Sun Yee On

Sun Yee On (Chinese: 新義安; Cantonese Yale: sàn yih òn) (Sun Yee On Commercial and Industrial Guild) or New Righteousness and Peace is one of the leading triads in Hong Kong and Mainland China, with the largest number of members—around 25,000 members. They are believed to be active in Britain, Belgium, France and the Netherlands and in the government of Guangdong Province in Mainland China.

Sun Yee On was founded by Heung Chin, originally from Chiu Chow, in 1919. He was deported to Taiwan in the early 1950s and continued to lead the organization from there. Sun Yee On was allegedly taken over by his eldest son Heung Wah-yim, who ostensibly worked as a law clerk.

In February 1986 a former Hong Kong police officer, Anthony Chung, who had become a member of Sun Yee On, asked the police for protection. He identified Heung Wah-yim as the leader of the Triad and this led to the police arresting eleven members of the Triad on 1 April 1987. Whilst searching Heung Wah-yim's law office they found a list of 900 numbered names which appeared to be the membership roster of Sun Yee On. In October Heung Wah-yim was brought to trial, along with five accomplices who all pleaded guilty. Heung Wah-yim protested his innocence throughout the trial, claiming to be the president of a local chapter of the Lions Club and that the list found in his office consisted of potential donors. Chung and together with another former member were the main prosecution witnesses. On 20 January 1988 the jury found five of the defendants guilty, including Heung Wah-yim who was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, acquitting the sixth.