Chinese Life in the Tibetan Foothills/Book 3/Han Liu
The Reactionary School, or Han Liu (漢流)
This is our third great class of secret societies. It must be borne in mind that our division is by no means arbitrary. It is quite possible for a person to belong to all three classes; on the other hand there has sometimes been strife, especially between the Hypnotic and the Reactionary Schools.
Investigating the origin of this School we find it begins in hoary antiquity, and probably represents the most ancient demon worship. The class tenaciously holds to natural depravity, resists external reforms, and through the ages has made licentious liberty the chief ideal of life.
The heroes worshipped are the "Peach Orchard" trio of the Han dynasty; but they have also a system of Shamanism probably of much earlier date, and including all manner of sorceries' and wizards' art.
Among other terms the brethren call themselves tsa-mên ti-hsiung (咱們弟兄), we brethren. Tsa-mên is of northern origin and Shamanism had its origin in Northern Asia; hence I believe this brotherhood to be Asiatic Shamanism. This system of Shamanism has very wide ramifications in Central Asia, where neither race nor religion seems to debar any one from joining the secret conclaves. On the Tibetan border Chinese and aboriginals make sworn covenants for mutual protection and assistance in business matters. No Chinese could prosper in barter trade with Tibetans unless he was a member of this Society; he would most likely be robbed and killed on his first journey.
The sorcery practices which are such a feature in this brotherhood are presided over by a system of lay Taoist priests called ho-chü-tao (夥居道). These men, though knowing all the arts of the exorcist and much of the doctrine of Tao, are not celibates or hermits, as in the regular priesthood, but have their homes among men and around their ancestral tablets.
The Society delights in sorcery and wizardry, and on the slightest pretext members present one another with a "pacification concert." Such occasions as a sickness in the family, a slight bodily injury, an unlucky omen, etc., are seized on as excuses for a midnight orgy to expel some troublesome demon. At the close of such uproarious nocturnal performances the baser sort amuse themselves by committing robberies on their way home in the small hours.
The weird music connected with Shaman worship needs to be heard, for no pen can describe the uncanny effects; the drum of the temple, the blast of the trumpet, the conch horn of the wizard, the hooting cow's horns of the priests, the clash of cymbals, the crash of gongs, the howling of demon-oppressed people, the cry to departing spirits, are all directly or indirectly related to this brotherhood.
Many primitive and objectionable customs are still practised in the sect. Marriage by capture is by no means unknown, and to many it is the ideal method. Eating the liver and the heart of an enemy, or distributing parts of his body to distant places for others to eat; the sacrifice of human victims to the flags or to the spirit of a fallen comrade, are customs still practised. The Society has thus earned the name ho-êrh-liu (和而流), or loose profligates.