Hui (會) is a Chinese word, generally meaning 'conference', but which is sometimes used to refer to a secret society. It is often mutually interchangeable with terms like kongsi (å…¬å¸, pinyin: GÅngsÄ«), a term generally used to mean 'corporation', or a Chinese clan (會館, pinyin: HuìgÇ”an), . The Hokkien-derived term kongsi is more widely known in Southeast Asia, however, whereas in China, the secret societies were just simply known as hui.