秘密会党作为近代云南一股不可忽视的民间社会力量，在时局变迁中扮演了多重角色。云南的秘密会党从邻省传入，步入近代后扎根于半殖民地半封建社会的土壤里，发展迅速。为了反抗官府压迫，云南会党多次发动起义，动摇了清廷在云南的统治；为了建立民主政制，以孙中山为首的革命党注意到了会党所蕴含的巨大力量和云南特殊的地理位置，利用会党多次发动武装起义，加速了清廷的覆灭。清末，云南会党还在新旧军队中壮大势力，并在联合资产阶级革命派推翻清廷的革命运动中充当了主力之一，但因为自身缺陷以及“反清”目标的完成，辛亥革命刚刚结束，云南会党就遭到军都督府的打压。

The secret society was an influential civil force in modern Yunnan, which played multiple roles in the changes of times. The secret society in Yunnan was introduced from neighboring provinces. After entering modern times, it took root in the soil of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society and developed rapidly. In order to resist the oppression of the government, the Yunnan secret society launched several uprisings and shook the rule of the Qing government in Yunnan; In order to establish a democratic political system, the Revolutionary Party headed by Sun Yat-sen noticed the great power contained in the secret society and the special geographical location of Yunnan. They used the secret society to launch numerous armed uprisings and accelerated the collapse of the Qing government. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Yunnan secret society also expanded its forces in the old and new armies and served as one of the main forces in the movement of uniting the bourgeois revolutionaries to overthrow the Qing government. However, due to its own defects and the completion of the "anti-Qing Dynasty" goal, the Yunnan secret society was suppressed by the military governor just after the Xinhai Revolution of 1911.