Triad

From Turtledove

Triad (also called Tong) is a term that describes many branches of Chinese underground society and organizations based in Hong Kong and also operating in Macau, Taiwan, mainland China, and countries with significant Chinese populations such as Malaysia and Singapore and also Chinatowns in Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

Their activities include drug trafficking, money laundering, illegal gambling, prostitution, car theft and other forms of racketeering. A major source of triad income today comes from the counterfeiting of intellectual property such as computer software, music CDs and movie VCDs/DVDs. They also trade in bootleg tobacco products.

[edit] Triads in Curious Notions

When Imperial Germany completed its conquest of the world in the 1950s, it attempted to eradicate the Triads. Instead, it simply drove them further underground. The Triads returned closer to home, China, where Germany was not able to exercise absolute control.

In the late 21st century, Crosstime Traffic established an outpost in San Francisco called Curious Notions. The Triads became very interested in the technology Curious Notions sold, which was far more advanced than anything available.