The United Bamboo Gang (竹聯幫, or zhú lián bāng) is a triad society based in Taiwan. It is sometimes referred to as the Bamboo Union or the Bamboo Alliance. It is the largest of Taiwan's three main triads (the others being the Four Seas and the Celestial Way). The gang gained global notoriety when it became directly involved in politics in the early 1980s. Chen Chi-li (陳 啟 禮) murdered writer Henry Liu (劉 宜 良) in California in 1984, was arrested in Taiwan, tried and convicted. His life sentence was commuted after seven years, at which point he fled to Cambodia.[citation needed]