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This article considers the shan tang, or charitable societies, that developed in China during the nineteenth century. Subsequently forbidden by the communist government, their philosophy of action and religious beliefs were transplanted to the overseas Chinese communities of Southeast Asia. The present study looks in turn at the history of their settlement, the hagiography of their patron divinities, and their organization in the specific case of Thailand. Finally, it analyzes the national networks they form and their international influence in terms of variations in “structures” and “conjunctures” as well as some principles that appear to have been inherited from previous modes of governance in China.