Ba Jia Jiang and organized crime in Taiwan

Monday, June 09, 2008

Ba Jia Jiang and organized crime in Taiwan.

Thanks to one Tim Maddog, I´m gaining a better understanding of what it was I saw during the boisterous parades that took place over a couple of days last week. For one, I´m happy to announce that I can toss out the idiotic ¨Firework-o-rama¨ and the unsavory ¨Firework-gasm¨ as descriptors for the event, as it now appears that it was in fact a parade of the 八家將 [ba jia jiang or the Eight Generals].

Tim sent me a long piece here with info about the event:

Naturally, their origin is disputed. There are many folk tales explaining the origin of Ba Jia Jiang, often revolving around a god’s military generals and plague expulsion. It is generally accepted that they have over 100 years of history and their origin is usually associated with the God of Plague Expulsion—‘Wu Fu Da Di’ This would imply that only Wu Fu Da Di Temples would have Ba Jia Jiang, but it seems that Wu Fu Da Di is related very closely, and intricately, to the origin and evolution of other gods and temples in Taiwan.

Ba Jia Jiang are protectors. They keep the evil spirits at bay or chase them down and deal with them. It is common knowledge that they are not permitted to smile; the fans they carry with characters written on them are to protect themselves from whatever demons may be floating around. They protect both the spirit mediums and the audience from darker spirits.

For all the useful information in the article, it doesn´t shed any light on why this parade was taking place. Walking around, trying to read as much as I could of the writing on the altar and the floats, I gathered it had to do with the military in some way, but I still don´t quite understand why it was taking place when it was, the symbolism of it all, and the identity of the numerous other figures in the parade (the three giant puppets at which someone kept throwing ¨bai bai¨ money, for example*).

One interesting point that the author makes, though, is that these eight generals are now ¨often associated with gangs, drugs and delinquent youth,¨ a phenomenon which is apparently the subject of much sociological research in Taiwan.

Along those lines, I was able to dig up an article that talks about these gangs from 2003. The most striking part of the article describes some of the self-inflicted violence that comes with membership in the group and seems to be brought upon by a sort of euphoric, religious fervor. Throwing knives in the air to let them fall on one´s own head, self-flagellation, etc. are part of the game, because, hey, let´s face it, anyone can beat the snot out of someone else.

"Hitting other people and making them bleed is not unusual. But the question is, `Do you dare do it to yourself?'"

The theme of high school drop-outs and small-town kids ¨with not much to do¨ that we´re used to in the US and Europe (and everywhere else, perhaps) seems to be one of the driving forces behind the Eight Generals:

"I like to go to Tachia's Chenglan Temple to practice the Eight Generals performance. It's a lot of fun. We follow all the different gods as we tour around Taiwan. ... The greatest thing about being part of an Eight Generals group is that you can get red envelopes along the way. We split the money among group members. I became more confident, because as long as I am a member of the Eight Generals, nobody dares bully me," one junior high school student was quoted as saying in a study of Eight Generals teenagers conducted by the National Taiwan Normal University.

"We emphasize honor. Our performance must stand out. And as for fights, we can only win, not lose. We support each other. If one of us is in trouble, all of us will help. None of us is chicken shit. Anyone asks for trouble, only one thing will happen -- death," said a 15-year-old, drop-out quoted in the research.

The aspect that one might say defines the Eight Generals from other gangs is ¨gray area between god and human, between acting and magic...between real gangsters and the police¨ that the group inhabits. Because of this strange brew of god and adolescent boy, the Eight Generals supposedly operate unhindered by the public:

The reason. First, because they would say, "I'm of the gods." And second, these gods are violent. Eight Generals groups have been linked to a number of brutal killings of teenagers, but, despite this, Chang cannot help but find this a fascinating teenage phenomenon.

* This seems to explain a bit more about it. The explanation of General Fan as being short and fat leads me to believe he was the general in front of the three other giant generals. That I mentioned in the first post.

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