenix. The upper echelon of the Phoenix became politicians and influential public figures while the lower half turned to more base illegal activities such as fraud, extortion, smuggling, counterfeiting to generate revenue which would be laundered to artificially inflate the valuation of corporations and individuals under the Phoenix and provide them with bribery funds.
As Chairman Xiao Wei grew in age, he recognized the need for the Phoenix leadership to be determined by merit, not bloodline. Though his third son, Xiao Jin, showed the most promise as the next Chairman of the Phoenix Guild, Xiao Wei wished for the next leader of the Phoenix to prove their abilities to create a loyal faction capable of great tactical expansion, and so, instead of putting forth a vote (which he knew would be too easily manipulated), he created a Succession Competition over three years to determine the heir to the Head Chair of the Phoenix. The Phoenix leader with the most powerful and expansive faction at the end of the three years would earn the right to become the next Chairman.
As expected, Xiao Jin (Birdcage’s Canary), soon became the competition’s forefront leader. He seemed poised to easily win the competition until the end when unexpectedly, he and his inner circle were assassinated by his niece, Valerie Xiao (Xiao Yilin), who took control of the entirety of his faction and assets in a lightning fast three day multipronged blitz. Despite Xiao Wei’s initial disapproval of his granddaughter Valerie’s bloody campaign, he was forced to admit to its effectiveness. He himself was no stranger to dealing with internal enemies and ambitious rivals, and Jin’s death at the hands of Valerie was proof that Jin lacked that same caution. As the time limit for the competition drew to a close, no one was able to challenge the now powerful Valerie and Wei officially declared Valerie as his heir.
Valerie’s victory in the Succession Competition was strongly opposed by the rest of the Phoenix council. Despite being a Xiao, Valerie was considered a low echelon Phoenix due to her faction’s focus in violent crime, and the Council doubted her ability to lead. In response, Valerie had a leading opponent assassinated to quiet the others. Her ascension to the first heir of the Phoenix chairmanship has caused a quiet unrest, but as of now it seems that Valerie’s lack of hesitation in mercilessly culling any dissenters has secured the tentative loyalty of the Guild.
Xiao Wei never forgave the Japanese and the Tamura Clan for the Phoenix’s humiliating defeat in Japan and China, and to this day much of the Xiao family’s older generations harbors a deep seated contempt for the Japanese. The Xiao family’s vendetta against the Tamura Clan makes them likely suspects for the unsolved deaths of their previous two leaders, but no concrete evidence has been yet found to support an accusation.
The organization of the Phoenix has only a rough hierarchy. The Phoenix broke away from traditional "Triad" structures under Xiao Wei, abandoning the old I-Ching based numerical titles. There is no official divide between the Higher Phoenix and the Lower Phoenix, but the groups have self divided due to differences in activites (legal versus illegal) and societal class difference. There is some internal competitve emnity between the Higher Phoenix and the Lower Phoenix.
The Chairman has the final say in all council decisions as well as the right to singlehandedly overrule council decisions, but generally works with the council to formulate tactical decisions and expansion campaigns.
Current: Xiao Wei
First Heir: Xiao Yilin (Valerie Xiao)The council is comprised of five members handpicked by Chairman Xiao Wei. Every 5 years, elections are held in the Upper Phoenix to ensure that there is some semblance of merit-based placement, but with Xiao Wei and the Higher Phoenix's experience with manipulating governmental elections, there's no guarantee in the fairness of these elections.
Current: Xiao Xianzhang, Xiao Hong, Lo Qiang, Lang Guoren, Zhao Meiying
The Higher Phoenix runs the "legal" activites of the Phoenix. These well educated Phoenix members have integrated into respectful positions in top corporations, politics, security detail, and, in recent years, research institutions. These members generally keep their association to the Phoenix secret and generate benefits for the lower tiers and launder the revenue generated by the Lower Phoenix, taking for themselves a generation portion of it to support their endeavors.
Notable Members: Shi Zhongyu (Jasper Shi), Zhang Zhe (Jedidah Zhang), Wang Zhousheng (Jared Wang), Kieran Lang
The members of the Lower Phoenix vastly outnumber the Higher Phoenix. They are the face of the Phoenix, and generally what comes to mind in East Asia when the Phoenix Guild is mentioned. Their activies span nearly all areas of criminal activities, with a majority focus in extortion, drug trafficking, and smuggling. These rank and file members are self organized with little input from the Head of the Phoenix, and gang structure often varies regionally. The low influence Australian, American, and SEA branches of the Phoenix are generally considered as part of the Lower Phoenix.
Notable Members: Lance Xiao, Chika Mao, Tiger Mao, Cassian Lo
