Triad (Traditional Chinese: 三合會; Simplified Chinese: 三合会; Pinyin: Sānhéhuì; literally "Triad Society") or (Traditional Chinese: 黑社會; Simplified Chinese: 黑社会; Pinyin: Hēishèhuì; literally "Black Society", a general term for criminal organizations) is a term that describes many branches of Chinese underground society and/or organizations based in Hong Kong and Macau and also operating in Taiwan, mainland China, and countries with significant Chinese populations such as Malaysia, Singapore and also Chinatowns in Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Their activities include drug trafficking, contract murder, money laundering, illegal gambling, prostitution, car theft, extortion, 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.