bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

More than 10,000 gangsters from Taiwan,  Hong Kong and Japan attended the funeral of reputed triad godfather Hsu Hai-ching  in Taipei yesterday.

Long lines of men clad all  in black waited outside the First Taipei Funeral Parlour to pay their last respects to the man known as 'Mosquito Brother' and 'the Final Arbitrator'. Hsu, 93, died this month after a long illness.

Led by bands and honour guards, the gang members - including rival triad bosses - later walked  about 10km in a funeral procession.  Then hundreds of bereaved relatives and friends boarded buses and were taken to a cemetery in Chinshan, Taipei county, for the burial.

Members of the public  looked on and police were out in force to keep the peace, amid fears of violence between rival gangs.

The triads reportedly agreed not to create any disturbances during the occasion, and dubbed yesterday 'May 29 Peace Memorial Day', according to Taiwanese cable TV news reports.

Parents had expressed concern that traffic jams caused by the funeral would  interfere with the island-wide aptitude test for junior high school students, but the event proceeded peacefully.

Hsu was nicknamed 'Mosquito Brother' due to his small size, soft-spoken manner and quick hands. He was  respected by the main triad organisations - such as the Bamboo Union, Celestial Way, the Four Seas and Pine Union - for his ability to settle disputes between rival gangs.

Hsu reportedly started his gang career  in Wanhua, one of the oldest districts in Taipei,  before the Kuomintang government moved to Taiwan in 1949. He was involved in Taiwan's fruit exports to Japan for decades, and ran a range of businesses from hotels to nightclubs.

Hsu was elected to the Taipei city council shortly after the KMT started ruling the island, and became an influential figure after helping government authorities avert various gang wars.



Men in black pay homage to triad godfather