Heijin: Organized Crime, Business, and Politics in Taiwan (Taiwan in the Modern World

by Ko-Lin Chin

This work examines the structure and illegal activities of organized crime groups in Taiwan and explores the infiltration of crime groups into the business and political arenas. It looks at the intricate relationship among government officials, elected deputies, businessmen, and underworld figures.

Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

Reviews

[Andrew Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Taiwanese-American, the concept of Black Gold Politics, organized crime, "liumang," or "heidao" were always terms thrown around in passing conversation by my parents and their Taiwanese friends. Ed Lin's Taipei Night Market Trilogy was a nice fictional modern day take but that merely wet the whistle. I needed something more concrete and data based and this was the only English language book I could find. While it is a bit out of date having been only written around the turn of the 21st century, I thought it was the best in-depth look into the mafia backgrounds of this tiny island nation as one could reliable conduct. After all, without a clear judicial system and court records of actual convictions, its difficult to acquire much data other than through interviews.

Mr. Chin did a great job of gatherings accounts through numerous interviews with individuals from all walks of life to; the local level gangsters or "brothers," all the way up to National Assembly elected deputies. Again, without actual convictions or people on record, this seemed to be the best research methodology one could implement in this environment and Mr. Chin helped contextualize it through the historical lens.

The book walks us through Taiwan from the post-WW2 authoritarian era up to the election of Chen Sui Bian and shows how a composition of various factors unique to Taiwan's development allowed for this trifecta of government, business, and organized crime to grow steadily in parallel forms. Although he doesn't make any overt arguments (and I didn't think it was implied either), a lot of subjects from various walks of life seemed to suggest the Kuomintang and former President Lee Teng-Hui in particular, were responsible for encouraging the relationship. In short, the KMT's need for votes, lack of sophisticated population in many parts of the country, weak judicial systems, all allowed for Taiwanese "brothers" to grow and fill the void in many parts of society.

The book wraps up with Mr. Chin's views of what areas should be focused on in eliminating this system. Like many countries, the Taiwanese version of the mafia, is a symptom of weak governmental infrastructure, judicial system, and appropriate legislation. I hope in the 20 years since this was published that Taiwan has made some inroads in eliminating or addressing the factors identified by Mr. Chin.