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Crime · China (People's Republic)
Organisation of a criminal-syndicate nature
In plain English
The PRC statutory category for organised crime. It requires four characteristics together: a stable organisation with identifiable leadership; economic strength obtained illegally and used to sustain the group; organised and repeated violence or intimidation; and — the distinguishing element — illegal control or substantial influence over a locality or an industry, frequently sustained by official protection.
Register
Legal term. Defined by statute. Carries legal consequences.
The instrument
中华人民共和国刑法 第二百九十四条
Criminal Law of the PRC, Article 294
Four characteristics at Art. 294 ¶5, inserted by Criminal Law Amendment (VIII), in force 1 May 2011
The four criteria originated in a 2002 legislative interpretation by the NPC Standing Committee and were written into the Criminal Law itself in 2011. Since 1 May 2022 Article 294 sits alongside the 反有组织犯罪法 (Anti-Organized Crime Law) — a separate instrument compliance readers will need. Campaign vocabulary: 扫黑除恶专项斗争 from January 2018, moving to 常态化扫黑除恶 from February 2021.
Literally
Organisation of a black-society nature.
What English gets wrong
Rendering it as "triad". Triad is a Hong Kong legal term and does not apply on the mainland; the PRC does not use 三合會 as a statutory category. The fourth criterion — territorial or sectoral control — makes this closer to the Italian mafia-type association than to anything in Hong Kong law.
What to write instead
organisation of a criminal-syndicate nature, or leave in Chinese with a gloss. Do not reach for "triad" or "mafia".
Related
- Triad society — 三合會
Sources
- Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, Article 294