The earliest information about the Gaibang gang is probably the episode in the huaben fiction, Jin Yunu Bangda Bocing Lang. It mentioned a beggar known by his nickname, Jin Laoda, who was the 7^th generation in the family, which inherited the position as the head of the beggars group, tuantou, in Hangjhou city in the Southern Song Dynasty. This story was revised in Gujin Siaoshuo edited by Fong Menglong in the Ming, and more information was added about this tuantou position.

      In the Cing Dynasty, the head of beggars in each city was called gaitou. The gaitou in general was the local gangster, who held a cudgel called ganzih symbolizing his authority. This cudgel could be used to punish, or even kill, the beggar who disobeyed the established rules of the beggar group. In Beijing, there were two different beggars groups, one belonged to Huang Ganzih, meaning the yellow colored cudgel, and the other belonged to Lan Ganzih, the blue color cudgel. Beggars, who had an official family background, went to the yellow cudgel and the head of this group, who was always from a noble family, had to disguise his status by putting on mean clothes to visit his unfortunate, lazy and unproductive relatives. The beggars in this group were more like gangsters, who threatened the locals to give them money or whatever they wanted. The blue cudgel group was where the ordinary beggars turned to. The rules in the blue cudgel group were very strict, such as every beggar had to give 20 percent of daily income to the head of the beggars, and the new member had to hand in the first three days of income.

      There is no record about a national-scale beggar organization. It was under the wusia novelist pen that the beggar organization became the biggest national gang group. To be precise, it was in Jin Yong novels that the Gaibang was formed. Jin Yong also invented a green-jade cudgel, which was the highest symbol in the group. Jin Yong also created a powerful wugong called Sianglong Shihbajhang for the head of this group. The hierarchy system was also exercised in the Gaibang according to Jin Yong. Members of the gangs were given a sack and the one who owned 9 sacks had the most prestige in the beggar gang. Jin Yong also divided the Gaibang gang into two sects, one was wuyi pai, the dirty clothes group, and one was jingyi pai, the clean clothes group. Conflicts taking place between the two sects are entertaining.

      Jin Yong invention was so successful, that there were other novelists who used the episodes of the beggars in Jin Yong novel to develop their own beggar world. Some of Jin Yong followers made a chart about the development of the Gaibang; some used ong Cigong,?the head of Gaibang in Jin Yong novel to be the fore- runner of the character depicted in their novels. It is an interesting situation.