For some young people, triad life may look glamorous but in reality all it leads to is trouble.
Joining a gang or triad might seem to offer many benefits at first. For example, in troubled parts of Hong Kong, triads and gangs pretend to offer protection.
For young people with low self-esteem, triads provide a sense of belonging. They also give welcome pocket money to get teenagers to do illegal jobs, such as selling drugs or pirated CDs.
In 2008, police arrested 210 triad members, 60 of whom were juveniles, a relatively high number compared to the 37 juveniles arrested in 2007. But according to Alex Fu Chung-wai, senior inspector of the District Crime Squad, Tuen Mun District, the reason is that the force became much more intimately involved with schools last year.
'The number of youths in triads is not really that high. Sometimes youths think they are in a triad when they are really just in a gang, following a leader to bully people or vandalise property,' says Inspector Fu. Only an experienced professional, like a policeman, can tell the difference after thorough investigations into the group, he adds.
Movies likely make us think triads are a much bigger part of Hong Kong life than they really are, and triad-related crimes accounted for only 3 per cent of overall crime in Hong Kong last year, according to the Hong Kong Police Force.
All the same, Inspector Fu admits stamping out triad crime is a challenge and the organisations continue to attract certain young people - particularly those who do not fit in.